Quickthink

I was thinking the other day that some people can tinker and others just can’t. My cousin, for example, seems to have tinkering in his blood. He builds things and fixes things all the time and without a second thought. Me? Well, I still remember with some unease how I took apart my father’s lawn mower as a twelve year old (getting a rather surprising shock from the spark plug connection in the process). The real problems started when I realized that I couldn’t put it back together again. Dear old dad was not pleased. But he didn’t even try to put it together. He just went out and bought a new one. I got the message that tinkering was not our family’s strong suit.

But I am still fascinated by tinkering. How people do creative things that just work.  And so I liked a NYT article about chef and restaurant owner Steve Johnson, who seems to be a tinkerer extraordinaire.

An example - As the owner of a restaurant, he figured out how to grow herbs on the roof, rerouting drainage for irrigation. Nice. And the refrigerator in his tiny house boat kitchen using two frozen bottles of water (no electricity). Here is a fun quote about why he likes not having his cookbook recipes around when he wants to make soup on the weekend from the clams and such that he gathers himself

“But you know what? I know those soups. I’ve made those soups. I can make my own soup now.”

That is a food tinkerer’s proud motto if I ever heard one.  Here is a link to the article about Steve and the fun he has on his houseboat.

Enjoy!

How many rums can you name (other than Bacardi and Havana Club)?

How about Goslings, “Coruba, Zaya, Cruzan Blackstrap and … the (relatively rare) Lemon Hart 151 from Guyana” The list is from a fun article by Toby Cecchini in NYT. Here is the link.  And why aren’t these available in Tartu? Hmmmm … and what about a web page about rums? Here is one called Rum Renaissance. And of course, there is the Ministry of Rum.

I want them. Why? I want to make a dark and stormy. Plain and simple. Damn I also will need some ginger beer. Anyone know a supplier? Ah well, at least I can read about it. BTW, did you know the origin of the word “grog”? I knew that it is an old fashioned naval word for some sort of drink. Now I discover that it was sugar and lime juice (a reward for good service). From The Rum Museum, The Tradition of Rum and the Sea. Read on, matey if you like a good yarn!

When I was in Wilmington, Delaware visiting my folks we had the chance to dine out one night at the Wilmington Club. Before we went, my father mentioned more than once that I should be ready for their fried oysters. I had never been a huge fried oyster fan, and so my reaction was “ho hum”. But when the fried oysters appeared on a serving dish I quickly changed my mind. There was something about them that got my attention. BTW, the dinner was pretty damned nice too.

I had forgotten about fried oysters by the time I got back to Tartu. That is until yesterday when I was making dinner. I had been marinating boneless chicken breasts in apple cider vinegar and I thought about breading these with panko. Then my mind raced back to that dinner at the Wilmington Club. The fried oysters had a delightfully light and crunchy breaded coating. I did a Google search to see what recipes I could find to duplicate that crust and my search was rewarded. I bumped into a presentation by “The Posh Pescatarian”, a video made by a nice lady from Louisiana who clearly has a fixation for fried oyster sandwiches. Here is the link. Larry Edelman from the Mermaid Inn recommends using butter milk instead of egg to bind the dredge onto the oysters. He also does a cool trick with a piece of bread. Malaysian cooks do this in a totally different way with egg and yam juice and grain juice. Interesting but no crunch there.

I will have to try some of these ideas when Selver starts selling oysters in a bottle. Oh. The breaded chicken wasn’t bad, especially with a dash of lemon and Lingham’s sauce on top. As Michael Psilakis (from Food and wine) says, the Greeks know that a dash of lemon makes anything better. And I can do them one better — a serious lemon squeeze makes apple slices taste like desert at a four star restaurant. Yes, it’s that time of the year for my apple trees again. Time to get out the baskets. Anyone have a good recipe for apple cake? My grandmother used to make really good apple fritters …

Sorry, I digress. Oyster sandwiches. Have to try that.

One reason that I love Twitter: I can follow Jancis Robinson’s tweets about wine. Today she referenced a post from Vinography that applies the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi to an appreciation of wine. Here is the link. It got me thinking about the importance of designing experience in wine tasting … and in general. Interesting.

For Sunday Evening

It is. But don’t try this recipe from Food 52 unless you crave a ton of extra ingredients and want to build out a very intense sauce to serve with pasta. Here is the link. Pretty cool actually.

But … if you want something simpler, how about just tomato sauce with pasta? Steamy kitchen offers a recipe from Marcella Hazan. Here is the link.  BTW, I sourced this from the Saveur web site.

Or … this may be a good night to do lasagna.  Greek lasagna? It’s called Pastitsio. I love the sound of that word! Here is a recipe.

I make pound cake once in a blue moon. After watching this video from Mark Bittman, I may start making it twice in a blue moon.

I like Mark Bittman’s food videos on NYT and it’s not because of the recipes. They are not bad, but to be honest, I never try them out. Yet I still watch Mark’s videos whenever a new one comes out. Why? For one thing, they are short and simple. They don’t get bogged down in a lot of detail. But equally important, Mark has a good sense of humor. Here he is (ho hum) grilling corn. Not something I will do, but I still enjoyed it. Way to go Mark! Here is a link to an article from 2007 about Mark and his PBS series. He hasn’t changed. Here is a nice photo montage of Mark from another fan

Images from A Gluten Free Guide

So why am I going on about Mark? Because writing and talking about food preparation is sort of technical and in itself can be boring. But we do it and talk about it in order to have fun. That means food and wine chit chat should have a comic touch. I think Julia Child understood that. I think Jamie Oliver does too. And Mark definitely gets it.

Hmmm …. perhaps I am more into the comedy than the food. Now that is food for thought.

Back in my kitchen, I can start to plan out my August eating adventures. I found one new idea via Mark Bittman, rolling a pounded chicken breast around braised leaks or green onions (negimaki). Yum! Here is the link to Mark’s article. Just need to buy some mirin.

Even with a hangover, my eyes popped open a bit when I read this line from John Willoughby’s article on cooking with stout

 … oyster stout is a style thought by 18th-century drinkers to be most suitable for imbibing with oysters

Stout and oysters? Hmmm … I must try it sometime. By the way, I fully agree with John’s basic point. Using stout as a braising liquid is a no brainer. I wonder why I haven’t done it for a while. Here is a link to the article.

One for the Oops! Category

I loved that line from Melissa Clark’s article today about grilling chicken using a can of beer. Hmmm … should I try this? Here is the link.