Champagne Revealed as Major Source of Pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pronounced on Dec. 7 that it intends to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, now that it has labeled greenhouse gases as dangerous pollutants. This means that Champagne has now been declared a major producer of global warming pollution.

Each bottle of Champagne has 20 million tiny bubbles of CO2 pressurized naturally in the bottle at about 6 times atmospheric pressure. Last year roughly 332 million bottles of Champagne were sold globally, meaning that approximately 6,640,000,000,000,000 tiny spheres of the deadly gas were emitted in an alcoholic haze of mass suicide. The EPA released no mortality figures on the carnage.

From my own personal observations this blog editor can report that inhaling the nectar of Champagne CO2 vapors does indeed make the world seem warmer, at least in my immediate vicinity. At times one even has an urge to remove one's clothing.

The technology that is seemingly the most promising for solving this vexing EPA problem is CO2 capture. Test plant facilities are under construction that seek to pump CO2 into the ground and store it for natural dissipation over time. Of course the world's oceans are collectively the largest CO2 sink there is, holding billions of tons of CO2, however some scientists predict that the oceans are nearly saturated.

In the case of Champagne proposed EPA regulations will require each purchaser of a bottle of Champagne to agree to first inhale the CO2 bubbles as they release, thus in effect becoming a CO2-sink for that bottle. This will quite naturally lead to an extreme sensation of light headedness, which is the whole point in the first place. This will also no doubt lead to a new set of laws for DUI/CO2.

I’m just saying…

Richard Wottrich, Blog Editor

So Where Does Omega-3 Fish Oil Come From?

We all have been told that omerga-3 fatty acids are beneficial to our health. Many of us buy supplements as a way of getting our omega-3 fatty acids, which studies show lower triglycerides and the risk of heart attack. But where do these supplements come from?

That question occurred to New York Times writer Paul Greenberg in his article entitled "A Fish Oil Story."

Says Greenberg, "The deal with fish oil, I found out, is that a considerable portion of it comes from a creature upon which the entire Atlantic coastal ecosystem relies, a big-headed, smelly, foot-long member of the herring family called menhaden, which a recent book identifies in its title as “The Most Important Fish in the Sea.”"

The menhaden, also known as mossbunker, bunker and pogy, are (were) plentiful, cheap and an excellent source of omerga-3. Naturally the “fly in the ointment” is that we are overfishing the menhaden to the point of no return. The menhagen is a forager, which means they clean seawater by eating algae. If you remove millions of these fish from the ecosystem the quality of seawater suffers as a result.

Interestingly enough most fish cannot produce omerga-3 oils. "Blue fin tuna, striped bass, redfish and bluefish are just a few of the diners at the menhaden buffet. All of these fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids but are unable themselves to synthesize them. The omega-3s they have come from menhaden." So by removing the menhaden we remove the major source of omerga-3 up the food chain in other fish we consume as well.

So as usual the overpopulation of earth by humans, coupled with demand for a basic product, as implemented through the exploitation of the cheapest source possible, will have a significant impact on our environment.

Is there an alternative to the menhaden as a source of omerga-3? Of course there is - flax oil.

Richard L. Wottrich, Blog Editor

Lucy Waverman's top foreign cookbooks of 2009

The Globe and Mail

Compendium of new 2009 international cookbooks.

AD HOC AT HOME: Family-Style Recipes
By Thomas Keller, Artisan, $65 - Thomas Keller is a culinary icon. He has more Michelin stars than any other American chef (and maybe the world). His top restaurants (the French Laundry and Per Se) are brilliant, and his reign continues.

Because his French Laundry Cookbook is perfect in style and content, but virtually impossible for the home cook to use, Keller addresses the issue with Ad Hoc At Home, recipes from his casual family-style restaurant in Yountville, CA. Don't think of diving into this book after arriving home to make dinner for your family. With a chef as intense and detail-orientated as Keller, the recipes contain everything you need to know, which means that they may be long and time-consuming but they work like a dream. My husband spent two days painstakingly brining and cooking the fried chicken, a signature recipe and the harbinger of the current fried-chicken craze. It was succulent and crispy.

The “becoming a better cook” section is full of pertinent information, and Keller has included “light bulb” moments: down-to-earth advice on everything from dating preserved products to peeling cooked beets with a paper towel.

Bouchon L.A.

Rock lobster ( Alex Gallardo, Los Angeles Times / November 24, 2009 ) - The top plate of the chilled seafood platter at the Bouchon.

DNA 'Barcodes' Surface Fishy Imposters on Menus

Over the years there have been several instances when I thought that the fish I was being served in a fine restaurant was not what the menu stipulated. There really isn’t much you can do about it, except return the entrée. Now there are validations of my suspicions. Richard Wottrich, Blog Editor

Researchers Use Gene Segments to Settle Restaurant Mysteries, Check Stream Quality and Take Inventory of All Living Things

Researchers using a new DNA test recently discovered that fish ordered from menus in New York and Denver might not always be the species served. Sampling the fare at 31 sushi bars, scientists at the American Museum of Natural History found that customers who ordered tuna were sometimes served a cheaper substitute, an endangered species or a fish banned in several countries as a health hazard.

Scaled, sliced and hand-rolled, the eight most marketable species in the tuna genus Thunnus are prime candidates for honest error -- or bait and switch. On a plate, these wild tuna are almost identical, but sushi lovers especially prize the three species of bluefin tuna, whose annual catch was sharply curtailed last month. To identify the premium filets, the museum researchers singled out a short piece of genetic code naturally found in fish cells that, for the first time, can reliably label each of the eight species like a grocery store's inventory tag. The researchers call it a DNA barcode.

More than a way to monitor menu mistakes, the development of the barcode arises from the need to tighten enforcement of regulations on tuna fishing. Regulators had no way to accurately identify which species of tuna had been sold, as required by an international convention on endangered species.

The museum researchers believe their DNA barcode, reported last month in the journal PLoS One, satisfies that requirement. "We want to be able to monitor the trade," says Sergios-Orestis Kolokotronis at the museum's Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, who helped conduct the study. Concerned about overfishing, the government of Monaco recently proposed a global ban on trade in the northern bluefin tuna species, which will be considered at a March meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Qatar.

More broadly, the tuna DNA barcode is the latest application of genetic markers for biodiversity bookkeeping, which is quickly gaining international acceptance. Centers for DNA barcoding have opened recently in Canada and Mexico, with national facilities under development in China, France, Poland and the Netherlands.

The largest is the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario at the University of Guelph in Canada, where the technique was pioneered in 2003. There, researchers have culled barcode data from 750,000 specimens to create a reference library for about 100,000 species. "By 2015, I am confident we will have registered five million barcode records and at least 500,000 species," says Guelph biologist Paul Hebert.

As new barcode biomarkers become available, they are posted online in the Barcode of Life Data System, which encompasses findings from 300 global barcoding projects. The goal is nothing less than a DNA barcode for every living thing -- 10 million species or more.

Combined with traditional taxonomic techniques, a DNA barcode can make species identification as easy as name, rank and serial number.

Each of these inventory tags relies on a fraction of a single gene located in every cell's mitochondria. Unlike the genes in a cell's nucleus, though, this mitochondrial DNA isn't scrambled when the cell normally divides during reproduction. The gene segment mutates quickly enough so that scientists can distinguish closely related species but slowly enough that individuals of the same species have similar barcodes. With it, researchers can link tissue to its formal scientific identity and to all of the other specimens, field notes, lab studies and species data already on file.

"Used correctly, it is a great tool," says marine biologist Phaedra Doukakis at Stony Brook University in New York, who is using DNA tests to verify the labelling of commercial caviar.

As a practical matter, proponents promise that DNA barcodes will improve the international regulation of public health, agricultural imports and the environment. "We think the regulatory implications of this are really important," says David Schindel, executive secretary of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

"This is something that has a number of applications and potential benefits in fisheries and the seafood market," says Jeremy Brown, vice president of the Commercial Fishermen of America. Techniques like DNA barcoding, he says, could give "the consumer the confidence to value the seafood they buy."

Already, U.S. regulators are trying it out. At the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's national exposure research laboratory, population geneticist Mark Bagley is testing how quickly and accurately DNA barcodes can identify the insects whose presence or absence is used to gauge stream quality. The telltale insect larvae can be hard to distinguish from those of other aquatic bugs.

At the Smithsonian's feather identification laboratory, researchers use DNA barcodes to identify the remains of birds that flew into aircraft, handling 5,000 cases for the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. military so far this year. "You can't do anything about the problem until you know what it is," says ornithologist Carla Dove, who manages the laboratory.

In the Fish Barcode of Life Initiative, researchers so far have assembled DNA barcodes for 7,335 species of fish -- out of 30,000 known varieties.

At a minimum, they are hoping to dispel commercial confusion. Under U.S. regulations, for example, 33 species can be sold as grouper. Common market names are at odds with formal taxonomic labels and vary from region to region. One man's red mullet is another man's spotted goatfish.

When Dr. Hebert and his colleagues at Guelph last month tested fish at 18 restaurants in Canada, they found that almost half the orders served were mislabeled. You order Red Snapper and it's Tilapia nearly every time.

Likewise, the researchers from the American Museum of Natural History also found the sushi menu an unreliable guide. In all, they tested 68 servings of tuna sushi, ordering the raw fish at 31 eateries ranging from the Michelin-starred Nobu to a corner convenience store.

Their barcoding tests confirmed that sushi sold by Nobu as bigeye tuna was correctly labeled, but the tuna sold at half the other restaurants frequently was not, the researchers reported. Five of nine sushi servings sold as albacore tuna, for example, were actually a fish called escolar, which is banned in Italy and Japan because it can cause gastrointestinal illness.

Still, it will be a long time before a DNA barcoder shows up as a consumer appliance. For now, the lab test usually costs about $5 and takes 90 minutes or so.

Jacob Lowenstein, who devised the tuna DNA barcode, envisions an iPhone-like device that can produce instantaneous species identifications. "That's still far from reality," he says.

Write to Robert Lee Hotz at sciencejournal@wsj.com

Topolobampo

Topolobampo has the narrow focus and conviviality of a French Bistro on a cold Paris evening. Last night we dined to the myriad tastes and smells that are the essence of the Ric Bayless experience – nuanced Mexican cuisine, perhaps as it has never been or imagined. It is a dining destination of inspired chaos and cacophony of movement.

Tasting menus can often be the refuge of failed imagination, but those designed by Bayless are complex and build upon wines perfectly matched. It is in their sauces that Bayless reaches the pinnacle of his art – complex and always surprising. This is not your childhood memory of a Mexican restaurant.

Chipotle Peanut Salsa for Grilled Vegetables

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

1 pound (6 to 8 medium) tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1/3 to 1/2 ounce (3 to 5) dried red chipotle chiles (aka moritas), stemmed
1 small white onion, sliced 1/4-inch thick
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce
Salt
About 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Directions

1. Toast and roast. Roast the tomatillos on a rimmed baking sheet about 4 inches below a very hot broiler until soft and blackened in spots, about 5 minutes per side. Cool, then scrape into a blender jar.

Meanwhile, heat a small (6-inch) ungreased skillet over medium, toast the chipotle, stirring until very aromatic, about a minute. Scoop into a small bowl, cover with hot tap water and soak for about 30 minutes, stirring from time to time to ensure even rehydration.

Turn the oven down to 425 degrees. Spread the onion and garlic on another baking sheet, slide into the oven and roast for about 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes until the onions are golden—they’ll look a little wilted with a touch of char on some of the edges. The garlic should feel soft and be browned in spots. Cool.

2. Finish the salsa. Drain the chiles and scrape them into the blender jar along with the tomatillos, peanuts, worcestershire or soy sauce and 3/4 cup water. Pick out the garlic from the onions and add it to the blender. (If all this is too much for your blender, blend in 2 batches.) Blend until nearly smooth. Roughly chop the onion, add it to the blender and pulse a few times until you’ve got as chunky (or smooth) a salsa as you like. Stir in enough additional water to give the salsa an easily spoonable consistency. Taste and season with salt, usually about 1 teaspoon, and the optional sugar. Serve with your favorite grilled vegetables.

445 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: 312-661-1434, ax: 312-661-1830

Understanding Your Food

In this blogger's Knol entitled "Ten Principals of Healthy Eating" I emphasize that you should know your food's origin and buy local when possible. There are reasons for this, as exemplified by a recent HBO documentary.

The new HBO documentary "Death on a Factory Farm" takes a harrowing look at animal cruelty in an Ohio factory hog farm.

Each year, ten billion animals are raised for consumption in the U.S., mostly on sprawling, industrialized farms, where virtually no federal laws mandate how the animals are treated - though guidelines exist - and state laws are ineffective. As a result, animals are frequently subjected to what many consider cruel treatment and inhumane conditions in the interest of economic efficiency. Death on a Factory Farm chronicles an investigation into alleged abuses that took place at a hog farm in Creston, Ohio. This shocking documentary is produced by Tom Simon (a seven-time Emmy® winner) and Sarah Teale, producer of the 2006 HBO special "Dealing Dogs," which received two Emmy® nominations, including Best Documentary.

This is not pretty to be sure, but it is a wakeup call to pay attention to what you buy to eat, and what you buy your family to eat. You wouldn't drink dirty water out of a ditch, so why would you buy meat from animals horribly abused? You wouldn't and I would not either. Knowledge is everything.

Richard Wottrich

Raclette - The Pleasures of Melted Cheese

Raclette Plate, Alpage de la Peule, Tour du Mont Blanc, Switzerland (Photos: RLW)

Raclette comes from Valais. Based on a variety of regional cheeses, it was a meal for farmers and alpine herdsmen. In the distant past someone put a cheese wheel too close to the fire and the Swiss discovered that melted cheese was delicious. Raclette was born. The term Raclette derives from the French 'racler', meaning "to scrape."

Traditionally the dish is composed of melted cheese, jacket potatoes (Bintje, Charlotte or Raclette varieties) and pickles. On our 2008 Tour du Mont Blanc a host of savories were offered including cured meats, pickled onions, sliced peppers, tomato, mushrooms, and pears. The plate is then dusted with paprika and fresh-ground black pepper.

Gomser or Bagnes are the cheeses of choice today. They have a creamy consistency and do not run when heated. The Raclette oven or grill is the tool of choice. Large Raclette cheese rounds are cut in half and three are mounted cut-side up. Two are under the heating elements, while the third is presented to be scraped onto diners' plates.

Richard Wottrich

Tokyo crowned new gourmet capital by Michelin

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA (AP)

TOKYO — The Epicurean king who oversees the Michelin Guide fears he may be banished from France. His shocking crime?

Awarding Tokyo more three-star restaurant ratings than Paris, thereby crowning the Japanese metropolis the new gastronomic capital of the world. "Trust me, they'll wait for me at customs there," Jean-Luc Naret, director general of the famed guide to exceptional eateries, joked Thursday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. "Because they'll say how dare could you have more three-stars in Tokyo than in Paris?"

Michelin's latest Tokyo edition goes on sale in Japan on Friday, and Naret has been in town this week promoting what many consider to be the bible of culinary skill. This time, Michelin's undercover team of inspectors has bestowed its highest three-star rating to 11 restaurants in Tokyo, one more than in Paris.

Tokyo also beats Paris in the total number of stars received — 261 awarded to 197 establishments. That's 34 more than when the venerable guide made its Asian debut in Japan in 2007.

Michelin's ranking system considers the quality, consistency and value of a restaurant's food, with three stars designating "exceptional cuisine, and worth the journey," without taking into account the service or ambiance, according to the guide.

The first Tokyo edition sold 300,000 copies — 150,000 of which were snapped up in the first 24 hours. Since then, Michelin has released guides for Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Osaka and Kyoto in western Japan.

Not everyone in Japan was pleased that Michelin had landed in Tokyo. Critics attacked its culinary selections. Some chefs said they didn't want to be in the book. Others questioned how a group of foreigners could judge Japanese food.

To mollify naysayers, the company used only Japanese inspectors for the 2010 Tokyo edition, Naret said. placating his fellow Frenchman may be another matter.

"Forget everything that you know about Japanese food," Naret said he would like to tell Parisians. "Just go to the other side of the world, and you will understand what Japanese food is all about."

Naret added that statistically speaking, it's not really a fair contest. Tokyo is home to 160,000 restaurants, compared to 60,000 in Paris. And France still wins the country count with 25 three-star establishments nationwide to Japan's 18.

Butternut Squash & Pine Nuts Seven-Minute Risotto


Risotto is perhaps as sublime an Italian dish as exists. Classic risotto is the result of a single immutable technique that requires 25-35 minutes of preparation to achieve its unique consistency, or so I thought. I have always made risotto in a classic heavy cast iron frying pan, but I did not prepare it often because of the time commitment involved.

In mentioning this to my sister Sandy a few years ago, she casually remarked that she made her risotto in a pressure cooker in seven minutes! Seven minutes! “It couldn’t be the same,” I protested. “You can’t tell the difference” she replied with smug assuredness. Because Sandy is my younger sister, I of course ignored her tip for several months until I saw reference to it in a cooking magazine.

The foundation to creating the layers of flavor in a risotto is in what the Italians call the soffritto: onion and sometimes garlic sautéed in either butter or olive oil (or try shallots and fennel). This classic risotto starts from the soffritto and adds the subtle flavors of Butternut squash and pine nuts; a wonderful comfort food risotto that will surprise you.

3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 ounce butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups Italian Arborio long grain rice
1 cup white wine
2+ cups chicken stock (or veal stock)
1 Butternut squash, peeled, cored and cubed into bite sized squares
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
grated Parmigiano-Reggiano Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese
cracked pepper and salt to taste
chopped herbs as you wish (lemon thyme is great)

Preparation: 1. Heat the olive oil in your pressure cooker pot and sauté the garlic and onions evenly until just translucent (about 3 minutes). 2. Put the rice into the pot and sauté it briefly until the oil has coated all the grains. 3. Add the chicken stock, wine and the cubed Butternut squash, lock the top on the pressure cooker (follow its instructions carefully). 4. Bring to high heat until the steam begins to vent, reduce the heat to gain steady venting and cook for seven minutes. 5. When the seven minutes are up, carefully run cold water on the pressure cooker until no steam vents. 6. Open the pot and put the rice into a large mixing bowl. 7. Add the butter, cheese, herbs, toasted pine nuts, salt and pepper (to your taste) into the rice and toss gently. Add more warm chicken stock if the risotto is too thick – it should slowly “pool” on a plate when served. 8. Let the risotto stand for about three minutes and then serve.

Notes: The wonder of risotto is that you can experiment with any ingredients you like. Some believe that chicken stock produces a little too sharp of a broth. Many great risotto dishes use veal broth instead. When adding more delicate meats, as with shrimp or fish, it is better to prepare them separately and add them to the risotto at the end. Hardy pre-cooked meats, as with sausage, ham or pancetta, may be added up front with the other ingredients. Clams or mussels can be added afterwards, but they should be cooked ahead of the risotto so that their juices can be added to the risotto stock in order to impart their delicate flavors. The grated cheese is always added at the last, and if one were to blanket the dish with shaved white truffles, the angels themselves will join you at the table.

The Wottrich's 27th Anniversary Dinner

November 14, 2009

An Ode to Mario Batali

Amuse-bouche

Organic Chicken Liver Pate with Lemon Thyme, Pomegranate Molasses & Fresh Cranberries

1999 Veuve Clicquet Ponsardin Champagne

First Course

Grilled Shrimp, Corona White Beans, Rosemary, Arugula & Mint Oil (Gamberoni alla Toscana)

2007 La Lcianna GAVI

Second Course – German Time Out

Richard’s Steak Tartare with Pickled Onions & Cornichons

Third Course

Papaya, Pineapple & Lemon Grass Sherbet

2007 George Gustav HUFF Riesling

Fourth Course

Braised Pork “Black Rooster” (Brasato di Maiale Nero) with Butternut Squash Risotto

2007 Bacca Rossa Sicilia

Fifth Course

Shaved Fennel, Red Grapefruit, Pecorino & Pomegranate Salad (Finocchi e Tarocchi)

2007 PISATO Montepulciano

Desert Course

Sharon’s Biscotti, Sugar-Coated Red Grapes & Italian Cheeses

2005 Malaga, Jorge Ordonez & Co.

Royal Son-in-Law Eggs

This is an adaptation of Travels with Thai Food's

Peanut Oil for saute & deep fry

8 oz minced deboned chicken thighs

1 Cup Tamarind Water (Soak the insides scrapings of a few Tamarind Pods in hot water & strain)

1/2 cup palm or raw cane sugar

4 Tbsp fish sauce

2 Tbsp shrimp paste

2 chopped green onions

10 cloves slice garlic

1/2 Cup shallots chopped

8 hard boiled eggs, peeled

dried bird chillies soaked in water until re hydrated

1 Serrano Chile seeded & chopped finely

Cilantro chopped roughly

This dish smells AWFUL when you cook it but is one of my favorite dishes. Hodges Soiliel's puffed up chicken says it all...it is hot but oh so good!

Heat oil in large pan or wok, add chicken, cook until firm. Add tamarind water, palm sugar, fish sauce and stir in shrimp paste (this is the awful smelly part) simmer until shrimp paste dissolved, mixture reduces. Add green onion & set aside. Place enough oil to cover eggs (you can do them one at a time) heat oil to at least 350 place bird's eye chilies in oil (pat dry first) and deep fry garlic w/ chillies until golden, remove. Deep fry shallots & Serrano chilies until golden, remove. Place garlic & onions in sauce. Add eggs and fry until golden (about 5 minutes, turning frequently) . Quarter eggs, add chillies, onions, garlic to chicken sauce.

Place eggs on a platter, cover w/sauce & sprinkle chopped cilantro over all. Great as a first course with a little Basmati rice.

CoolCooksShare Factoid - Irrorateur (The Original Glade)

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1 April 1755, Belley, Ain – 2 February 1826, Paris) was a French lawyer and politician, and gained fame as an epicure and gastronome: "Grimod and Brillat-Savarin. Between them, two writers effectively founded the whole genre of the gastronomic essay."

Irrorateur - A type of spray gun, invented by Brillat-Savarin, which was used to perfume rooms, especially the dining room. Brillat-Savarin wrote in the preface to La Physiologie du gout, "I submitted to the council of the Society for the Encouragement of National Industries my irrorateur, a piece of apparatus invented by me, which is none other than a compressor spray that can fill a room with perfume. I had brought the spray with me, in my pocket. It was well-filled. I turned on the tap and, with a hissing sound, out came the sweet-smelling vapour which rose right up to the ceiling and then fell in tiny drops on the people present and on their papers. It was then that I witnessed, with indescribable pleasure, the heads of the wisest men in the capital bending under my irrorateur. I was enraptured to note that the wettest among them were also the happiest."

The pedantic name of the device comes from the Latin verb irrorare, meaning to sprinkle or to bedew.

The Spice House - Best in Class

Spices, St. Jean-Pier-du-Port, France (Photo: RLW)

Shop for Spices and Seasonings at the best in class emporium located in Evanston, Illinois USA (five stores in all). The Spice House is a merchant of the highest quality, hand-selected and hand-prepared spices and herbs. Their high turnover insures freshness - I have been shopping there for years and have always been very pleased - especially by the amazing variety they offer. Just as importantly you can purchase very small quantities, lowering your opportunity cost when small amounts of a spice are required for an unusual recipe.

From their web site: "Our philosophy has always been to make you the freshest product by small, weekly batch grinding to ensure you the highest quality spices for your cooking needs. We import spices from countries of origin which have the highest recommendations for premium quality. Often, we offer several selections of origin so that you can sample the subtle variations and decide upon your own personal preference. The tools of our trade are a series of large stainless-steel scoops, mixing bowls, sifting screens of various mesh sizes, a small vibrating sifter, a collection of old-style stone and shearing mills, and most importantly, our human senses."

Second generation owners Tom and Patty Erd are knowledgeable merchants dedicated to their trade.

Richard Wottrich, Blog Editor

Simple Veal Escalopes

4 Veal Escalopes pounded thin

1/2 C flour

Salt & Pepper

1/2 C Parmesan cheese grated thinly

Juice of 1 lemon

Assortment of wild mushrooms (Hen of the Woods or Boletus are especially nice in this)

Flat leaf parsley chopped finely

Butter

1/2 - 1/4 C Veal stock (enough to moisten)

1/2 C Marsala

Nutmeg

Salt & pepper

Dredge the veal. Saute lightly & quickly until golden crisp on high heat, add the mushrooms for another 2 minutes at most, sprinkle the cheese, add the Marsala, stock, & the cream allow flavors to meld with the heat reduced for another 5 minutes at most. Sprinkle with parsley & grate a little nutmeg to finish. Great over toast or egg noodles...a simplest of fall suppers. This is an adaptation of one of my favorite Elizabeth David standards of a classic Bolognese dish. Sadie Valeri's lovely silver cream pitcher, plate & wax paper hanging at http://www.mgalleryoffineart.com/ somehow evokes the same simplicity and completeness for me.

Butternut Squash & Kale Winter Soup

Kelly Proudfit modified a recipe for this soup and she reports that it turned out so well...they all loved it! Kelly said, "Super healthy and tastes great."

1  large bunch of Kale (leaves chopped, discard stems)
2  cans 14oz Cannellini beans
1  large butternut squash (peeled, seeded and cut into small 1-inch cubes)
1  yellow onion, chopped
2  cloves minced garlic
1  tablespoon olive oil
5  cups chicken stock (lowfat- low sodium)
    salt and pepper to taste

Cook chopped onions and minced garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. In large stock pot add the chicken stock, cooked onions and garlic, beans, and cubed squash. Cook for 30 minutes on medium heat and then add the Kale. Cook for another 20 minutes on low heat. You can also just throw it all in a crock pot and let it cook all day.

Serve in bowls and top with fresh grated parmesan cheese. Sooooo good. Especially next day. Kids will like the soup if you strain it and just give them butternut squash pieces. They are sweet and the beans are good as well.

Kelly Proudfit

CoolCooksShare Factoid #1 - Turkey Giblets à l'Anglaise (Abatis de Dinde à l'Anglaise) [French for "in the English style," meaning food that is simply poached or boiled.]

In classic French cooking, the pieces of giblets, after a preliminary cooking with sliced onions and potatoes, are taken out, put in another shallow pan, covered with about 20 blanched small onions and the same number of cooked new potatoes and then the juice they were cooked in is passed through a sieve and poured over the giblets, onions and potatoes.

Larousse Gastronomique, 1961

Ribbon Celeriac Salad
Another great salad from Jamie Oliver

A wonderful Fall vegetable, celeriac is a fresh and crunchy alternative to lettuce in this salad by Jamie Oliver; a play on the traditional French Celeriac Rémoulade. The flavor notes of celeriac are celery, with a milder, nuttier flavor, and hints of anise. Celeriac is nutritionally useful, in the same family as carrots, coriander, cumin, fennel, parsley and lovage.

1  celeriac root (celery root), peeled
1  bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
2  anchovies, finely chopped (optional)
2  heaping tablespoons fine capers, chopped or whole to your taste
2  heaping tablespoons small sweet and sour gherkins, chopped
5  tablespoons crème fraîche (substitute whipped cream)
1  heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
3  tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2  tablespoons sherry, red or white wine vinegar, to your taste
    sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to your taste

Clean and peel the celeriac until you reach its white flesh; then continue peeling in long strips. It’s OK if they break occasionally. Put the strips in acidulated water to prevent discoloring. When you reach the fluffy inner core, discard it. Discard any thick stalks from the parsley and rough cut the thin stalks and leaves. Put the drained celeriac and parsley in a large bowl and mix in all the other ingredients. Season to your taste, adding more vinegar if necessary. I added an optional ingredient of chopped pickled little onions. It would be interesting to substitute crumpled bacon for the anchovies.

Served as a side salad with hearty meat-sauce spaghetti this was super. This would also be great covered in thinly cut smoked Salmon, or as a side dish with cold roasted chicken.

Wedding Dinner

Mr. & Mrs. Wilfred Wottrich

Tuesday, November 23, 1920

Willoughby Mansion

M. Cahn - Caterer

Brooklyn, New York USA

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Oyster Cocktail

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Consommé en Tasse

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HORS D’OEUVRES

Celery ~ Olives ~ Gherkins ~ Almonds

~~~~~

FISH

Kenneber Salmon Sauce Hollandaise

Parsley Potatoes

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ENTRÉE

Sweetbread Financiere Casserole

French Peas

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Fresh Beef Tongue a la Polonaise

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Sherbet

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ROAST

Long Island Duckling ~ Compot

Roast Chicken ~ Parisian Potatoes

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DESSERT

French Pastry ~ Cream a la Fantasie ~ Cafe Noir

Mineral Water

Condé Nast Closing Down Gourmet

The New York Times noted, "[Gourmet] has suffered a severe decline in ad pages, but the cut still comes as a shock. There was speculation that Condé Nast would close one of its food titles - Gourmet or Bon Appétit - but most bets were on the latter. Gourmet has a richer history than Bon Appétit, and its editor, Ruth Reichl, is powerful in the food world.

(Editor's Note: To me Gourmet was primarily a travel magazine that taught me at a young age what was possible in the world. It shall be missed.)

CoolCooksShare Factoid - Crème de Cassis & Kir
 
Crème de cassis is a black currant liqueur (cassis is the botanical name for black currant) that was made famous by a priest, Chanoine (canon) Félix Kir (1876 - 1968). The priest was well-known as a fervent opponent of the Nazis, assisting thousands of resistance fighters to escape.

During WWII he was elected Mayor of Dijon. Dijon liquor factories at the time were fighting for survival due to the war. Kir would always give a guest a glass of white wine and Cassis, in line with an old tradition. Hence he kept alive the tradition of the Blanc-Cassis, which in time became known as the apéritif Kir.

To make a Kir the crème de cassis is poured first into the wine glass, followed by an acidic white wine. The International Bartenders Association gives a recipe using 1/10 crème de cassis, but French sources typically specify more; 19th century recipes for blanc-cassis recommended 1/3 crème de cassis, and modern sources typically about 1/5.

The white wine can be any wine, but many prefer a white Chardonnay-based Burgundy, such as Chablis. When ordering a Kir, waiters in France sometimes ask whether you want it made with crème de cassis (black currant), de mûre (blackberry) or de pèche (peach). A Kir Royal is made with Champagne or a white sparkling wine.

Blog Editor - Richard Wottrich

Sautéed Shrimp in Pastis

Norwegian Shrimp Boat (Photo: RLW)

"To know how to eat is to know enough." Old Basque Saying

The start for this recipe comes from “The Basque Kitchen” by chef Gerald Hirigoyen. We have visited and enjoyed his restaurant Fringale in San Francisco (now morphed into Piperade), where he and his wife Cameron reside. We first became acquainted with the Basque Region by virtue of meeting Tony Paget’s wife, Mercedes, in Paris in 2000. Mercedes is Basque and she told us stories about her people. Subsequently in 2005 we took a Backroads hiking trip through the Grand Pyrenees of both Spain and France and had variations of this dish.

The spirit behind this version is to adapt what is essentially a summer dish into a winter dish, by roasting fresh tomatoes for more intense flavor.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 stick unsalted butter
2 pounds uncooked shrimp (16-20 per pound), shelled and deveined, 4 to 5 per person.
20 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 medium bulb of fennel, trimmed and sliced thinly
5 tablespoons pastis
½ cup dry white wine
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives
Kosher or sea salt to taste
Freshly cracked pepper to taste

Preparation: 1. Preheat an oven to 300 degrees. Place the 40 halves of tomatoes cut side up on a cookie sheet. Drizzle the olive oil over the tomatoes; sprinkle on sea salt and the rosemary. Add ground black pepper. Roast in the oven for two hours or until they resemble sun dried tomatoes. Reserve. 2. Shell and devein the shrimp. Reserve over ice. 2. Heat the butter in a large sauté pan. Add the fennel and sauté about five minutes until just soft, stirring frequently (do not overcook). 3. Add the tomatoes, shrimp and garlic and the pastis, ignite and flambé until the flame dies away. 4. Turn the heat down. Add the lemon juice, basil, parsley and chives. Adjust salt and pepper to your taste. Swirl the pan over the heat until the shrimp are completely covered in sauce. (Do not boil the sauce.)

Note: Wild caught Key West, Gulf of Mexico, or Alaskan shrimp are preferred. Much of our shrimp today comes frozen from shrimp farms in Viet Nam, Thailand, Indonesia and Brazil. China has become a huge exporter of farmed white shrimp as well. These shrimp aqua-monocultures are very susceptible to diseases, which have caused several regional wipe-outs of farm shrimp populations, increasing ecological problems, and repeated disease outbreaks. The taste of these shrimp is “muddy.” I would advise buying American.

Bulgarian snails set the pace for swift economic recovery

by Nick Iliev

Global economic crunch? An exotic and relatively new Bulgarian industry dating less than a decade since its establishment, doesn't think so, in fact, they have shown the way for a swift economic recovery.

Sadovets, a village in the Municipality of Pleven, is in the lucrative business of harvesting snails in industrial quantities and then exporting them mainly to... yes you've guessed it, France. Snail cultivation has since proven to be a very successful alternative to conventional agriculture.

For this year alone, Sadovets is responsible for the export of 900 tons of snails, and in spite of the global crisis "snail farms are germinating all over the place" and "their number is expected to increase several times over," Bulgarian National Radio reported on October 7 2009.

One of the farms in Sadovets, managed by Stancho Totov, covers five ha, has a "complete cycle of production", and employs permanently 25 staff, while in the summer the number increases to 75 employees.

The produce is designated exclusively for export to Western Europe, most of which is shipped to France, with Italy and Spain also being prominent customers.

"We expect to produce between 60 and 70 tons of snails in this farm alone in 2009," Totov told Bulgarian National Television (BNT). "In previous years we've reached up to a hundred tons, but the crunch has had an effect on us as well," he said.

Farmers say that this year the impact of stagnation was felt, as in times of crisis people tend to switch away from food branded as a "delicacy". However, there is recent trend on the domestic market of growing demand for the food. Farmers are expected to receive European Union subsidies under European programmes for the development of rural regions.

"Snails are an ancient form of food, their meat is light, delicious, ideal for dieting. Most importantly, a lot of accent is put in the food's aphrodisiac properties," said Totov, quoted by BNT.

The Sofia Echo

Joy of Cooking: 1930s cookbook has brought decades of culinary staples

By KERRY MCCRAY, The Modesto Bee

MODESTO -- After a career as a dancer, you'd think Jane Fenton's prize possession would be a memory of the stage -- pointe shoes from her days in the corps de ballet at Radio City Music Hall, perhaps, or a program from her stint in the Broadway musical "Oklahoma!" But the thing the Modesto woman treasures most isn't dramatic at all. It's an old, battered cookbook, held together with rubber bands, that has been a fixture in her life since before she could plie.

Fenton, 81, has what looks to be an original "The Joy of Cooking." And, like every good performer, she has a story to go with it.

Growing up in St. Louis, Fenton lived with her mother and her grandparents. Her grandfather conducted the St. Louis Symphony. Her grandmother had a reputation as a fine cook, a skill she picked up from older, well-to-do ladies in the city's German community when she was first married.

Her specialty? Baked goods. "For breakfast, I'd wake up and there were caramel rolls or crumb coffee cake," Fenton said. "When I came home from school, there'd be homemade cookies or doughnuts." One of young Jane's earliest memories is of holding her grandmother's hand, walking down the street to a dark and dreary apartment building. There, her grandmother and the woman who lived there would pore over recipes while she played on the floor.

The woman? Fenton believes it had to be Irma Rombauer, the author of "The Joy of Cooking." The timing is right. Fenton was a toddler at the time, so the gatherings likely took place in the late 1920s. Rombauer self-published her book on a shoestring budget in St. Louis in 1931.

Irma S. Rombauer

Fenton's grandmother was renowned for her abilities in the kitchen. It makes sense, Fenton said, that a cookbook author would consult her grandmother before a book went to press. The association could explain the presence of "The Joy of Cooking" in Fenton's life. Believed to be one of 3,000 first editions, the blue-covered volume was in her family when, at age 17, she asked to go to New York to audition for dance roles.

Her mother came along, and so did the book. Fenton landed the gig at Radio City Music Hall, then went on to play the Girl who Falls Down in a five-year run of "Oklahoma!" Her mother made sure she had a hot meal after the show.

"Mother always had the cookbook with us," Fenton said. "When we went on tour, we would rent a little apartment. She took care of my food." Fenton finished high school by correspondence and went on to act and dance in more productions. She married, divorced, then married again. As a young mother, she lived in Los Angeles and acted in television commercials.

By this time, the cookbook had been passed on to her. She wowed her husband's Jewish family with dishes like sauerbraten (beef shoulder steeped in vinegar and spices for a week, then cooked) and tiny dumplings (made with cracker meal to ensure their lightness).

"My grandmother always told me, 'Never make anything bigger than this,'" she said, making a circle with her thumb and forefinger. "She'd say, 'That's fine cooking.'" Fenton and her husband, Bob, moved to Modesto when the couple bought radio station KFIV. She still uses "The Joy of Cooking," but prefers the book's lighter recipes.

Like peach ice cream. She uses her food processor to combine the peaches and cream -- something Rombauer could never have imagined. Another thing that would surprise Rombauer, who died in 1962: Pristine first-editions of her book are worth up to $5,000, according to Maggie Green, who writes a blog on "The Joy of Cooking" Web site, www.thejoykitchen.com. Green wrote about Fenton in her blog.

Fenton's copy of the book is well-loved -- the cover is falling off. Pages are stained with drippings from long-ago meals. "I'd be lucky to get 5 cents," she said. "But I wouldn't trade it in for anything."

Pomegranate Tree, Korcula, Croatia (Photo: RLW)


















Mediterranean Sweet Potatoes

Serves 4-6

Wikipedia says: The most commonly-understood version of the Mediterranean diet was presented by Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard University's School of Public Health in the mid-1990s. Based on "food patterns typical of Crete, much of the rest of Greece, and southern Italy in the early 1960s", this diet, in addition to "regular physical activity," emphasized "abundant plant foods, fresh fruit as the typical daily dessert, olive oil as the principal source of fat, dairy products (principally cheese and yogurt), and fish and poultry consumed in low to moderate amounts, zero to four eggs consumed weekly, red meat consumed in low amounts, and wine consumed in low to moderate amounts". Total fat in this diet is 25% to 35% of calories, with saturated fat at 8% or less of calories.

The principal aspects of this diet include high olive oil consumption, high consumption of legumes, high consumption of unrefined cereals, high consumption of fruits, high consumption of vegetables, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt), moderate to high consumption of fish, low consumption of meat and meat products, and moderate wine consumption.

That aside, the true story is that the entire Mediterranean basin was “influenced” by the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), an imperial monarchy that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922. No discussion of Mediterranean cuisine can begin without examining the Turkish cuisine at its heart.

This sweet potato dish is reminiscent of one I had in Istanbul where the subtle taste of pomegranates lingered on the palate.

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 stick butter, cut into cubes (substitute olive oil)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
¼ cup chopped fresh mint
1 pinch salt
1 cup reserved cooking liquid

Preparation: 1. Boil the cubed sweet potato and potato in a pot of water until soft, 10 minutes. 2. Reserve one cup of the cooking water. 3. In a large bowl combine the cooked potatoes, cubed butter, brown sugar, pomegranate molasses and pinch of salt. Mix together. 4. Take one cup of the mixture and place it in a blender. Add the cooking liquid and chopped mint and blend. 5. Return the mixture from the blender to the bowl and mash. 6. Let stand for 5 minutes and serve as a side dish in small bowls, with a spring of mint as garnish.

Try the Sultan's Kitchen: A Turkish Cookbook (Paperback), by Ozcan Ozan

Richard Wottrich

Help! Can anyone get me a table at Rao's?

I've been trying to get into Rao's, the famous little Italian family restaurant, for years - located at 455 East 114th Street, East Harlem, New York.

Make Rao’s mouthwatering meatballs
Makes 14–16 meatballs

1 1/2 lb beef
1/2 lb veal
1/2 lb pork
3 large gloves garlic, minced
Salt
Pepper
Parsley
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups grated Pecorino cheese
1 cup plain breadcrumbs
 
In a large bowl, place the meat and rub the minced garlic into it. Press the meat down in the bowl, then add, in this order, the salt, pepper, parsley, 2 eggs, and the water. Then sprinkle the cheese over the top as if you are going to cover the water. Finally, sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the cheese.

When you start to mix it all together, mix from the outside of the bowl to the middle and fold it in. After the ingredients are mixed, start to roll the meatball in your hands, about 6 ounces per meatball.

After your meatballs are rolled, take a frying pan (a 10 inch sautee pan is best), add your oil (2 cups) and heat. Place a clove of whole garlic in the frying pan; when the clove of garlic starts to brown, the oil is ready.

Fry the meatballs, cooking and flipping each side until golden brown, about 4 1/2 to 5 minutes on each side. Remove the meatballs after cooking and put on a plate with some paper towels to absorb the oil. [If you want, you can bake the meatballs in an oven on a lightly greased tray at 350 degrees – the taste is totally different than frying.]

Add the meatballs to your tomato sauce and finish cooking them up in the sauce. Serve with the sauce.

GEFÜLLTE TOMATEN Baked Tomatoes & Eggs with Nutmeg


Sharon and I were wandering through Door County, Wisconsin, on a beautiful autumn day when we chanced upon this recipe. The tourists were gone by now. We bought smoked white fish in Gills Rock, where Sharon’s relative Willie WEIBORG once owned a big home (still there as a bed and breakfast), a warehouse and fishing boat. We had a lunch of ham sandwiches, split pea soup and cold beer at Al Johnson's, where six goats were still feeding atop its grass roof. We drove by her family’s original farm of 40 acres, just outside of Ellison Bay. We even visited two graveyards looking for long lost relatives! In a gift store Sharon found a German cookbook and in it I found this recipe, which I had never seen before. It is truly simplicity itself and a wonderful combination of tastes.

6 large tomatoes
6 eggs
1 tablespoon butter
  salt and pepper to taste
  nutmeg or curry as you like
  garnish of parsley, lettuce, or toast

Preparation: 1. Slice off the top of the tomatoes and scoop out the pulp, making space for a whole egg. 2. Rub the insides with salt and pepper to taste, put in a nugget of butter, and set the tomatoes inside of a shallow greased baking dish. 3. Crack an egg into each tomato, sprinkle with either curry or nutmeg (depending on the menu). 4. Bake in a preheated oven at 425F for 20-30 minutes until the eggs are nicely poached. The juice and butter in the tomatoes acts as a poaching liquid and it takes a bit of time for the tomatoes to heat up so they poach the eggs.

Presentation: For a breakfast I would suggest using nutmeg and setting the tomatoes on a slice of toast. For a dinner curry would do nicely, set on a bed of lettuce. In either case garnish the top with a parsley sprig.

Notes: This dish retains its heat wonderfully. You can time these to be first out of the oven and they will still be warm by serving time.

Sogneford, Norway (Photo: RLW)

Torsk med Eggesaus
Poached Codfish Steaks with Egg Sauce (Norwegian)
Serves 4-6

You have no idea how satisfying it was to find a Norwegian dish that pleases Sharon, my Norwegian! This recipe originated in Foods of the World, 1968, Time-Life Books, New York. Yes, we use a whole stick of butter (If you don’t like my butter, don’t pump my churn).

4-6 codfish steaks, fresh if possible, or flash-frozen from Iceland
½ cup salt

Egg Sauce:
¼ pound butter (one stick)
¼ cup hot fish poaching stock
2 hardboiled eggs, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of dill, parsley and/or chives to your taste
salt and ground paper to taste

Garnish:
Thinly sliced lemon
Dill, parsley, or chives to your taste

Preparation: (1) Fill a fish poacher, or enamel roasting pan, with four inches of water. Add ½ cup of salt. Add white wine if you like. Add to your taste: whole pepper corns, fresh sage, lemon wedge, and/or dill. (2) Bring the liquid to a boil and then reduce heat to a steady bubbling. (3) Gently place the cod in the liquid and poach for five minutes or until tender. Egg Sauce: (4) Melt the butter in a saucepan. (5) Remove from the heat and whisk in the poaching stock. Mix in the chopped egg, tomato, and herbs. Salt and pepper to your taste. (6) Return to the heat and bring almost to a boil.

Presentation: I served this dish with boiled and quartered potatoes and asparagus tips. I cut the cod into chunks about two by two inches each and placed them in the middle of the plate. The potatoes went on one side of the cod and the tips on the other. Then I spooned the sauce over each cod piece and dabbed a bit on the vegetables. A sprig of dill and a lemon slice were the garnish. I have to tell you that both Sharon and I were blown away by this dish. It is simple, elegant and delicious. As a family style main dish, arrange the cod on a serving platter, garnish and serve the sauce on the side.

Butter-Poached Maine Lobster with Leeks, Pommes Maxim, and a Red Beet Essence
The French Laundry - Homarus americanus

English explorers started taking lobsters in Maine as early as 1605 and in 1880 they were so plentiful that they sold for two cents a pound in Boston. When my dad, Robert E. WOTTRICH was 14, his parents spent the summer in the tiny town of Camden beside Penobscot Bay in Maine. Camden was known as “the prettiest town in Maine” at the time, which was 1937. My grandfather Wilfred arranged for my dad to ride out on the lobster boats as a junior hand each of several mornings.

Fast forward to my days at Dartmouth College in 1964-1968, we would drive to Boston and pick up “chicken” lobsters (one pound or less) right on the docks for $1.00 each. We’d bring them back in the trunks of our cars along with buckets of steamers and seaweed and steam them over coals in big new galvanized garbage cans for the Green Key weekend each spring. Those trunks never smelled the same again!

As House Manager at Bones Gate fraternity (Delta Tau Delta) I was responsible for the lobster dinner. As chef this meant I could eat as much lobster as I was able and that was a considerable amount at the time. The trick was to stay away from cheap New York State champagne, which when combined with lobster usually made our dates quite ill!

So suffice it to say that I have boiled my share of Maine lobsters over the years. Imagine my surprise when I opened up a gift copy of “The French Laundry Cookbook” by Thomas Keller recently and learned that there was a better way to cook lobster! The French Laundry is the celebrated restaurant in Napa Valley, California.

Boiling lobster for several minutes in the time-honored tradition does cause the meat to seize up and become tough, and it makes it difficult to get any flavor into it. While great for summer beach parties, it loses in translation to the fine dining experience. If you take a lobster out of its shell before fully cooking it, you have more control over the taste and texture. Steep the lobster just enough so that its meat will pull away cleanly from the shell, leaving the interior raw, so you can treat it like raw fish. Try the following procedure and get ready for heaven itself.

Steeping the Lobsters: Fill a large pot with enough water to cover three 1 ½ to 2-pound live lobsters and bring to a boil. Add ½ cup of vinegar for every 8 quarts of water. Pour the boiling water onto the live lobsters in another pot and steep for 2 minutes if using 1½ pound lobsters, or 3 minutes for 2-pound lobsters. Remove the lobsters from the water, turn off the heat, but do not discard the water. One at a time, using a towel or rubber gloves to hold the lobster, grasp its tail and twist and pull to detach it. Twist and pull off the claws and return them to the water for 5 minutes. Reserve the bodies.

For the Tails: Hold each tail flat and twist the tail fan to one side, pull off and discard. Use your fingers to gently push the meat through the tail end and pull the meat out through the large opening at the other end. Lay the tail meat on its back and cut lengthwise in half through the middle. Remove the vein running through the top of the meat. Lay the meat on a paper towel-lined plate or platter, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

For the Claws: After 5 minutes, remove the claws from the hot water. Twist off each knuckle to remove it. Hold the claw in your hand and pull down to loosen the lower pincher. Push it to either side to crack it and pull it straight off. Ideally, the cartilage from inside the claw should be attached to the pincer and the claw meat should remain intact. Still holding the claw, crack the top of the shell with the heel of a knife, about ¾ inch from the joint where the knuckle is attached. You want to go through the shell, but not damage the meat. Wriggle the knife to loosen and crack the shell. If the shell doesn’t pop off, it may be necessary to turn the claw over and repeat the procedure. Shake the claw to remove the meat (if it doesn’t fall out, cut off the very tip of the shell and blow through the hole to release the meat).

For the Knuckles: Pull back and discard the top shell of each lobster, including the heads and antenna. Remove the tomalley, roe, lungs, and the sac behind the head. You can reserve the dark green roe for other uses, but discard the light green tomalley, feathery lungs and sac. You will be left with body and legs. Rinse them thoroughly under cold water and use immediately, or freeze them to make lobster stock or consommé.

Butter-Poached Maine Lobster with Leeks, Pommes Maxim, and a Red Beet Essence:

For the Pommes Maxim: (Which originated at Maxim’s in Paris) Preheat the oven to 300F. Peel one large 12-ounce potato and slice it into paper-thin rounds on a mandoline. Toss the rounds with clarified butter; they should be well coated. Arrange them on a Silpat-lined baking sheet, overlapping the slices by half to form a solid circular sheet of potatoes, or lay them in overlapping circles in a large ovenproof skillet. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake the potatoes for 45 to 50 minutes, or until they are crisp and golden brown. They may not hold together completely. These can be made hours ahead and left at room temperature.

For the Red Beet Essence: If using fresh beets, juice enough beets to make a generous cup. Reduce the beet juice slowly in a small saucepan to 2 to 3 tablespoons of glaze.

To Complete: For the lobsters, bring the pieces to room temperature. Place them in one layer in a large saucepan and add the beurre monté . The lobster should be almost covered. Place the pan over low heat and slowly poach the lobster in the butter for 5 to 6 minutes, just to heat it through.

Meanwhile, for the leeks (1 ½ cups leek rounds), warm the leek rounds in a saucepan. Add tomato diamonds (2 tablespoons), chives (2 teaspoons), Brunoise (1 tablespoon), and beurre monté (1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon).

Reheat the pommes Maxim in the oven for 2 to 3 minutes.

Bring the beet glaze to a simmer and whisk in the beurre monté (3 tablespoons), red wine vinegar (1/2 teaspoon) and a few drops of lemon juice.

Place a small spoonful of beet essence on each plate. Top with a generous tablespoon of leek mixture, a lobster tail, and a claw. Break off a piece of the pommes Maxim and place it on top of the lobster. Present. (Serves 6)

Richard Wottrich

NYC's Tavern on the Green files for Chapter 11 

 

Editor's Note: On July 6, 1945, my parents, Bob and Joan, were married at the Tavern on the Green in Manhattan. My dad was a Navy pilot on leave as WWII raged on in the Pacific. The pictures we have from their reception show a measured celebration, against the backdrop of war. The dinner was simple. Decorations were at a minimum. It was a different time.

 
NEW YORK (AP) — Tavern on the Green, the landmark restaurant in New York City's Central Park, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The filing comes just four months before the 75-year-old restaurant is to hand over its license to another operator.

Tavern Chief Executive Jennifer Oz LeRoy blames the filing on the financial crisis and New York City's decision to give the Tavern license to a new operator.

The new license was granted to Dean J. Poll, who runs the Central Park Boathouse restaurant. The federal bankruptcy filing lists 20 creditors.

Poll, who takes over Jan. 1, plans to renovate with green technology. The original building, which dates to the 19th century, housed sheep. LeRoy's father, Warner, took over the Tavern in 1976. He died in 2001.

Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/

(Photo: Marais Market, Paris RLW)

Ten Principals of Healthy Eating
(Adapted from “In Defense of Food,” Michael Pollan)


Avoid Food You Do Not Understand
Do not eat anything your great grandmother would not recognize. Avoid food products that have ingredients you do not understand, or more than five unrecognized ingredients, or high-fructose corn syrup.

Avoid Engineered Foods
Avoid food products that make claims. An apple does not need a label. Fresh food does not need supplements. Humans do not need food pyramids. Eat more plants and their leaves. That is where the antioxidants are.

Learn To Market – Buy Often – Buy Fresh
If you must shop at a supermarket, shop around its edges (fruit, vegetables, bread, cheeses, meats) and stay out of the middle where the engineered foods are. Find a bakery, butcher, fruit and vegetable stand and farmer’s market that you like. Shop fresher and more often. Make it a habit.

Know Your Food’s Origin – Buy Quality – Buy Variety
You are what you eat eats too. Be aware of where your meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit come from. Closer is better. Grass-fed is better. Antibiotic and steroid free is better. If you find something that is perfect, buy it in quantity and freeze it.

Buy Local – Buy Heritage, Organic, Wild and Artisan Foods
Eat well-grown foods from healthy soils. Ask. If they can’t tell you where it is from, don’t buy. There will be an organic farm near you. Call and ask about heritage fruits and vegetables, artisan meats and cheeses, and wild plants.

Emulate Cuisines That Endure – Be Informed
Eat more like the French, Italians, Japanese, Indians, Greeks, or Turks. Google their diets. Buy cookbooks. Use them. Be informed about nutrition. Pick a good multivitamin that fits you and take it, especially as you get older.

Dine Together and Talk
Dine together as a family. Dine at a dining table. Not in your car, or on a bar stool, or anywhere that is not receptive to the enjoyment of food over time. This is where you teach your children manners, behavior, patience, ethics, humor, values and build their character. Have a glass of wine with dinner. Take your time and practice the art of conversation.

Practice Moderation
Pay more for quality. Buy better food in smaller amounts, unless you are preserving or freezing. Spend the same by eating less and stabilize a healthy weight. Don’t look for a magic bullet in the traditional healthy diet. You keep a healthy weight through being active and eating in moderation.

Respect Your Mind and Body
Listen to your body. It tells you how it feels, what it craves and when you are abusing it. Your body is the organism that takes care of your brain. Do not abuse it. You can’t trade it in. Eat slowly. Try not to eat alone.

Learn to Cook
Be in control. Meet and talk to people who grow and raise your food. Make the connection. Plant a garden. Plant and keep herbs. Learn to cook and then cook. Preparing food for people you care about is an act of respect and love. Enjoy life!

Richard L. Wottrich