Archive for September, 2008

I eagerly anticipate the arrival of the Fall season every year. It marks a new, warmer phase of my cooking. Tired of the light, quick meals of summer, I want the deeper, darker, more savory flavors of stews, braises, and soups. I crave the edgy flavors of winter greens like kale and chard and the heartiness of Brussels sprouts and broccoli.

This year’s first genuinely fall-like day – also my birthday – called for a celebratory feast.

Read the complete article at Spot-On.

Technorati: Food | essay | kevin d weeks | spot-on | fall cooking

I just renewed my subscription to Cook’s Illustrated, my favorite cooking magazine. For years and years before the World Wide Web and before cookbooks had become one of the largest categories in book stores I subscribed to Gourmet and Bon Appetit, because those magazines were the best bets for a varied collection of recipes. In those days the first step I took in planning a dinner party was to sit in the middle of the living room floor with all my back issues and a note pad and go through every issue – often multiple times – putting together a menu.

Read the complete article at SpotOn.

Technorati: Food | essay | kevin d weeks | spot-on | review

From Russia with Love

A couple of weeks back I got an email from the PR agency representing Golden Gourmet Mushrooms asking if I was interested in sampling their products. Being a mushroom lover I leapt at the chance and shortly thereafter received a box containing four kinds of mushrooms I’d never eaten before: Maitake, White and Brown Beech, and King Trumpet. I started planning my own private mushroom festival, and then developed a staph infection (nothing to do with the mushrooms which I hadn’t even opened) and spent the next week in the hospital totally zoned out on massive doses of IV antibiotics. Fortunately there was a brief period of lucidity before the drugs kicked in and I thought to tell my mother to grab the mushrooms before they went bad.

When I returned home a week later the mushrooms she didn’t take were still good. In fact one package of White Beech mushrooms was good three weeks after I received them. I have never, in my entire life, seen mushrooms keep for such a long period of time. However, I didn’t get to try everything I’d been sent and the company has been kind enough to send me another sampler – so I’m back to planning my mushroom festival again. In the meantime, though, I did try the White and Brown Beech mushrooms both raw and in two dishes. They have an oddly sweet flavor raw and would be excellent in a salad, but they cook to that savory goodness we all associate with mushrooms.
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Sounds like a headline from the tabloids, eh? But in fact it’s to some degree accurate – although it’s not a deliberate act – to say your government makes you fat. It’s another one of a case of unintended consequences that so bedevil our increasingly complicated world. But in this case we know who to blame: former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz.

Read the complete article at Spot-On.

Technorati: Food | essay | kevin d weeks | spot-on | obesity

A Pint and a Pie

I recently taught a class on English Pub Grub. In researching recipes for it I discovered that both hamburgers and, of all things, Buffalo Wings are standard pub fare these days as are the more expected Cornish Pasties and Fish and Chips. I wasn’t surprised to find a number of Indian dishes on the menus — the British have become notorious for their love of Indian.

I started the class with Chicken Tikka Masala, which some claim is now the English National Dish. I don’t know if that’s true, but I did find it on several menus and it seemed like a good starter.

The pièce de resistance was the Steak and Guinness Pie.

Bangers and Mash is one of the more famous pub dishes, and although I couldn’t find genuine bangers here in Knoxville some research showed that bangers are not particularly different from a mild Southern country sausage so I used country link sausage. Then I added horseradish to the mash (as a good English friend had taught me) and added onion gravy. I also made beer and cheddar soup at the suggestion of another British friend.
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Slap Your Momma Good

I first made this focaccia for A Year in Bread (the recipe is adapted from one by Daniel Leader in Local Breads) and to my surprise fell completely in love with it. As a friend of mine commented: “It’s so good it’d make you slap your momma.” I liked it so much I started looking for occasions to make it for clients and family to share the joy.

The first opportunity was a picnic I catered for a real estate agent at a new resort. The resort was intended for people who owned horses and the lots were about 25 acres each. I served lunch at an open pagoda above a lake – hoity-toity to say the least. As expected there were leftovers, sadly there was no leftover focaccia.

As expected there were leftovers, sadly there was no leftover focaccia.

Since that time I’ve made it for other clients and for family events – always to raves. It’s one of those odd flavor combinations bringing together bread, fresh rosemary, ripe grapes, and sea salt in a union that is far better tasting than the sum of its parts. The bread is delightfully sweet, moist, and chewy. The rosemary is a perfect flavor pairing with the sweet grapes (an added burst of sweetness), and the coarse salt provides both textural and flavor contrast.
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