Sat - April 29, 2006Pickled eggsI've never had a pickled egg, but the idea has
always appealed to me. So when a friend gave me a copy of Linda Ziedrich's
The Joy of
Pickling, the first thing I tried was
eggs.
Posted at 05:06 PM Read More Thu - April 14, 2005Kimchi — Day 12 — canningToday I transferred the kimchi to jars, and
tasted my wares.
Posted at 11:10 AM Read More Tue - April 5, 2005Sun - April 3, 2005Kimchi — Day 2I could hardly wait to open the refrigerator this
morning and check on the cabbage I salted yesterday.
Posted at 03:46 PM Read More Sat - April 2, 2005Kimchi — Day 1I eat lunch twice or even three times a week on
Telegraph in Oakland, in "Little Seoul" or "Kimchi Alley" or Korea-town or
whatever you want to call it.
I like jap jae and bul go gi and bi bim bap, but the real reason I go is the kimchi. Kimchi is the food of the gods. It clears the sinuses and fires the blood and mends little fermented-cabbage-shaped thin spots in my soul. (And it's naturally low in cholesterol.) I can't get enough of it. I clear out the panchan dish and ask for more. And then still more. The restaurateurs are invariably respectful but I think they're all laughing, suspecting that I'm doomed to painfully revisit the matter later in the day. While I grant that occasionally red pepper will have its revenge, I say: Let them laugh. So I'm going to make my own, and tell you about every step of the process. In part because it will be fun, and in part because it's not like I'm doing anything else with this blog; ever since I started Marching Orders, The Perishable Lifestyle has definitely been languishing. Posted at 06:41 PM Read More Thu - February 10, 2005Tandoori-esque grilled chickenMy dad was from India and my mom hails from
Kentucky. We ate Indian food occasionally but it was usually a sort of
compromise between Bombay bazaar and Better Homes &
Gardens.
This is a version of what my mom called "tandoori chicken" -- it never saw the inside of a clay oven, but the ingredients are true to the authentic item. No red food coloring here, but you can add a few drops if you want it to be restaurant red. Two things are obnoxious about making this at a barbecue: 1. It takes a while (20 minutes for each batch). 2. Your hostess will get angry at you for stealing the show (but she'll keep emailing you for the recipe). This recipe makes 12 pieces of chicken, and serves 6-10 people depending on what else is coming off the grill. Posted at 01:00 PM Read More Thu - February 3, 2005Braised lamb shoulder with white beansThis dish is both festive and comforting:
Succulent, fork-tender (if not spoon-tender) meat and beans give it a homey
heartiness, while the complexity and intensity of the broth and the clean bright
kick from the gremolata constantly remind you that it's something special.
I served this at an informal family reunion (brothers, sister-in-law, and a couple of friends) and everyone loved it. It served six with leftovers. A side dish (kale) was superfluous. This is a full meal. Posted at 09:24 AM Read More Mon - January 31, 2005Dr. P's California Barbecue SauceThis infamous tamarind concoction was first made
in Pasadena in 2002. It's a careful blend of Asian and Central American flavors,
and was designed with an Asian flavor balance (hot, sour, salty, sweet) in mind.
Plenty of
umami,
so it's good with grilled vegetables and white meats that don't have a lot of
their own.
I think of this as a brushing sauce, to be layered on a slow-cooked item (e.g., pork ribs) so that the flavors can marry and complexify. I've never used it as a dipping sauce, but I know that would be good. By the time I'm done tuning the flavors, I can't stop tasting it. This recipe makes about four cups, and can be readily scaled up. Posted at 02:51 PM Read More Fri - January 28, 2005Cioppino "imperiale"My own interpretation of this San Francisco (not Italian) classic.
At least once, it was the best thing I ever made. Posted at 04:02 PM Read More Mon - January 3, 2005Baked ziti with slow-cooked pork raguI made this on New Year's Eve last year for a
fairly demanding and sophisticated foodie crowd.
Originally I'd just wanted to make something that could be prepared a day before and heated up with minimal effort during the evening -- we'd spent the day on a limousine tour of champagne vineyards in Sonoma County, and we'd known in advance that we'd likely be incapacitated enough that cooking an elaborate meal from scratch would be well nigh impossible. But even with a tough crowd, the dish was a hit far beyond my wildest imagining. As they ate, the other guests spoke of comforting baked pasta dishes they'd eaten over the course of their lives, and the contexts in which they were served, and their memories of family and friends. They laughed a lot. They drank a lot. And even after a day of champagne and a huge lunch at Willi's Wine Bar, they wouldn't...stop...eating. The next day, people were calling the hostess and announcing their intention to return...but only if there was more of that baked ziti. This is something to spend your time on; the sauce repays the love you put into it. The sour cream, which I originally thought of as a cheap trick, confers an ineffable richness and pleasantly surprising tartness, preventing the fatigue that would otherwise set in sometime during your third helping. Share it with a big group of your dearest friends, in your favorite room in the world. This recipe serves eight people for two days. :-) Posted at 09:59 AM Read More |