Monday, July 31, 2006

MEME MONDAY: CHOCOLATE PARIS

For all you Kitchen Toro visitors out there, everything's on delay as I've only just gotten back to New York from a food road-trip this weekend. All KT features will be updated tonight, and hopefully not long after I'll have a special post for you, Back in Black.

There's a lot of food out there on those crazy interwebs and this feature, Meme Monday, highlights places dedicated to it, be they favored food-related websites, reference sites or, gasp, blogs.

Today's site is one I've mentioned before on Kitchen Toro, davidlebovitz.com. No harm mentioning it again because it's one that I'll look at from time to time to see what he's doing with desserts. I've been meaning to pick up his book, "The Great Book of Chocolate," but you can also check out things he's making on his recipes page.

As I've said before, I've tried his Roquefort ice cream, but some other recipes I'd like to test are: Nick Malgiere's Supernatural Brownies, Sour Cream Cake, Absinthe Cake. The Pineapple Coconut Cookies sound to me like they're similar to the Coconut-Apple Haystacks I made about not long ago. David's "Extras" categories also seem like a lot of fun: Homemade Cottage Cheese, Chocolate Molet, Chinese Pork and Shrimp Dumplings, Confit of Tomatoes...all interesting stuff that it would seem fun to try out (and "the best chocolate sauce..." when someone throws something like that out there don't you have to pick up the challenge and try it?). When I was working at the Dining Section, David's blog was on the rotation of sites I'd check every day for my own benefit.

For David Lebovitz's bio check out his site, and his favorite places online.

FULL POST...

GARDE MANGER: SNAILS AND GARLIC BUTTER

We're back on Garde Manger (the appetizer station) and nearing the end of Level Three. We'll soon be taking over as the most senior students in the school. But before I get ahead of myself we've still got to make tonight's dish, it's what many people think about knee-jerk-style along with frogs' legs when they ponder French food, escargots.

More after class on the jump...

DISH: Baked Snails With Garlic-Parsley Butter (Bourgogne), Escargots À La Bourguignonne

RECIPE:
Escargots
46 Canned Snalils, Helix Brand

The Bouillon
125 ML White Wine
125 ML Chicken Stock
Bouquet Garni
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Sheet Gelatin, Bloomed in Cold Water

Garlic and Parsley Compound Butter
1 Anchovy Fillet
1 Toasted Hazelnut, Finely Chopped
225 G Butter, En Pommade
8 Tablespoons Chopped Flat-Leaf Parsley
4 Tablespoons Minced Chives
50 G Garlic, Minced
2 Tablespoons Shallot, Ciselee
1 Tablespoon White Wine
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
20 G Fine Bread Crumbs
1 Teaspoon Salt
¼ Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Assembly
2 Tablespoons Butter

Procedure:
ESCARGOTS AND BOUILLON (To be done a day in advance and refrigerated) Drain and rinse the snails and set aside. Mix all the ingredients for the bouillon except the gelatin and pour over the snails. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add the gelatin and set aside to cool.

GARLIC AND PARSLEY COMPOUND BUTTER Place all the ingredients (with half the garlic) for the butter in a bowl and combine with a wooden spatula. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Alternatively, you may combine the ingredients in a food processor provided you retain the texture and do not overcook the mixture.

ASSEMBLY Drain the escargots from the bouillon and dry them a bit. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a sauteuse, add the remaining garlic along with the escargots, and saute briefly, seasoning as you go. Let cool. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Place a small amount of the compound butter in the bottom of a sterilized snail shell, then insert a snail and a tiny bit of the bouillon. Cover the snail with more butter until the shell is completely filled. Proceed in the same manner with the rest of the snails and shells.

Place the snails on the snail plates and bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until the butter bubbles and starts to change color. If more color is desired, the dish may be finished under the salamander.

BREAKDOWN:The biggest difference between the recipe and what we actually did was that we didn't do anything a day in advance as dictated.

Now I don't know much about preparing snails or how this is done in top French restaurants but taking anything out of a can and putting it in a shell seems somewhat disingenuous to me.

Am I saying we should be dealing with live snails? Well, could we? Is it ever done that way? How did it taste? Well, thanks to the butter (Chef told us not to give it away but most students swung by to try to grab a swath of it surreptitiously) they tasted pretty good. That said, the snails themselves are pretty small and I only had one. You figure it out!

I "tested" the butter plenty of times though.

FULL POST...

Friday, July 28, 2006

FILLET OF HAKE WITH MANILA CLAMS, RIVIERA-STYLE

I'm happy because I'll be back on the line cooking tonight instead of tracking orders. I'm not terribly familiar with Hake so I'm interested in tonight's dish and actually filleting the fish. I tasted it when another group made it and it was tasty, sweeter than I expected because of strips of sun-dried tomatoes.

More after class on the jump...

DISH: Fillet Of Hake With Manila Clams, Riviera Style (Nice), Filet De Merlou Aux Palourdes Riviera

RECIPE:
Sauce And Garnish
40 ML Blended Olive Oil
100 G Sundried Tomatoes
100 G Niçoise Olives, pitted
25 G Scallion Greens, émincés
(thinly sliced) on the diagonal
24 Manila Clams
125 ML Extra Virgin Olive Oil
115 G Butter, diced
125 ML Lemon Juice
Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
*Sundried Tomatoes, Julienned (thinly sliced but long)
*Snow Peas (Cooked in salted water & sauteed for service)
* Red Bliss Potatoes (Cut in small semi-circles with melon-scooper, skin left on one side)

Fish
8 portions hake fillet, 100 G/each, skin on and scaled
40 ML Blended Olive Oil

Procedure:

SAUCE AND GARNISH Warm the 40 ML olive oil in a small sautoir. Add the 100 G sundried tomatoes, 100 G pitted niçoise olives, and 25 G émincés scallions
(thinly sliced) and sweat until they soften. Set aside and keep warm. Steam 24 Manila clams open with 60 ML water. Remove them to a bowl using a skimmer, cover and keep warm. Strain and filter the clam juice into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Whisk in the oil and 115 G diced butter pieces and emulsify. Stire in the 125 ML lemon juice and season to taste. Keep warm.

FOR THE FISH To order, season a fillet with salt and pepper on the flesh side and pepper with just a touch of salt on the skin side. Heat some of the oil in a small sauteuse over medium-high heat and sear the fillet on the skin side, pressing gently on it with a spatula for about 30 seconds to keep it flat. Reduce the heat and continue to cook the fillet until it is almost cooked through. Flip it over and cook just long enough to remove any rawness. Blot on paper towels. Place the fillet to one side on a warm dinner plate and flank with 3 reheated clams. Scatter some of the garnish over the clams and nap with the sauce.

BREAKDOWN: I misplaced the notecard on which I wrote down the number of times we muliplied the ingredients for restaurant service, my apologies. The significant additions were thinly sliced sundried tomatoes, snow peas under the fish and then thinly sliced again as garnish with the tomatoes around the fish, and melon-ball scooped red bliss potatoes cooked til tender in salted water and sauteed for service.

I long ago learned the error of my ways regarding fish and cream sauce but just in case you missed my protestations or missed my acquiesence, here it is: fish with cream sauce can be mighty tasty.

In this case, picture the crisp outside of the fish and a velvety cream sauce, tanged slightly with citrus, the acid from some barely sauteed grape tomatoes and a little sweetness from the slivers of sundried tomatoes...delicious. That said, I maintain that the cream sauces that aren't based in fish fumets are better (or if they are, they're better ameliorated with another stock, like veal).

It got a little hectic on the line. We were ALL a little short on patience with this dish. We started out fine but then had a breakdown while plating about a quarter of the way through. Whether it was forgetting to sauce the plate before placing the clams or having trouble picking the snow peas out of the pan filled with thinly sliced snow peas, olives, potatoes and sundried tomatoes. A fork doesn't work so well but the fish spatula kills the potatoes. The solution we figured out with three plates left to make?

Cook the snow peas in a separate pan. I swear, sometimes things just make so much sense, they're so simple, you just can't see them.

FULL POST...

FORAGING FRIDAY: BUBBLE TEA

Foraging Friday documents Kitchen Toro's exploration of New York's diverse restaurants, neighborhoods, stores and their ingredients and flavors.

It seems I've been talking about tapioca since I started this blog and yet I've never had a very popular drink which uses tapioca. Bubble Tea has ridden a wave of popularity over the past 5 years to the point that it can now be found anywhere around Chinatown.

That said, I only finally got around to having Bubble Tea (or Pearl Milk Tea or Boba as I've also seen it referred to as)...

According to what I've read, Bubble Tea was created in the early 1980's in Taiwan. Well, I've been trying unsuccessfully to get over to Mott Street to visit a place called Ten Ren's Tea Time which I've heard has more than 50 types of bubble tea. It's still my mission to get over there but I couldn't wait any longer and right around the corner from school I stumbled across a little Chinese cafe that had about 10 different kinds.

For $2.75 I chose the coconut milk with black tapioca pearls, not a true tea I suppose, but most of the options here were fruit drinks and it was such a hot day that I wasn't looking for anything too sweet.

First off, the straw is about three times the size of a regular one. The balls swirl around the cup and when you suck through the straw they bounce around the bottom of the container and come ricocheting up quickly so you have to be ready for them! You're left chewing on the tapioca, a little meal between sips.

I enjoyed the drink but it only made me more curious about making it at home, drinking it with coffee and wondering how I might incorporate it in my Thai desert plan (thai iced tea ice cream with sticky coconut rice and tapioca dumpling).

Among a lot of other website out there selling Bubble Tea "supplies," is Bubbleteasupply.com. I'm not sold on having to do anything but visit the local supermarket for ingredients needed to make bubble tea at home but I like this site because it has a step by step process of making the tea as well as other recipes and offers lots of ideas and different flavors you can make (although I'm not quite sure about this thing).

If you're interested in making bubble tea for yourself at home, follow the step by step process at the link above. Just make yourself a simple syrup, a cup of water and a cup of sugar dissolved over heat and cooled. When the tapioca pearls are done, soak them in the syrup, steep some tea (at left, I did a light Thai Iced Tea), add some very cold milk (or even better crush some milk and ice in a blender) add the "bubbles" and presto. The biggest problem you'll have is finding a straw big enough to get the true "Bubble Tea" effect.

FULL POST...

Thursday, July 27, 2006

THURSDAY THE LONG WAY: FERRARA'S

Thursday highlights food from out of the way places, food memories that have formed the way I view food, both cooking it and eating it. These memories may be inspired by recent meals, the food-media, or anything at all.

If you live in New York you know Little Italy. You know that Chinatown has taken over and perhaps you've even answered the siren's call late at night on New York sports radio station, WFAN, "You know where you gotta go...Umberrrrrrrrto's Clam House," and headed over for linguini with clam sauce at 1 a.m. (they're open until 3 a.m.).

No? No bottle of red? No bottle of white? What are you un-American? Alright, so you're not into $23 spaghetti, I hear that (if you make it a kitsch night it can be a fun date), but there's a local Little Italy standard that I remember as another New York City ritual, a part of my childhood that's still a lot of fun, especially on a summer night, "Holy Cannoli!" That's right, Ferrara's (pix c/o ferraracafe.com).

In the "heart of Little Italy," (there I go with the Umberto's references, fess up, you were 23 once and took a date there I know you did) Ferrara's, a pastry shop or pasticerria begun in 1892, still draws a line. As a kid my first order of business was to walk along the glass display case, an ambulation with one purpose, discovering which sweet dessert treats had to be eaten right away and which ones could be tasted later (I usually solve this problem now by buying something to go).

My mother's favorite dessert at Ferrara's is the baba al rum, a yeast risen cake soaked in rum, mmm, and I'm pretty sure my pop opted for a pistachio gelato and my sister stayed close to the tiramisu, but my childhood favorite was always the cannoli. There's an art to the cannoli too. They have to be filled all the way through. I don't care about moderation when it comes to that sweet ricotta filling--there's just no rational, human reason for that last middle two or three parts to be the crumbs of the ricotta shell all by itself, it needs to be stuffed all the way through! I'm a purist, no fan of the chocolate dip and really, there's no need for the chocolate chips or even the powdered sugar (so overused). A cannoli and a capuccino and you're ready to go.

Cannoli, gelato, Italian cheesecake and the classic, Tiramisu, now I'll do them all. As a kid, waiting at the square table with the wobbly leg, looking at shiny brass, smelling the sweet pastries, anticipating the cannoli, the coffee gelato, a glass of milk or water and knowing there might be a box of cookies to go home, I couldn't have been happier. Strike that, the only thing better was falling asleep in the back seat of the car with all those sweets in my stomach.

Now look, if you haven't been, this isn't going to be painless, especially if you're going on a summer night. There will likely be a line, you'll have been sweating outside and you'll be with a bunch of people who also want to sit down (been there done that, own the t-shirt, no, really). Look at it this way, you can leave someone on line and look over all the treats in the display case. Figure out what it is you need to take home. For me it was always the moist, chewy, amaretto cookies with the pignoli nuts, they're just really tough to turn down-- any time I bring them to a dinner party they disappear (and if they don't they come back home with me).

A cool thing about Ferrara's is that they post some of their recipes. Remember what I said about the cannoli if you get adventurous in the home kitchen. And just for the record, "Holy Cannoli," that's right, I owned the T-Shirt before Vince Vaughn (pix, c/o vince-vaughn.com) ever wore it in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (stop your comments, it was on incessantlly on cable), tell me YOU didn't sit through the whole thing...

FULL POST...

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

TORO! TORO!: RARE PAN-SEARED TUNA

So it's not complicated and not terribly unique, regardless, seared tuna is damn tasty and especially palatable as a light summer dish. I've tasted it twice and it already saved me from a poor gumbo last Wednesday. Ahead tonight, a lot of knife-work.

More after class on the jump...

DISH: Rare Pan-Seared Tuna With Gazpacho Vinaigrette And Black Olive Couscous (Nouvelle France), Tournedos De Thon A La Vinaigrette De Gazpacho, Couscous Aux Olives Noires

RECIPE:
Gazpacho Vinaigrette
10 Tomatoes
2 Seedless European-style Cucumbers, peeled
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Bulb Fennel
2 Celery Stalks
1½ Red Onions
Salt
Tabasco, to taste
60 ML Sherry Wine Vinegar
120 ML Blended Olive Oil
4 Basil Leaves

Couscous
280 ML Chicken Stock or Water
450 G Couscous
4 Tablespoons Chopped Flat-Leaf Parsley
60 G Nicoise Olives, pitted and diced

Tuna and Service
Eight Pieces Tuna Fillet, 100-G/each
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
60 ML Olive Oil

Procedure:
GAZPACHO VINAIGRETTE Emondez 10 tomatoes and remove seeds and interior ribs. Slice 2 cucumbers lengthwise and remove seeds. Seed the yellow pepper and string the 2 celery stalks and bulb of fennel. Ciselez the 1½ red onions. Cut rest of the vegetables in large brunoise.

Combine all vegetables and season with salt and a few drops of Tabasco. Add the vinegar and olive oil and stir to combine. Hold at room temperature. At the last minute during service, but the basil in chiffonade and add to the vegetables.

COUSCOUS Season stock or water and bring it to a boil. Place the couscous in a bowl and pour the liquid over it. Stir and cover tightly for 5 to 7 minutes until the liquid is absorbed. Uncover and fluf with a fork (égrainer). Add chopped parsley and diced olives.

TUNA & SERVICE Season tuna fillet with salt and pepper. Cook tuna over moderate heat in a nonstick pan with a touch of oil. Turn tuna as it cooks, using ends as a guide to judge the doneness, keeping it a bit underdone. Mold the couscous in the center of a warm or room-temperature plate, and spoon some of the vinaigrette around it. Slice the tuna fillet and arrange it next to the couscous. Reheat the plate in the oven for 10 seconds to slightly warm the tuna and the couscous.

BREAKDOWN: So unfortunately, expediting caught up to me tonight. I'd gotten away with only doing it once thus far, while working the meat station. If you're not familiar with expediting, it's basically keeping track of orders coming into the kitchen for service in the restaurant. This means making sure you're watching when the appetizers go out. When they're brought out to the dining room you star a board at the front of the kitchen and the cooks know how many fish dishes are going to be needed pretty soon. When the waiters come in and tell you to "fire a table" that means start cooking. Your job as expediter is to monitor the board but also to help everyone communicate, the waiters with the cooks and the cooks with the cooks, especially ensuring that the two different fish dishes that can go out with one table are ready to go out at just about the same time. You don't want any food sitting around under the heat lamps-- that's how rare, pan-seared tuna cooks and completely ruins the dish.

I did get to do some work on the dish before I went up to the board at 8 p.m. I helped leave my mark by seasoning the gazpacho vinaigrette amply with tabasco and salt. The way I look at it, the fish is delicious (I can eat raw fish with soy sauce or salt anytime) but with a light dish like this, with a fish that's going to take up some flavor, how about some kick! My teammate (right) was in full agreement.

The only other addition was a basil-infused olive oil. Olive oil was blended with cleaned basil leaves and a few ice cubes to keep the oil cool and the basil green. The oil was used as a garnish around the edge of the gazpacho. Family meal was better today (better sauces: a good dressing, good dip for catfish and a decent compound butter for the cornbread) but I still couldn't resist a plate of the tuna for myself. It's so light, crisp and fresh, the vegetables crunching in your mouth with that salty-tang of the tabasco and the refreshing bites of fennel, celery and red onion. A great summer dish.

Meanwhile, my friend Sampurna continued to make her delicious Indian vegetable plates. Dosa stuffed with more delicious potatoes (right), mashed with a different spice (no tumeric this time) than the other night, but really wonderful, even cold. I've got to get these recipes.

It was a good night except for the beginning of class. We had a test and I completely spaced on it. I'm usually a nerd about these tests but between the soft launch yesterday of Kitchen Toro I forgot and only studied for an hour before-hand. It's probably my worst test. I forgot:
  • What a gastrique is: vinegar and sugar
  • The soft ball stage of sugar: 230ºF-240ºF
I barely remembered the fat percentage of pate (20%) and I think I forgot one more thing. That already puts me at a best-case scenario of 70/100. Luckily, I've done very well on most of the other tests and the 6 grades are added together, averaged and then figure as 25% of my grade for this level. My evaluations have been pretty good (I got a 90/100 for Pastry tonight) and hey we've got one more test for this level next Wednesday.

There's some construction going on at the school (a new culinary theater/test kitchen, new locker rooms which we've moved into, new stairways and new offices) so it was student appreciation day. They were giving out free ice cream and water bottles during service. Unfortunately I couldn't get away from the expediting board so no bottle for me. I might stop in tomorrow when they'll be doing it again.

Also, with the end of Level Three quickly approaching our chef told us that we may be changing groups. Since there's no Entremetier (Vegetable Station) for Level Four students one of our groups will be dissolved and the group members distributed among the rest of the groups. That means that our group which is already 5 strong, will have six people. Tonight while I was at the expediting board I was near the Level Four students which was a six person group. It's not a great thing. There are way too many people in a small space with too little to do. I'm beginning to see why Level Four students complain-- it's not even as though you can bring extra recipes to work on because there aren't any free burners really. We might be able to use the a la carte stove (there's a separate station and cooking area for restaurant service before we start cooking at 8 p.m. which we call a la carte for some reason even though they also serve a prix fixe) but it doesn't look that promising. A good thing is that during Level Four we get to do two dishes a night on the Salad (Garde Manger) and Pastry (Patisserie) Stations.

My goodness, October is right around the corner. I've got to really start moving on my final project!

FULL POST...

TACO TIME: IN PRINT EDITION

Last Thursday I got a call from the photo editor at Dining Section of The New York Times asking me if I wanted to do the food for the front page of the section. The assignment was to follow Mark Bittman's recipes and make pork, chicken and steak tacos. I did the cooking after class on Wednesday night and the first shoot Thursday morning. We had to reshoot the beef and chicken this past Monday because flour tortillas were used instead of corn (the flour ones were larger but flour wouldn't have been as authentic).

So here is the final result. Not bad, huh? No byline here, they're not my recipes, maybe somewhere down the road. Right now Mark Bittman's article is number one on the most popular list. Hopefully I'll be able to do more assignments like this in the future. It doesn't pay a lot but expenses are covered, it certainly helps with the rent and it's terrific experience.

I had to wait for the recipes to go to print before putting them up on the site but now that it's Wednesday and you can see the fruits of my labor, they're fair game. If you're looking to add some refried beans, guacamole and salsa fresca to round out your plate you can find them at this link which documents my first go round with Mark Bittman's "The Best Recipes in the World."

On the jump, this week's taco recipes...

Slow-Roasted Pork for Tacos, c/o Mark Bittman

10 Cloves Garlic
2 LBS Pork Shoulder, preferably boneless & in one piece
½ Teaspoon Peppercorns
1 Teaspoon Fresh Oregano (or dried Mexican oregano)
1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
1 Inch Cinnamon Stick
1 Teaspoon Coriander Seed
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Fresh Orange Juice
2 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice

Procedure:
THE MARINADE Sliver 4 cloves of garlic and use a thin-bladed knife to poke holes all over the pork; shave slivers of garlic in the holes.

Mix ½ teaspoon peppercorns, teaspoon oregano, teaspoon cumin seeds, inch cinnamon stick, teaspoon coriander seed, in small skillet on medium heat. Toast, shaking pan occasionally until the mixture is fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn off heat.

Mix toasted spices, teaspoon salt and 6 cloves garlic in food processor or blender. Turn on the machine and gradually add 2 tablespoons orange juice and 2 tablespoons lemon juice until it becomes a smooth puree. Rub all over pork, allow to sit at room temperature for up to 2 hours or in the fridge for 24 hours.

COOKING THE MEAT At least 2 hours before eating, turn oven to 300°F or prep charcoal/gas grill to cook over low indirect heat. Put pork in a roasting pan in the oven or directly on the grill rack; IF grilling cover grill. Cook, checking occasionally and basting with the pan juices if roasting (add water or orange juice to bottom of the pan if mixture dries out), until the pork is brown and very very tender at least 2 hours. Shred or slice the pork and use hot or at room temperature (pork can be refrigerated for at least 2 days).

Shredded Chicken for Tacos c/o Mark Bittman

2 LBS Boneless Chicken Thighs
1 Large White Onion, peeled and quartered
5 Cloves Garlic, peeled & lightly crushed
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin
1 Ancho or Other Mild Dried Chile, optional
Salt & Pepper to taste

Procedure:
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and add water to cover. Turn the heat to high, boil and skim any foam that comes to the surface. Partially cover and adjust heat so mixture simmers steadily. Cook until meat is tender, about 30 minutes, then cool.

Shred meat with your fingers. Taste and adjust seasoning. Use within a couple of days.

Grilled Carne Asada for Tacos c/o Mark Bittman

2 LBS Skirt Steak
1 Clove Garlic
2 Teaspoons Ground Cumin
1 Teaspoon Ground Oregano
½ Teaspoon Cayenne
Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Procedure:
Start a charcoal or gas grill. Crush the garlic and rub the steak with it. Combine the remaining ingredients and rub into the steak. Let the steak sit until you're ready to grill. Grill steak 3 to 4 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Cut into slices and use as soon as possible (hot is best, but warm or room temperature is fine).

FULL POST...

WEDNESDAY WASH-DOWN: HOME COOKIN'

Wednesday is food day, when most newpapers publish food sections, thus, Wednesday Wash-Down. Highlights, best first:

#1 NYT »» Tacos at home, Little Owl: 2*'d, Bouley demos, Little Israel, $25 & Under: Chicory Brooklyn, Wagyu from Japan...here, Food Stuff, Off the Menu, Healthier and better ice cream?
#2 WPOST »» Potlucks, Bamian 2½*'d, Catering...hmm, 32 minutes in Wasabi, Foraging: Modern Times, Whole Smoked-Grilled Trout
#3 LAT »» Japanese home cooking (I want these books), Fruity cocktails, Social Hollywood 2*'d, Nobu LA, The Find: Sohoju
#4 NYSUN »» Homemade ice cream, Little Owl, Beaujolais, Kitchen Dish, Southampton lobster roll
#5 NYPOST »» In Tent, Spotted Dick?, Wine-O-Matic
#6 DAILY NEWS »» Because The News thinks you can't buy a magazine..., The peach that ate New York, Power outage cooking in Queens, Wendys' dumping trans fat oils in August, PR Journalism
#7 NYOBSERVER »» Nagomi 2*'d

Things of note since last Wednesday:

NYT: Málaga Gazpacho, Food in Genoa, CA Taco Trip
New York Magazine's 101 Best Cheap Eats

After the jump, the Eater oddsmakers' Brunibetting, Eater Odds on Frank Bruni's NYT Review:


Zero Stars: 10-1
One Star: 2-1
Two Stars: 4-1
Three Stars: 25-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

Eater has given itself a coniption fit; they double-dared Frank to two-star Le Cirque and Little Owl, back-to-back. They bet one-star, he gave it two. The fallout? InstaBruni.

*InstaBruni: Based on the reliable assumption that Bruni's reviews are based on a preconceived idea of a restaurant and not the actual restaurant, the number of stars a restaurant will, or would, get in his universe--and, by extension, the Times Dining section.

They were incorrect with a one-star bet. Score as of 7/18: 1/2.

FULL POST...

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

NON-ALLITERATIVE TUESDAY: FOOD GIFTS

Non-Alliterative Tuesday: no obligations, no rhyme, reason or methodology other than that it's something relevant to food and goings-on in Kitchen Toro...

I love school, but unfortunately because of it this summer there's no getting away from the city for me, no cross-country jaunt, no Chico's Tacos, no In 'N Out, no bicycle trip to Denver, no visiting friends in other cities, no travelling. I'm hoping to get a weekend food-trip to DC in at some point over the next few weeks (sooner rather than later) but in the meanwhile, the traveling is going to have to come to me; luckily, when it comes to food, it has.

Gobind Sethi, an old college friend recently returned from a free cruise to Alaska he'd gone on with his mother, who was the ship doctor for two days. As payment she traveled and ate for free and she could bring one more person who could do the same. Gobind brought me back a book on Alaskan cuisine, "The New Alaska Cookbook, Recipes From The Last Frontier's Best Chefs." When I looked at the cover to see who wrote it I was surprised to know I knew the author. Kim Severson wrote the book and she is now a reporter for the Dining Section at The Times where I met her. I'm happy to have another book to add to my collection.

But wait, there's more. Midwesterners are far too generous (it's part of their rural, midwestern folkways I've been told), especially when bearing gifts from a roadtrip through the heartland. My partner in crime returned from a week and a half drive with jam and syrup from Deadwood, South Dakota.

The little town is apparently doing pretty well, especially with the HBO series giving it some more notoriety. The whole place is a historic landmark. There are acted-out "shootings" in the street and gambling is legal so the betting parlors have slots and even card tables. Sounds kitschy but fun.

One HBO-related piece of merchandise has got to the be the apron to the left. Mr. Wu's BBQ. Mr. Wu is the head Chinese boss who feeds dead gunslingers and other Deadwood detritus to his pigs to get rid of the evidence.

I was also brought back books filled with recipes from wagon-covered pioneer, gold-mining days and old-fashioned church standbys:

The Old West Baking Book by Lon Walters
Cookbook by Wall Drug Gang, 200 New Recipes
Colonial Holiday Treats

The prize among these books is of course, The Old West Baking Book. In addition to the recipes, the book is filled with sidebars about their origin, tools used, tales of wild plants, and fun facts.

And the gifts keep coming. At school, my friend Sampurna brought me some instant gulab jamun mix after seeing my unsuccessful attempt at Entremetier a few weeks ago (I've since gotten the dried milk and will have another go at it soon). She made a delicious vegetable dish last night, fried potato balls in panko crumbs. Wow. I've got to get the recipe (I'm also wondering if a pizza stone could in any way help me to create the hot environment needed to make naan in my home oven).

FULL POST...

Monday, July 24, 2006

KORIN: A KID IN A CANDY STORE

Today I finally visited Korin, a Japanese knife store a few blocks from Chambers Street on Warren Street between Church and West Broadway. The window has a samurai suit in it and you have to ring the buzzer for the people inside to unlock the door and let you in. When the door opens, you see why. It's a candy store for anyone interested in kitchen tools-- knives that is.

Back at the end of May I was very excited to buy a new knife, a 9 1/2 inch Suisin Inox Western Style Knife I thought I deserved for passing my midterm at the French Culinary Institute and graduating from Level Two to Level Three. It is a beautiful, light knife with a razor-sharp edge.

I spent about $120 on it at the Broadway Panhandler and it was there that the fellow behind the counter explained to me that my Suisin had a 70 to 30 edge, meaning that the two edges of the knife weren't the same angle, that the knife was sharpened in a more sophisticated way than your run of the mill standard issue knife. While he couldn't explain exactly how to sharpen it, he was the first to tell me of a Korin, a Japanese knife store he said gave demos about how to sharpen Japanese knives.

Well, this all should have been enough to clue me into the fact that I should have gone directly to Korin to buy my knife but I've always learned the hard way. In fact, I wasn't very well educated about my knife and what it could be used for-- it wasn't explained to me that the knife wasn't suited for butchering chicken or that at least care needed to be taken when cuting off the end of chicken bones (manchonner).

As a result, the knife was scarred with two slight bevels in the edge. They were blemishes like the first smudges on a brand new pair of white sneakers or the first nick on the door of your car but there was nothing to do but press forward. The knife still had a far better edge than our standard issue ones. I just stopped using it for the hard stuff-- meat, vegetables sure, bone...no way. The thing about Japanese knives, especially those with 70/30 edges is that supposedly they keep their sharp edges much longer. Mine didn't disappoint-- for almost two months I didn't have to think about sharpening it (though I should have been). But I'd noticed lately that the knife was stalling on tomato skins and I hoped that the people at Korin could teach me how to sharpen it and buy the right tool their with which to hone the edge.

As I noted above, Korin is a candy store (store pix left & below c/o www.korin.com). Look around at the Japanese knives in the display cases around you. Light knives, long knives, thin knives, sharp knives, knives with thick tops and razor thin eges, knives that you'd be scared to use for fear of making a mistake and very easily making a cut in your hand you never wanted to see.

Beautiful handles and blades like you've never seen, the results of the samurai sword tradition being distilled into kitchen weapons used to do loving battle with food.

Started by a Japanese woman, Saori Kawano, the elegant Korin has been located in New York since 1982. At the back of the store, co-founder, Chiharu Sugai dressed in gray, Japanese robes demonstrated to a customer how to sharpen a long, thin Japanese knife. He sat at on a chair, a wooden apparatus in front of him on which a wet, smooth stone was placed. Mr. Kawano seemed to rub the knife with great ease across the surface of the stone and I recalled Chef Harold Dieterle sharpening his Shun knife with a similar stone he kept in a tattered, Japanese box after he finished sharpening his knives when I volunteered to work for him at the Tribeca Grill.

When Mr. Kawano was finished I caught his attention and asked him about saving the edge of my knife where I'd dented it with the hard chicken bones. I can't say he was very approving of my situation. I explained what happened and he disappeared in the back of the store. Less than two minutes later he returned to show me my knife. That horrible pit-of-your-stomach feeling you get when you smudge the sneaker or find your car door knicked, you think you forget about it, get used to it at least, well, if it gets removed suddenly, free of charge, let me tell you, a weight lifts off, you can still carry that baby! Usually, they charge for this kind of repair but they fixed the knife for me for free.

And Mr Kawano gave me a demo explaining how to sharpen my knife, including making me duplicate the angle and feel of the right and wrong angle of the knife on the wet stone. The exact kind of kinesthetic experience I usually need to learn.

Every day after using the knife, he explained it should be sharpened on the fine stone, what they call the x6000. The stone needs to soak in water for 10 minutes before sharpening. Then the knife is placed on the stone and its angle followed. It sounds very zen, I know, but it seemed to make sense. The knife is held on the stone on the angle edge that it already naturally follows and then is rubbed for about 10-20 seconds back and forth, from the bottom to the top, almost pressed on the very wet stone so that a slight mud forms on top of it from the sediment that comes off of it. The stone almost looks like rubber.

While not necessarily at a ratio of 7:3, Mr. Sawano said that the knife shouldn't be sharpened equally on each side. I'd just as much assume keep the 7:3 ratio. To recap:
  • Knife should be sharpened every day used on fine stone (x6000)
  • Each fine-stone sharpening should be a slightly altered angle, rising to then return to the beginning angle.
  • The knife should be sharpened for a right-handed person more on the right side than on the left side.
  • Every 3 or 4 days the knife should be sharpened first on the fine stone and then on the medium stone (x1000)
Mr. Sawano returned the sharp edge to my knife and showed me the $54 combination fine and medium all-in-one sharpening stone when I asked him what he suggested I buy to keep my edge. As a "professional" cook, I was entitled to a 10% discount and after tax I paid $52.67.

The instructions that came with the stone further explained:
" Just before you are ready to change stones (e.g. from a 1200x to 6000x) let the slurry build up and reduced the pressure on the tool. This slows the abrasion rate because the build-up contains smaller, broken abrasive particles and the reduced pressure further reduces the depth of abraision. When you switch to the finer stone, you will achieve the desired finish fater.

Once again, as you approach the end of the process on the second stone, reduce the pressure and allow a slight build-up of slurry. The resultant edge will be better."


The instructions continued to advise:
"Japanese water stones tend to wear faster than oil stones - in fact this is the secret of their rapid cutting rate. Be sure to keep your stone flat. To promote even wear, use the full surface of the stone and occasionally change the stone end for end. To true a water stone, several methods are available. A fine stone can be trued by rubbing it against a coarser one. The coarser stone should first be trued on wet-dry sandpaper laid on any trued surface such as a piece of plate glass or a machined bed. 220x wet-dry paper works well.

...Caution: Do not allow your water stones to freeze when they are wet. They will fracture."


Mr. Sawano advised that the knife could be used for bones but needed to be used in this way with great care, not forced. I was too rough with it before, he explained. I thanked him, paid for the stone, learned that there was a 15% discount on all knives through the end of the month, reminded myself that I don't have a job yet and was on my way to school, nickless-knife in my bag, razor-sharp and ready for tomato skins and eggplant caviar, a kitchen warrior ready for battle.

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FISH STATION: FLOUNDER, EGGPLANT & TOMATO

From Meat (Saucier) to Fish (Poissonier) and new recipes, all three of which I've tasted and found quite appealing, especially the Monday and Wednesday dishes. Tonight we'll be making a sauteed flounder with eggplant. The whole crew should be back together again.

More after class on the jump...

DISH: Sauteed Fillet of Flounder With Eggplant And Tomato Compote (Provence), Filet De Limande Doré Aux Aubergines, Compote De Tomates

RECIPE:
Tomato Compote
1 Garlic Clove, smashed
50 G Shallots
20 G Butter
500 G Tomatoes, emondées, seeded & chopped
Bouquet Garni
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Eggplant Slices
600 G Medium-size Eggplant
100 ML Blended Olive Oil
5 G Fresh Thyme Leaves, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Fillets and Service
4 Whole Flounder, ~500 G/each, filleted & skinned
150 G Flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper
100 G Butter, for sautéing, preferably clarified
100 G Butter, for beurre noisette
Juice of 2 Lemons
3 Tablespoons Chopped Flat-leaf Parsley
Fresh Chervil

Procedure:
COMPOTE Sweat smashed garlic clove and 50 G shallots in 20 G butter until tender and add 500 G tomatoes (emondées, seeded & chopped). Add bouquet garni and cook until excess water evaporates. Taste and adjust seasoning.

EGGPLANT Preheat oven to 350°F. Peel eggplants and slice them into rondelles about ¼ inch thick. Brush a sheet pan with olive oil and place eggplant slices on it. Brush each of the slices with olive oil and sprinkle with chopped thyme leaves and salt and pepper. Bake slices for about 15 minutes. After 5 minutes of cooking, brush slices a second time with olive oil. Once baked, the sheet pan of eggplant slices can be covered with aluminum foil and kept warm for service.

FILLETS Season and flour the flounder fillets and cook in butter until browned then transfer to a hot plate. Discard butter from the pan. Cool pans briefly and add new whole butter. Heat the butter gently to the noisette stage. Let the pan cool for a few seconds and add the lemon juice and a pinch of salt; the butter will become foamy.* Spread the bottom of the hot plates with a ring of tomato compote and a flounder fillet on top of the eggplant. Pour the beurre noisette over the fillets of flounder and sprinkle on the chopped parsley and garnish with chervil.

*We added a ladle of brown veal stock and stirred it in off the heat.

BREAKDOWN: So we didn't use flounder. Sole was subsituted and unfortunately for us it was already filleted when we got it (no fish filleting practice).

We replaced the eggplant slices with "eggplant caviar." To make the caviar, we preheated an oven to 350°F then sliced eggplants in half and scored the inside both ways. They went into a hotel pan with about a half inch of water at the bottom, the eggplant halves were then brushed with olive oil, and seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin and chopped thyme. Then they went into the preheated oven to steam for about 45 minutes. The eggplants were removed to a colander and scraped. We threw away the skins, added some sweated garlic and onion, seasoned it with salt, pepper and some more cumin and held it for service.

We served the dish with fingerling potatoes and potato cocottes, risolée (cooked a l'anglaise in a pot of salted water, then in oil on the stovetop and finally in butter in the oven),sautéed grape tomatoes and fava beans which Chef D. snagged from Level Four's stash of leftovers from the day students' lunch service.

We used pastry rings to shape the tomato compote and eggplant caviar which we plated one in front of the other, traffic-light style. The potatoes flayed out to the left, a fingerling potato on either side of a cocotte. Three grape tomatoes lined the bottom of the plate with a fava bean between each.

*We also changed the sauce, adding a ladle of brown veal stock and stirring it in off the heat.

Overall it was a decent dish. The veal stock sweetened the lemon butter noisette making it a little more interesting. A dish to have for the rotation but not anything that will change your life.

But what happened before class might change mine. I visited with Sara Wolf in career services to go over my resume and to get some leads on paying jobs. Many students end up taking internships where they're not paid for the first 200-400 hours of work. I can't afford to work for free and I'm a big boy and don't think I should have to. I do need a gig though and I need one fairly soon.

Sara gave me leads on the following restaurants: Craftsteak, The Modern, The Harrison, Pearl Oyster Bar and Craftbar.

It's not a bad group of restaurants, name-recognition-wise. So far, I've only been to Pearl. I like the food there but was disappointed by their limited oyster selection and the expensive prices for somewhat small dishes. Craftsteak (despite the bad reviews) and Pearl might be the best places for me to start. The Modern might be too industrial production, mass-assembly-line. I'll be making a DC food road-trip this weekend so I'm not sending out the resume til Sunday. Next week is the end of the gravy train, baby! Hopefully I'll be able to trail at a restaurant next week. Then back to work!

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MEME MONDAY: THE HAMBURGER BLOG

There's a lot of food out there on those crazy interwebs and this feature, Meme Monday, highlights places dedicated to it, be they favored food-related websites, reference sites or, gasp, blogs.

There are a lot of food blogs out here, and they're not all open-ended or about cooking. Some are pretty specific in what they focus on. If you like burgers, this site, ahamburgertoday.com, isn't one to be missed.

It's a group weblog edited and published by Adam Kuban about the joys of burgers. Ahamburgertoday has a sister site too, dedicated to pizza, sliceny.com.

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Sunday, July 23, 2006

FRIED ZUCCHINI BLOSSOMS

Yesterday I picked fresh zucchini blossoms from my grandparents' garden in Westfield, Mass. Today, I'm using some loose guidelines (egg, flour and a drop of milk) from my sister's Italian boyfriend, Luca to prepare them.

First I rinsed the blossoms taking care not to tear them apart or bruise them but making sure that there wasn't anything unpleasant inside like a snoozing bee or angry ants. Then I began heating up some vegetable oil on the stove while I made the batter.

It was a simple batter, and a light one.

Zucchini Blossom Batter

8 Zucchini/Squash Blossoms
1 Large Egg
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 Teaspoon Milk
Pinch of Salt

Rinse the blossoms taking care not to tear or bruise them. Beat egg thoroughly, add 1 teaspoon of milk and then sift in 2 tablespoons of flour, a pinch of sugar and mix thoroughly. Dredge zucchini blossoms in the batter making sure that it gets inside of the flowers. Tap lightly against the side of the bowl and when the oil is hot drop the battered blossoms in and cook until golden brown then drain oil on paper towels.

The result on the right were very attractive. The batter follows the shape of the flowers. The outside is crispy but the inside flower is light, soft and buttery. They were pleasant on their own but could be served with a variety of dipping sauces or spreads, like marscapone, a creamy lightened gorgonzola or even dressed just slightly with honey.

Hmm, I think I may have just found a dish for my menu. Now to get some plates to shoot them on before they go out of season.

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AT GRAM & GRAMPS': WESTFIELD, MASS.

My father is from Westfield, Massachusetts and my grandparents still live on land my great-grandfather, Sabatino Bovino, bought when he came from Italy. Sabatino was from Caserta, Southern Italy. The house, built by Arthur Bovino Sr., my grandfather, is on a hill on East Mountain Road. The hillside was terraced for grapes and gardens by my great-grandfather. My grandparents still grow corn, vegetables, and grapes.

From the ages of 8 to 13 if it was summertime my sister and I stayed with my grandparents while my father worked in Hong Kong and my mother went to school for her doctorate at Columbia University in New York.

During those summer months we played games in the large field behind the house, ate fresh corn on the cob, salads filled with garden tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuces on plates then straight out of the bowl, sugar cereals we weren't allowed at home and night after night quietly ate my grandmother's (Grandma Helen, right) cooking, spoiled by blueberry and apple pies, cream puffs and chocolate devil dogs.

When we visit now, as we did yesterday, we still come away with the spoils of my grandparents garden-tending and cooking. Above left, we sat by the picture window before dinner talking and snacking before sitting down at the table, right, to eat a seafood pasta over sliced tomato and dressed salad. After dinner we went for a walk in the garden and in the back field...

On the terraced levels next to the road on the way up to the house my grandfather has planted corn, squash, zucchini, and cucumber. Usually they grow eggplant too. But the cucumber plants have been nibbled away at this summer.

My grandfather says that a buck has been coming up the road from the fields across the street and snacking on the cucumber plants. Many animals visit the gardens, from bears and rabbits to racoons and deer.

Bears, rabbits and deer are left alone-- racoons are dealt with. My grandfather used to trap and drive them to the quarry across the street to let them go but he said they kept returning so he had to start doing something more final with them.

But the zucchini and the squash haven't been eaten by the local deer; vegetables awaited us in buckets on the porch. I'll do squash and eggs when we get back to New York; butter, pepper and salt and you've got a light, buttery lunch or dinner.

At the bottom of the plants were some zucchini blossoms ready to be picked. My sister said that in Italy, her boyfriend dips the blossoms in a light batter and then fries them. Interested in trying to do this myself, I picked some of the blossoms, trying to take mostly those which were on zucchini which were already growing otherwise there won't be any vegetables.

I carefully wrapped them in paper towels and put them in a plastic bag to bring home. We were able to get some pretty blossoms. I've never had them before and I'm not sure what they could be served with. I'll have a better idea tomorrow.

My great-grandfather didn't bring the Concord grapes from Italy, but he planted them more than a hundred years ago once he terraced the hillside. There are three rows of grape vines growing with the support of small metal posts and wire.

Tended after by my great-grandmother, Rosa Grimaldi and then my grandfather, above, the vines still produce. My grandparents harvest the grapes and make their own wine in the basement in large wood barrels. There are shelves of wines on the wall from the past two or three years, the grape silt settling at the bottom of large, old, wine jugs.

On one of the terrace-levels is a pear tree planted by my great-grandmother (originally from Ciorani, Salerno). It still bears fruit, more in fact than my grandfather can eat. A few years ago he had to cut off some of the larger branches because the tree was getting unmanageable, to the point of putting it in danger. But as you can see (at right) the tree is still very bountiful.

My grandmother bottles the pears in jars in a simple syrup. As you can see there are plenty of pears weighing down the boughs of the tree right now but they're hard as rocks and won't be ripe until the middle to or the end of August.

Up the road is the house to the left. I carelessly banged my head a couple more times than I'd care to admit on the pointed right eave of the roof while playing basketball with a hoop that used to be in the driveway. Blame that for my crazy ideas.

Up the slightly gravelled road is the swimming pool and the greenhouse, the shed for the tractor, and the place where my grandfather used to burn garbage in a large metal can. During the winter this was the safe hill I learned to ride a sled on when it was covered with snow. When we got older and more daring we'd slide down the front road and the back field on smooth, concave garbage can lids. Now that was fun.

We'd cool off in the pool after playing hide and seek, riding bikes, and marveling at the wrecks of old cars from the 1930's and 40's sunken into the forest behind it-- springs and rusted gears, worn-away dashboards, and faded colors.

Beyond the pool at the top of the ridge is a large field which used to be filled with corn. My grandparents planted different fruit trees there: plum trees, apple trees, cherry trees, and peach trees. To the right of the trees is an old shed built for the horse my uncle brought home many years ago. The horse made it a habit of jumping over the fence and running down the street to the neigbhors' houses.

After the horse died my grandparents used the shed to house steer. I remember 'Din-Din,' the most. As a kid I helped my grandfather toss corn stalks over the fence for him to eat. Not long after WE were eating 'Din-Din.'

This year there's not much fruit. There has been a lot of rain in Westfield and while the flowers on the trees bloomed, the rain kept the bees from pollinating. There were a few lonely apples on the branches. No homemade applesauce this year.

The same thing happened with the other fruit trees. There wasn't a plum or cherry to be seen (it's usually a battle with the birds to get any of that fruit anyway) and there were only a few peaches-- nothing much to speak of. Even more sad than no applesauce is no homemade pies made with garden fruit. Hopefully next year will be a little more promising.

Down the field on the other side is a smaller garden and along it a row of rasberry bushes. My uncle also has a house on the top of the ridge where he lives with his wife who happened on a bear sitting in the bush one day.

Last year I arrived too late for the berries. They'd been picked away at by the birds and the rest of them were dried up by a few late hot summer days in a row. It's a sad summer when you miss a chance to pick your own berries.

Today I went berry-picking determined to come away with something to show for it and I wasn't disappointed. I easily found a handful of bright red berries which I was more than willing to share with anyone who wanted some.

I munched on them on the way down to the bottom of the field. Slightly warm and a little wet from the rain storm which had just passed through, the berries were still a little firm, sweet and tasty. A very nice after-dinner treat.

At the very bottom of the hill is a mulberry tree I don't remember terribly well being there as a kid. It's the tree casting the shadow at the bottom of the field before the wall of trees. The land is surrounded by trees on three sides. They used to go a lot farther back and it was a thick forest in which as a kid you could almost get lost climbing over fallen trees, finding huge forest mushrooms we'd been told in no uncertain terms not to eat.

We used to go for walks in the forest with my grandfather, walking stick in hand looking for tiny red teaberries. Most of the land belonged to other people who have since sold off their parts to a school and housing development. We'd missed the berries by a week or two. There were only a few unripe berries left.

Close to the wall of trees on the left is a hole where my grandparents have been throwing food scraps for decades for the animals. You take away from the land and you give back to the wildlife.

Behind the scrap-pit is a blackberry bush. It's still a little early in the year for the bush to be bearing any fruit. The only thing missing here berry-wise as far as I'm concerned are strawberries. Yup, I'm spoiled.

When we got back to the house there was some fruit salad waiting for us. I ate the fruit while looking out the picture window at the field across the way. There used to be what I always thought of as a small rock mountain behind the field where my uncle took the snowmobile during the winter. But over the years the quarry has been at work until now, there's not even so much as a hill left to speak of.

In the basement on shelves below the stairs are lots of bottles and canning jars for fruit that my grandmother puts up. She also puts up eggplant and mushrooms in oil with herbs, hot pepper and garlic. They're really good on bread during colder months.

At the other end of the basement is the wine-making area. Grandma Helen tells me that on September the 26th to be exact, the Concord grapes are usualy ripe enough for them to pick.

Within a day or two they decide what and how much they have to work with. Then they crush the grapes in the crusher (at right, the tool at the back left against the wall) which breaks the skins to excrude the juices. They also have a screen under the crusher to catch as much of the stems as possible. This is all done in a large open barrel for fermenting.

Then they add their yeast and sugar to start the fermentation. They cover the barrel with clean, clear plastic for 6-7 days, depending on the color they want. My grandfather pushes the must down and stirs it up twice a day during fermentation. They drain the juices from the bottom spicket into a half barrel so they can transfer it to smaller, closed barrels. There the juice continues to ferment, and sugar is added to keep the process working and forming alcohol for 6 months or more.

A plastic bubbler lets air out but doesn't allow it in to the closed barrel. They test for color, flavor and alcohol levels. Then, when they're satisfied, they bottle it in gallons for their own use. By law, you are allowed to make 25 gallons per family.

The whole process takes from September 26th to about April. The bottle on the left is the 2005 wine I brought home with me from this trip (we've had a few glasses as you can see). On the right is a bottle of last year's wine, complete with the family label, a picure of my great-grandfather.

The label reads: Bovino's Fine Italian Concorde Table Wine

It's pretty strong stuff. As my grandfather warns with a smile, "Be careful, if you drink too much you'll become ubbriaco," which I understand to mean a drunk.

I came away with a few more gifts. My grandmother gave me some cookbooks she thought I might enjoy using. I'll be adding them to my library (which I plan to feature soon in one of the daily Kitchen Toro features). Grandma gave me four books:

The Art of Italian Cooking by Giuliano Bugialli
The Dean & Deluca Cookbook by David Rosengarten with Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca
The Italian Baker by Carol Field
The Short-Cut Cook by Jacques Pepin

She also gave me some old Cuisine magazines. They're full of recipes, not advertisements. While they seem to be more like home recipes, hey you never know, home-cooking can be found in a lot of haute cuisine places around the city!



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