tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83224582582317461762024-03-13T00:27:39.123-07:00House Husband's Cooking LogRecipes? We don't need no steenking recipes!Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.comBlogger227125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-32054764302063898992019-10-12T19:03:00.000-07:002019-10-12T19:08:20.511-07:00Akko Akko All Day Part 2: Spice Market OlivesThe Middle East is still a trade route for spices, and it shows. I could stare all day, I want to try compare the five different kinds of hot peppers and make the perfect – perfect, I say – curry dry rub. Of course, baby-back pork ribs would be hard to come by…
My trophy purchase in Akko was a half kilo of olives, small as that may seem. They are in the second bucket from the left, dark brown, almost black. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTLf6Iadq3ht1z4ISF1HZbS4yja4AV5aETCsDYGSfQ0OcEa90BLVVVWT1zo-i8UoJM9RdhDPjXhXqwP8Z0zruRgrtYJ4JXsKT2bsTbf-qogeF92-M2V56DKvB61YdekE4CeXqRKMFC12i3/s1600/IMG_0803.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTLf6Iadq3ht1z4ISF1HZbS4yja4AV5aETCsDYGSfQ0OcEa90BLVVVWT1zo-i8UoJM9RdhDPjXhXqwP8Z0zruRgrtYJ4JXsKT2bsTbf-qogeF92-M2V56DKvB61YdekE4CeXqRKMFC12i3/s320/IMG_0803.JPG" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1200" /></a></div>They looked a bit like dry cure but the merchant suggested I add olive oil and spices for a few more shekels. Hit me: the olives, a handful of dried peppers, and a generous pour of olive oil into a clear plastic bag, here transferred to recycled plasticware.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZLU_aZ3PHFzZHGCJ92jvBT1eXdgY6VXdALCXVNW3duHrhZ6FEQ6KEKZDCLvbrN1J8DOP8POlGbUntBKGeLjKLE4zy3SpzKlu8mQzq-d3fD-FZZsGOnkwW0DVUNcDs_VRnrkqQuJE7Biez/s1600/IMG_0809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZLU_aZ3PHFzZHGCJ92jvBT1eXdgY6VXdALCXVNW3duHrhZ6FEQ6KEKZDCLvbrN1J8DOP8POlGbUntBKGeLjKLE4zy3SpzKlu8mQzq-d3fD-FZZsGOnkwW0DVUNcDs_VRnrkqQuJE7Biez/s320/IMG_0809.JPG" width="320" height="290" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1451" /></a></div>
The oil is greenish, cloudy, almost milky. Clearly unfiltered, local. I ask where the oil is from, pitching my affect to imply that I’m not being picky, I’m anticipating his punch line, which is to point and say ‘the next town over’. Like the olive oil at Said’s, it proves something like butter simmered low with a pinch of fresh cut grass. They look sad, bagged on the table, but these olives, both in taste and the high that comes with a great little find, gave me bounce for weeks. They had a milder taste than the jarred dry cured, and that kind of unctuous grip on like peanut butter on your tongue. In my opinion, the native habitat of these olives is room temperature, generously poured in a shallow bowl with plenty of fresh bread, never beyond arm's reach in the Middle East. Or chop the dried peppers and olives, and just warm enough to sautee minced garlic in that olive oil and toss with fresh pasta. In this case the pasta is leftover, but as it's leftover from Smad's wonderful pasta with pine nuts, olive oil, and zucchini, this is no bad thing. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zqQuNXWiEGgX-eiOTSrcwrOWf56Q7y_yddUkAKA1SqsXZ64EaYpGlc0bYzXz-rtFjedYemFlG6mv1IM07M2NSTEeSBDEOFkosy4zR-og-aueEFXEcHaODPBiYg1e4XAhna3Ln7Pc9J2f/s1600/IMG_0810.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zqQuNXWiEGgX-eiOTSrcwrOWf56Q7y_yddUkAKA1SqsXZ64EaYpGlc0bYzXz-rtFjedYemFlG6mv1IM07M2NSTEeSBDEOFkosy4zR-og-aueEFXEcHaODPBiYg1e4XAhna3Ln7Pc9J2f/s320/IMG_0810.JPG" width="320" height="207" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1036" /></a></div>The drink there is fresh citrus-ade from the tree out back of my in-laws place; I can’t figure out if it’s a friendly lemon or an angry orange.
A little Akko market atmosphere: random shopping cart full of onions and cabbage in an otherwise empty ally, street cat, and a little market still life.
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Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-8569183827389732572019-10-11T19:11:00.003-07:002019-10-11T20:22:26.963-07:00Akko Akko All Day, Part One: Said's Hummous<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Said’s (say ‘sigh-eeds’) has the best hummous in the city of Akko, the state of Israel, or the entire world, depending on who you ask. And if you ask me, I’ll say “yeah, it’s as good as any I’ve ever had, as good as hummous can be”.
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Excellence can be born of focus and devotion. Saids’ only serves hummous, and has no menu. No meats, no sweets, no dairy… this is an excellent position to take in the Middle East if you can pull it off because it banishes questions of kashrut and halal. These guys – and it was all guys - make the same handful of dishes all day. Doubtless they have a supply chain for the best local ingredients, sure. The olive oil here is a like soft green melted butter, creating hummous that has the savory tastes of garlic and salt with the mouthfeel of melted chocolate.
But beyond that there’s a rhythm and a recognition in making the same recipe a million times, a sense and intuition to compensate for the million little variables in cooking that recipes can’t always predict: variation in lots of bulk ingredients, atmospheric pressure, maybe a high wind across the chimney accelerating cooling. I mean, there’s times that my hummous just isn’t up to par, and I don’t know why. But you know that anyone behind the counter at Said’s can see sub-par hummous coming a kilometer off and compensate with maybe a shy measure of oil or a little extra tahini.
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh902PBQPVROcnxR48ZLGFCxtbMgrsPXAyDBJVv8T_oDEAxuhJl9bRSpSNUlRL57-kSOG_-qx_Pzg87VmQGyr9Y5D6MbQ0vxdlN1BN20DpDxGy7E0IouUg1Ft2aDOP7vXEoTNov2gXCQv36/s1600/IMG_0757.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1155" data-original-width="1600" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh902PBQPVROcnxR48ZLGFCxtbMgrsPXAyDBJVv8T_oDEAxuhJl9bRSpSNUlRL57-kSOG_-qx_Pzg87VmQGyr9Y5D6MbQ0vxdlN1BN20DpDxGy7E0IouUg1Ft2aDOP7vXEoTNov2gXCQv36/s320/IMG_0757.jpg" width="320" /></a>Akko Akko all day, Part 1
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis8K39ak4YZlWdnFVzokgy-vxkqe1lBokDjXQgNRUOK88LWeTpQMPTYpG8S0HOXrHvSMFp54uGEAQaRufaBm1GnadvfRmU1pjvLCxhDqspzGsQLHfYW6sNxakKBYbq5VwIEEf0W8rn3Na_/s1600/IMG_0760.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1583" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis8K39ak4YZlWdnFVzokgy-vxkqe1lBokDjXQgNRUOK88LWeTpQMPTYpG8S0HOXrHvSMFp54uGEAQaRufaBm1GnadvfRmU1pjvLCxhDqspzGsQLHfYW6sNxakKBYbq5VwIEEf0W8rn3Na_/s320/IMG_0760.jpg" width="317" /></a><a
Also, I gotta say I’m a big fan of environment and presentation on the taste of food. You hear stories of folks who buy a case of wine that tastes like achieving enlightenment in the California back country (with closing notes of cherry, cinnamon, and chocolate) and like rubbing alcohol back in Hadley. You can’t do better than Akko, a walled port city dating to the crusades, in a bustling Arab market, for presentation of hummous. It certainly didn’t hurt Said’s. I forgot a picture of the actual façade, but the view of the market just outside does way more to set the mood.
Accepting hummous as a broad variety of bean dips, Said serves it three ways: the standard way most folks would recognize, a chunkier version brutally seasoned with crushed raw garlic, and ful, a darker brown version, heavier on fava beans. And stacks of fresh pita, still warm, of course, and vegetables, pickles, and condiments including hot peppers, parsley, and raw garlic paste. They sure aren’t shy about the garlic here.
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Below that is a picture of Sara, who brought us out, aforementioned fresh vegetables, condiments, and stacks of fresh Israeli style pita, light and squishy as whipped cream yet tough as leather. You’re outta luck for an accurate recipe here, though, because I really think you’d need an Arab market for atmosphere and olive oil from the place across the street to duplicate it.
Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-53451784728316891762013-09-01T20:52:00.000-07:002013-09-01T20:53:48.515-07:00Jerk Beefy, iterations 1 and 2<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ1RWX-UIVGJFmdpi2LU4vEe_BuD95wXi0BIBgqMURuo_MFcqbZ-AgWXmnbfiYVRKaPNN-Zqr8oXUZBxFkVYJThGfKB6UE5Lvo4d_3Z1A2aLjVWPB-v1OEY-GiiMEBwgt3mKyAM9R-AnJ5/s1600/jerk+beefy+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ1RWX-UIVGJFmdpi2LU4vEe_BuD95wXi0BIBgqMURuo_MFcqbZ-AgWXmnbfiYVRKaPNN-Zqr8oXUZBxFkVYJThGfKB6UE5Lvo4d_3Z1A2aLjVWPB-v1OEY-GiiMEBwgt3mKyAM9R-AnJ5/s320/jerk+beefy+1.jpg" /></a>
Well, honest truth, this started as an effort to drop a couple pounds rather than make myself a snack. Store bought beef jerky is overpriced and loaded with sugar and salt. Jerky epitomizes the 'take back the kitchen' part of my cooking philosophy: despite millenia of our ancestors drying meat for preservation (and presumably flavor), we think jerky only comes in little plastic packages.
I used two sources to develop a method. A quick internet survey, and many thorough readings -- from highschool on -- of 'Bushcraft'by Richard Graves (founder, Australian Jungle Rescue Detachment in WWII). Regarding jerky, graves says the primary function of smoking meat is keeping flies off until it dries. And you want to avoid fatty meat, which can go rancid easily.
So: marinate in a couple kinds of soy sauce, a bit of fish sauce to boost glutamates, spear on skewers (iteration one) or toothpicks (iteration two). dusted well with crushed pepper, put in the oven for five hours (too dried) and eight, when I overslept (way too dried). Chewy, but yummy. And maybe a third of the price per pound.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu3lW_6GcFfBi9Efxx_5cahBTj6L9DZKLrWXhfLEaRxKqED57vKOLbJeNeNfi8UAyXiZw6g8S0ADg-l74_0C0q-0w1fpDlvx0x0cQ2NQxFyIQNwHkTattTIjrlUDO6DvgMb4S2Sz7dBV_s/s1600/jerk+beefy+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu3lW_6GcFfBi9Efxx_5cahBTj6L9DZKLrWXhfLEaRxKqED57vKOLbJeNeNfi8UAyXiZw6g8S0ADg-l74_0C0q-0w1fpDlvx0x0cQ2NQxFyIQNwHkTattTIjrlUDO6DvgMb4S2Sz7dBV_s/s320/jerk+beefy+2.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9SY4mKHzUxOI8IfXM9etDUg6yyaCY2ltxinxm2BeNRT6h3E7wUGRUDZQcIiTeJ8AXy5-Lz3dqbZOifuiaalpjp7uO74gaGLvq-kDOV0zdrHUkL3wfDnsfV0adq7A5oKdSaiBoWNADmSxp/s1600/jerk+beefy+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9SY4mKHzUxOI8IfXM9etDUg6yyaCY2ltxinxm2BeNRT6h3E7wUGRUDZQcIiTeJ8AXy5-Lz3dqbZOifuiaalpjp7uO74gaGLvq-kDOV0zdrHUkL3wfDnsfV0adq7A5oKdSaiBoWNADmSxp/s320/jerk+beefy+3.jpg" /></a>
Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-6522254757250765162013-05-07T09:32:00.000-07:002013-05-07T14:20:11.571-07:00vegan dumplings and noodlesDumplings: hand folded, as noted elsewhere in this blog, filled with the house formula of a mushroom, a root, an allium, and a green; this iteration had white button (ie, supermarket) and dried oyster, shredded carrot, scallion, and bit of celery. Dipping sauce in back of sweetened rice vinegar, scallion, garlic, ginger, soy, would make a spare tire taste good.
Noodles: Hong Kong style (that's what the package says, anyway) crisped on the bottom and steamed on the top, fried tofu, mushrooms, bell peppers, home brown sauce (mostly soy, palm sugar, vegetable boullion.
Vegetables just undercooked when they leave the stove, perfectly cooked by the time they reach the table. Chopsticks, a glass of red... what are you waiting for?
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQwTD0SksWVUa4ysTLxrK0UqmlAhNPFSi4xWWNEABT01CXvYjhNJcMCoQf38c2b-oFFvngSgBTkkFkIZTmM9yb1PWMAcmI_zwGvkIDzbTn9nPpE2Z5w6K9kH_ASszu7pJpLjlZSq3ZfYW/s1600/vegan+tofu+noodles.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQwTD0SksWVUa4ysTLxrK0UqmlAhNPFSi4xWWNEABT01CXvYjhNJcMCoQf38c2b-oFFvngSgBTkkFkIZTmM9yb1PWMAcmI_zwGvkIDzbTn9nPpE2Z5w6K9kH_ASszu7pJpLjlZSq3ZfYW/s320/vegan+tofu+noodles.jpg" /></a>Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-44864564938531217982013-05-02T14:00:00.001-07:002013-05-03T05:37:09.417-07:00Jew Long BaoHadda do it. Hadda. A tender thigh piece of my strawberry and soy shabbat chicken,<a href="http://foodislove1.blogspot.com/2009/09/friday-night-chicken.html"></a> gelled overnight in the fridge, a piece of matzah, the best bad pun I've seen in a long time. Yummy, though. Are you Xewish? You don't look Xewish...
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYVkyDN8fAMfgCRcTFvz-n-YuqqSvNt1GTpomOH5v5xq-fcSOKZd3q_gP2lsEtq7L9lQZrIN9xXy2pUHQ6fLAUyEUbsSOF5x8I7IKicCB_zx26d1NN-40vwl-W325Pm0VPgcuxSma3ynTo/s1600/jew+long+biao.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYVkyDN8fAMfgCRcTFvz-n-YuqqSvNt1GTpomOH5v5xq-fcSOKZd3q_gP2lsEtq7L9lQZrIN9xXy2pUHQ6fLAUyEUbsSOF5x8I7IKicCB_zx26d1NN-40vwl-W325Pm0VPgcuxSma3ynTo/s320/jew+long+biao.jpg" /></a>Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-1391585383207759342013-04-03T08:28:00.001-07:002013-04-03T16:30:55.606-07:00Passover 2: Matzah S'mores
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZaxAt3p_rKwAX28vFpcs1qZolFdK5cP_qeLDuMoGAAwNdPu4v14ebLAChRXnuyL1pODErkeFJULR6KsTGKJtrX2AKcjxLhPZsnHgj2NACo_qoZgZQyPNfsiRzyW8IAymgPb7eZRXaPEg/s1600/gerb.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZaxAt3p_rKwAX28vFpcs1qZolFdK5cP_qeLDuMoGAAwNdPu4v14ebLAChRXnuyL1pODErkeFJULR6KsTGKJtrX2AKcjxLhPZsnHgj2NACo_qoZgZQyPNfsiRzyW8IAymgPb7eZRXaPEg/s320/gerb.jpg" /></a>
So I agree to do snack for my kid's hebrew school class, and then I remember, 'damn, it's still passover... A fine holiday, Passover, a fine holiday, got nothing against Passover but... matzah isn't great for morale at the best of times, and the parallel Easter holiday gets them coming and going. The suffering of my people, eating the bread of affliction amidst a plague of chocolate bunnies and candy eggs.
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC_kL4V691bjBade9afqt400lxLcUGHXXtoSulI-wzIuFtKY5SfFljBH66cnXKufoVl7PJSHUaqW9gRzIFTiFOEq-k5oU0eGrbCWnEl5c1Qj0Pco1uKqoQ4DaT5zWQFdpHz72565_9WvO0/s1600/toasting.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC_kL4V691bjBade9afqt400lxLcUGHXXtoSulI-wzIuFtKY5SfFljBH66cnXKufoVl7PJSHUaqW9gRzIFTiFOEq-k5oU0eGrbCWnEl5c1Qj0Pco1uKqoQ4DaT5zWQFdpHz72565_9WvO0/s320/toasting.jpg" /></a>
Simple as it looks now, this took days of thought, off and on... I didn't want to show up acting excited about cheese-and-matzah sandwiches with celery sticks. I'm rolling the ideas around... maztah.. fruit... cheese... rice crackers... coconut-almond macaroons (enough already)...cheese... granola...popcorn... chocolate maztah and fruit fondue?... cheese... no crackers... chocolate... chocolate... OMG yes! matzah s'mores. Fun, fire, tasty, and a treat in the truest sense; how often do you make s'mores. I was grinning from ear to ear.
And so were the kids. I got kosher marshmallows from the market basket in Gloucester, a box of matzah, and Hershey's chocolate bars, the s'mores standard, are thank goodness kosher dairy. Bamboo skewers. Canned flame from the commissary as a source of heat. I read them all the riot act about fire safety, and took gleeful pleasure in pointing out kosher marshmallows are made of fish gelatin, not the beef or pork gelatin in typical marshmallows. Passed out the skewers and marshmallows, assigned a grown-up to ration chocolate, and off they went. This will doubtless become a tradition, and a welcome end-run for the kids. Just look at Cameron's smile.
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNPrAfmIf-TAWovBUkIoy61ywF_dOn_MARomd1J5_9vO-A2q5vd-Q0n9mTI_mpB5KQ10ostnzkGEw8-c4U8_3f3ZZ6n2bIO5xZmpBjkBdHmmLYzXH3S-zIbZn-_oo-Y1oe4Ncn4KewLzEG/s1600/happy+cam.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNPrAfmIf-TAWovBUkIoy61ywF_dOn_MARomd1J5_9vO-A2q5vd-Q0n9mTI_mpB5KQ10ostnzkGEw8-c4U8_3f3ZZ6n2bIO5xZmpBjkBdHmmLYzXH3S-zIbZn-_oo-Y1oe4Ncn4KewLzEG/s320/happy+cam.jpg" /></a>Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-13751775845234124082013-03-31T11:00:00.000-07:002013-03-31T16:41:38.607-07:00Happy Passover I: Killah Matzah BallsThe hard and soft matzah ball debate is unnecessary; it just depends on how much water you put in before cooking. Matzah balls are pretty much matzah flour, beaten egg, and water. The water and egg will mix before cooking, and after cooking the water will be trapped by denatured egg proteins. You want soft matzah balls? Trap a lot of water in there. You want hard matzah balls, not so much.
I like them soft, and had to quadruple the amount of water suggested by the nice people at manichewitz. Batter in the sink, testing for size at 1 tablespoon and a quarter cup, scooping and dropping from a quarter cup measure lined with plastic, and the matzah balls increasing in size so dramatically th I was sure they were going to start plopping onto the deck of the stove, potentially injuring passerby (good thing they were soft...)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfdCmyUwbwS5fnqjrv4Ijf3hAduVW9AeD7zqMZLI4nbm_zz8re9a8otoYSwRLMeqqv54F79DagV2E3DgvZZp2dkFT3_MzwotW3kiqyKtFkQAUd4oXPLA72TxQ2eEUHMm6qsSik-BTod-qq/s1600/matzball+test.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfdCmyUwbwS5fnqjrv4Ijf3hAduVW9AeD7zqMZLI4nbm_zz8re9a8otoYSwRLMeqqv54F79DagV2E3DgvZZp2dkFT3_MzwotW3kiqyKtFkQAUd4oXPLA72TxQ2eEUHMm6qsSik-BTod-qq/s320/matzball+test.jpg" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr871kKxy-7kLOQe5quCBaH958ueb1elxnSua-LW9DLtAh3AmaCKRsPKjzq1VXTsI1WPVbkI0mYByg-BSOR-PdYQvRM2R2PBEkzZv0mqSp8cd7ItcEIIBEzf7YVoYQxVjlQ6GXYrBLwrV_/s1600/matzball+before.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr871kKxy-7kLOQe5quCBaH958ueb1elxnSua-LW9DLtAh3AmaCKRsPKjzq1VXTsI1WPVbkI0mYByg-BSOR-PdYQvRM2R2PBEkzZv0mqSp8cd7ItcEIIBEzf7YVoYQxVjlQ6GXYrBLwrV_/s320/matzball+before.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9eQZPrf04oslLzAZ0w6bEG6e9kxi9vMoneidYZDG9hCwuGQl936GyT1qlLI33jJgmfPF4V6WRBqdC444nNaeL5POMTO12wKYdjNVOwAVK3Q18mGxB9SBh__Uyajgi91P1PiREzOi5gf0r/s1600/matzball+after.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9eQZPrf04oslLzAZ0w6bEG6e9kxi9vMoneidYZDG9hCwuGQl936GyT1qlLI33jJgmfPF4V6WRBqdC444nNaeL5POMTO12wKYdjNVOwAVK3Q18mGxB9SBh__Uyajgi91P1PiREzOi5gf0r/s320/matzball+after.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Ey3-B1tZE88i02WBaoZqCdHAdHltgWkjykyDzsDpYEpwCL13VTMOA3NoiuhLLoqdBP86U_myXM85WhmZNJOmkfBv4eWuPnnJFWR6OpMwWuO_Nid919INj9xxfqj4kW7wch7u8T3yY5aN/s1600/matzball+tech.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Ey3-B1tZE88i02WBaoZqCdHAdHltgWkjykyDzsDpYEpwCL13VTMOA3NoiuhLLoqdBP86U_myXM85WhmZNJOmkfBv4eWuPnnJFWR6OpMwWuO_Nid919INj9xxfqj4kW7wch7u8T3yY5aN/s320/matzball+tech.jpg" /></a>Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-6599972026487753492013-03-27T19:56:00.001-07:002013-03-27T19:56:36.818-07:00Arab Market: Seeds and Spuds, Candy and Chaos.Arab market, somewhere east of Nazareth. Big sheet metal warehouse, entirely open, an informal dirt parking lot on one side, and a chaos of trucks, crates, and shouting over a floor of drops and discards.
Produce you can tell just came out of the field... spuds still covered in dirt, cabbage with the rough, eaten outer leaves we never see because, ie, some Jamaican migrant worker at the Smalowski farm in Hadley, Mass has cut them off with a billhook before the shrinkwrap. Clear plastic bags of seeds... sunflower, fried fava beans, fresh fava beans, pumpkin seeds, squash seeds, peanuts, almonds, pecans, salted, unsalted... sold by the scoop and the kilo, a nice change from the sealed 1.75 oz packages hanging by the cash register. And the fish monger in a keffiyeh and leather jacket who graciously allowed me to take his picture. Looked like mostly farmed tilapia, but the pink bags by his left hand are shrimp on ice, a leeway allowed by Halal dietary laws but not Kashrut.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7_904h2d5s_4UcvF3n8sYhDxentGnGkrk2iXBQYkkdZWby5376y1OscHhnAcA08X-Lj9FJEOm674vBnp7bZDPh90NqueGUsS2HDF36v2vrs4r0z2EaPPCPw0mu8dfLI3tjGbZ6uxE41m/s1600/arab+market+fish.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7_904h2d5s_4UcvF3n8sYhDxentGnGkrk2iXBQYkkdZWby5376y1OscHhnAcA08X-Lj9FJEOm674vBnp7bZDPh90NqueGUsS2HDF36v2vrs4r0z2EaPPCPw0mu8dfLI3tjGbZ6uxE41m/s320/arab+market+fish.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdWy7QTxYpvMYsAQ15_0xndOFOOEyQncwZRqYrCjQY48vvnH8Hrf4LVZJIaki3IaZhpGQ6QcbEglFmf7vmsYLLjR4BsOvRJKoSFLtC-VPLQJbsdlzBaijrVtRbChIm3h380584mAOvE9t-/s1600/arab+market+seeds.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdWy7QTxYpvMYsAQ15_0xndOFOOEyQncwZRqYrCjQY48vvnH8Hrf4LVZJIaki3IaZhpGQ6QcbEglFmf7vmsYLLjR4BsOvRJKoSFLtC-VPLQJbsdlzBaijrVtRbChIm3h380584mAOvE9t-/s320/arab+market+seeds.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL6SRYa8dS2__4hVxlZAotb392FlJQlNFK6HwT_I6g5UnB2m7nXvdsdZF2vNLPJW0IV6gOb-yD-mCmXTRTtd5Mo-P_23LTwaQe__bopCn3K9GsHt5IVvCNCnTXR9BxMhL-5ZZpZzeh6b9I/s1600/arab+market+spuds.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL6SRYa8dS2__4hVxlZAotb392FlJQlNFK6HwT_I6g5UnB2m7nXvdsdZF2vNLPJW0IV6gOb-yD-mCmXTRTtd5Mo-P_23LTwaQe__bopCn3K9GsHt5IVvCNCnTXR9BxMhL-5ZZpZzeh6b9I/s320/arab+market+spuds.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz_sITD8FSsMQ_1yi-nHlr3ZJXvcaeG4cOTFtdxURVWjSB65jOSrD5Zxlz8FoX3jD48y2ELPCqAk8eTyrKF5C-5NN_jMTtYrHfJ1ECoVlgc0LBVD3I7oH6sidWAroJwpmkIsbOjWGPOdz4/s1600/arab+market.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz_sITD8FSsMQ_1yi-nHlr3ZJXvcaeG4cOTFtdxURVWjSB65jOSrD5Zxlz8FoX3jD48y2ELPCqAk8eTyrKF5C-5NN_jMTtYrHfJ1ECoVlgc0LBVD3I7oH6sidWAroJwpmkIsbOjWGPOdz4/s320/arab+market.jpg" /></a>Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-16554358523455419822013-01-31T18:00:00.004-08:002013-03-27T19:38:09.202-07:00Brasserie M&R, Tel Aviv<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Brasserie M&R is so trendy ('how trendy is it?!') -- It's so trendy that it doesn't have a sign outside. And I probably never would have set foot in it, except that we're old friends with chef Gidon Horton.
Openers: a salad with boutique lettuces and fat shavings of parmesan, and excellent home made crostini to sample with two spreads, a little Middle East (babaghanoush) and Eastern Europe (chopped liver). The babaghanoush: they just do it better out here. Smooth, smoky... I think it's the tahini paste, and fresh local lemons. Mediterrannean air. Something. The chopped liver: chicken livers, egg, carmelized onion, salt and pepper, not much else. Also smooth, just like in the old country. Neither lasted long.
Walking on the wild side -- for Israel, anyway -- I ordered moules frites and fried calamari. The Calamaretti Fritti: spiced breadcrumb coating, perfectly cooked--al dente like pasta -- over a salad like tabouleh, except pearl pasta instead of crushed wheat. I have to take exception with the moules frites, though, because they don't actually come with frites. The waitress, when gently pressed on the issue, said 'well, they would be good with frites'. Of course they would.
Dessert, well, dessert was hand picked strawberries -- probably from the fields between Tel Aviv and our house-- whipped cream, and some sort of 'Death by Chocolate' cake. With chocolate sauce. And espresso. This is trendy with backbone: good location, good eats, good service. They don't need the sign.
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Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-73653824576538833372013-01-23T18:32:00.000-08:002013-01-23T18:32:38.937-08:00Kfar Saba, Israel: If I Had A HammerSo a neighbor comes over with a couple pounds of pecans off the tree in her back yard, small but perfectly good. My boys are sizing them up, wondering how to crack them, and Aunt Shoshana behind them starts yelling, 'Patish! Patish!' My kids didn't know it meant hammer, and I saw no point in translating; Aunt Shoshana didn't anticipate or didn't care about the mess that will result from the conjunction of two boys, a hammer, a several pounds of pecans. But great heart shall not be denied, as Tolkien said, and the language barrier was crossed, pecans were eaten, and the mess was eventually cleaned up.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-22667370577426159742013-01-21T18:23:00.002-08:002013-01-21T18:33:18.344-08:00Dinner in NazarethAt Diana's, which 'everyone has heard of', started as a concession stand for a movie theater, long since gone, now an upscale, wine-bottles-along-the-wall-in-cool-diagonal-bins grill. Glass fronted kitchen where we watched the cooks sear, spear, and form kebabs onto skewers to order. Palestinian staff and clientele, but except for the headscarves -- and bitter, local, homemade olives -- you really couldn't tell.
The hummous was fresh, excellent, strewn with chickpeas and buttery olive oil. The tabouleh, contrary to what I'd expect, was mostly scallion and parsley, with just a scattering of cracked wheat. The abovementioned bitter local olives next to pita fresh from the oven, with a texture soft like cotton candy. Lamb grill plate, with salad and rice with lentils, followed by a child's sized cup of coffee strong enough to remove paint, spiced with minced ginger, and I think cinnamon and cardamom.
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Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-3570742549951652672013-01-21T18:08:00.001-08:002013-01-21T18:08:11.931-08:00Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-28186356825250334692013-01-16T08:31:00.000-08:002013-01-16T08:39:01.456-08:00Machne Yehuda Market, Jerusalem: Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?Sometimes, you see a giant cracker that looks like a three foot tongue in the baker's window, and you think 'I must have that'. It happens to me, anyway. Honestly, if I really understood what that thing looked like, I might have had second thoughts about that picture (but posed for it anyway).
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Savory, probably pita dough, with a sprinking of sesame seeds and spread single layer thin. The ends cracked like crostini, and the middle had some chew. The first move (pity) was to fold it into my backpack, so I wouldn't injure fellow shoppers. I worked this over slowly, wandering markets and alleys, for two days.
Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-26716730281870566932013-01-10T14:40:00.000-08:002013-01-10T14:54:10.782-08:00Arab Market Near Akbara, IsraelField trip with my brother in law around the Galilee, swinging by an Arab market for road snacks, middle east style: salted and fried fava beans instead of chips. And a selection of pastries for the folks back home, scraped off the tray with putty knives. Several kinds of baklava were filled with nuts, others with sweetened goat cheese, and all soaked with a sugar and cinnamon syrup sweet enough to freeze your teeth, which didn't stop me from eating them out of hand. The orange pastries on the tray are filled with goat cheese, and colored with beta carotene.
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Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-37286535263154352212013-01-09T16:22:00.000-08:002013-01-09T16:22:34.657-08:00Kfar Saba, Israel: Orthodox JuiceThere's a park adjacent to the farmland behind my mother in law's house in Kfar Saba, Israel. It's got beautiful cactus, aloe, and trees, plus a medium size citrus orchard, with lots of grapefruit, plus oranges and some kind of tangerine.
The heart of the park has been saved, but part of the perimeter, like much of Israel, is rapidly becoming a cluster of high rises (I call them hives for humans). During this time, the grapefruit orchard has simultaneously been prolific and totally neglected. Fruit clustered in the trees, and in various states of freshness and rot on the ground.
So, since I can't read the signs that probably say 'no trespassing' or 'don't pick this fruit', and since it's pretty clear no one cares, I made several trips and came back with a found grocery bag with half a dozen or so grapefruit.
Sliced to ruby flesh that bled copiously, and juiced like a sponge full of water, the quickest way to get the most value from grapefruit. As Wonka swore by mixing chocolate with a waterfall, they say nothing softens citrus like a good juggle.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-73653386695679313012012-09-29T10:12:00.001-07:002012-09-29T10:14:14.186-07:00Skillet Apple PieI *love* apple pie, and it's the season. Intuitive ingredients and equipment:
apple,
lemon juice,
cinnamon,
sugar,
corn starch,
butter,
ready made crust, and a
cast iron skillet.
Peel and dice apples. In a big bowl, mix with sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice to taste. Add maybe a teaspoon of cornstarch (wet first in a separate container) to thicken.
Line cast iron skillet with bottom crust, fill, pinch, vent, and stick in a 350 oven until it says 'uncle'. That's pretty much when the top crust is done. Heat transfer is proportional to mass; common sense says that when the part heated by air is done, the part heated by a couple pounds of iron is done, too. This did have a perfectly OK crust. Perfectly OK, not perfect, but it was all eaten. By me. In 24 hours. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-55519008718001416522012-09-26T18:14:00.000-07:002012-09-26T18:14:40.147-07:00Artichokes and EdamameHas a nice rhythm, that. Say it: Artichokes and Edamame. Nice vegetarian dinner, too. Two layers of my bamboo steamer, set over a shallow pan of water with artichokes in the bottom, edamame, mushrooms, and ginger on the top<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKgPyyQ-cMNu7zWkTXGXaWp7R9lwgHpJ-zS6AFkoTzAmxfukPxHQG-NHuwGfD7wTMOhvgI8hu3O5qnYQQyGWw4cqsqPsadL4FSYmPB8U42KLDz8upSx1FeZ0BXl2Uq9LLzdPBpow9AzIab/s1600/artichokes+and+edamame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="239" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKgPyyQ-cMNu7zWkTXGXaWp7R9lwgHpJ-zS6AFkoTzAmxfukPxHQG-NHuwGfD7wTMOhvgI8hu3O5qnYQQyGWw4cqsqPsadL4FSYmPB8U42KLDz8upSx1FeZ0BXl2Uq9LLzdPBpow9AzIab/s320/artichokes+and+edamame.jpg" /></a></div>
. Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-15135374712113638462012-09-22T11:09:00.000-07:002012-09-22T11:17:18.417-07:00Diced BrowniesThis is was an attempt to thwart my child's teacher last year, who had some snack guidelines I suspect had more to do with her convenience than a concern for nutrition. Anyway, a half a brownie and some pretzels was not allowed. Putting a whole brownie at the bottom of the pretzels would have been obvious to the point of insulting. But this seemed to do the trick.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjweFs6-MFKrdnKqBqvoNfimf2y6ja8mnu-zKCcNxYBVEhzk0bqZDWOyV0-3bcqvKgAQxxnlNf9xS0V0OhM6ehDm-0p1x79T5dtSgl8P5wni1hoO7N809l1YbE5EN85Sfb7HGal8f1u5bdF/s1600/diced+pretzels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="218" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjweFs6-MFKrdnKqBqvoNfimf2y6ja8mnu-zKCcNxYBVEhzk0bqZDWOyV0-3bcqvKgAQxxnlNf9xS0V0OhM6ehDm-0p1x79T5dtSgl8P5wni1hoO7N809l1YbE5EN85Sfb7HGal8f1u5bdF/s320/diced+pretzels.jpg" /></a></div>
Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-35305960162077155182011-10-01T19:11:00.000-07:002011-10-03T08:12:33.620-07:00PYO Crabs: The Other Summer Blues<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNiFr5_0frLgMxCohVV9p3z0HzWlSkmHjLSkS0E7DUjijHvg1SLBAWS-Sl1PMZAH-qA9JQkyg2yKgAkragzVI8FJ36ng-iadsYDyFJuTz0H2tj0Yfz-HWCx8QEiVk9xKOctCQck57nPJcg/s1600/crab+grab.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNiFr5_0frLgMxCohVV9p3z0HzWlSkmHjLSkS0E7DUjijHvg1SLBAWS-Sl1PMZAH-qA9JQkyg2yKgAkragzVI8FJ36ng-iadsYDyFJuTz0H2tj0Yfz-HWCx8QEiVk9xKOctCQck57nPJcg/s320/crab+grab.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658715660676384978" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNOu1hFVtyFhofazOgOf0rvwnlXKBAnajl7H3qVLsj61b3wMvGL30FzRhyphenhyphenIRDnAfAfqA3DufTgLz9kG2AmLMbndkXI9eEZOBsHDlhiEMIh1eeTmaJ-sm2Hgxb7EsEHd2-X49YOkpeuyQ07/s1600/crabs+close.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 254px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNOu1hFVtyFhofazOgOf0rvwnlXKBAnajl7H3qVLsj61b3wMvGL30FzRhyphenhyphenIRDnAfAfqA3DufTgLz9kG2AmLMbndkXI9eEZOBsHDlhiEMIh1eeTmaJ-sm2Hgxb7EsEHd2-X49YOkpeuyQ07/s320/crabs+close.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658719960782700994" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgroLVhWSdw06HOK3kk3oBzO9mLLUveOznP-Q8G5IQfaYg0Dg6Ag0QChdHLXVdY7SYphGsS4z8Glly_CgXtuWo8IS-I_ClqlYMvpCWSyKDqTBJi1tZgeXLujiha0Dl041KwrT8PS90dacxA/s1600/crab+cooked.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgroLVhWSdw06HOK3kk3oBzO9mLLUveOznP-Q8G5IQfaYg0Dg6Ag0QChdHLXVdY7SYphGsS4z8Glly_CgXtuWo8IS-I_ClqlYMvpCWSyKDqTBJi1tZgeXLujiha0Dl041KwrT8PS90dacxA/s320/crab+cooked.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658715646325638642" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizn8QohNvMqpvS0MLj-6rxR3PP0edMgcQyLAaSAacbsi-nFK0Ilk-Gh6pSAN3N7c2IpvmgNMHekq9795oNrTW_G30KDCjEujGH4ZZUCsoEaZLzDBl4cpAEg-3w0bHHKPSgCzhSJDyb6uxV/s1600/crab+chop.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizn8QohNvMqpvS0MLj-6rxR3PP0edMgcQyLAaSAacbsi-nFK0Ilk-Gh6pSAN3N7c2IpvmgNMHekq9795oNrTW_G30KDCjEujGH4ZZUCsoEaZLzDBl4cpAEg-3w0bHHKPSgCzhSJDyb6uxV/s320/crab+chop.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659072422397025362" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8UUhORe6xSReJ_5EWzrC5yhfyKA0W_b1jVqMIjE5ZSmBjb2oLJws_H-FWmcWmeog07N7N6s5DUsIwgXAdynq84A-SO7e_T5sEZGEIsgQnNyNtJPdUyLIjr_wag2iR5TqbhfxUNQrxBqGk/s1600/crab+money.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 168px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8UUhORe6xSReJ_5EWzrC5yhfyKA0W_b1jVqMIjE5ZSmBjb2oLJws_H-FWmcWmeog07N7N6s5DUsIwgXAdynq84A-SO7e_T5sEZGEIsgQnNyNtJPdUyLIjr_wag2iR5TqbhfxUNQrxBqGk/s320/crab+money.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659072416137144578" /></a><br />Snorkeling for Blue Crabs in a marsh on Southern Cape Cod. These are vicious bastards and fierce fighters. I got pinched good a bunch of times, and one even drew blood through my gloves. Nine great, big, plier-clawed monsters, 8 male and one female, hiding in the rocks at a popular children's beach.<br /><br />This was a high adrenaline snorkel, because the tidal bore here was pretty strong, great for covering turf -- all you have to do is drift -- but trying to stay in one place in the current and track a crab with claws this wide, that will rip your face off in self defense, well, that requires finesse. Good density, too... I hit a crab about every three or four minutes, until I had nine -- three for each of us.<br /><br />Now what I don't get is, I got these beautiful Blue Crabs at a popular beach, in three or four feet of water. Anybody and his dog could have had them. Are Blues just not really a New England thing, or am I the only one to think of looking there? This is the northern edge of their range, but blue crabs on the southern Cape are nothing new.<br /><br />Friends David and Deborah and I went into these with heavy spoons and a bottle of Sri Racha. Here's going at one with the back of a cleaver, and the money shot, a perfectly split claw... <br /><br />These were about the biggest, sweetest, crabs any of us remembered, and David's been eating them in Maryland since back in the day. I hadn't enjoyed crustaceans and company so much in a long time. A shout out here to my buddies from C.L.A.W., who also would have appreciated this.Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-7383870397900599402011-09-22T16:44:00.000-07:002011-09-22T16:49:21.228-07:00Section Of A Cone<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz5P3JzFcaL_ndlEifBO_jr4PZSAjVA_P3s3VqCKLJnArp0LFS_gWRN7HuLnRUCcgI_cRu0RdN7vKc5_ET-8ZJDtRoTfI0x8rEStpJhoKAJ84PrnDZD3FA5drMbbHE5rCynMyjUIPSXy8F/s1600/cone.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 306px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz5P3JzFcaL_ndlEifBO_jr4PZSAjVA_P3s3VqCKLJnArp0LFS_gWRN7HuLnRUCcgI_cRu0RdN7vKc5_ET-8ZJDtRoTfI0x8rEStpJhoKAJ84PrnDZD3FA5drMbbHE5rCynMyjUIPSXy8F/s320/cone.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655335287291813426" /></a><br />Without explanation, this might look like an ordinary ice cream cone. You may notice the cone is filled, however, and that's because this was deliberately engineered that way to maximize the cone as an ice cream reserve. I had made a textbook chocolate cone, and gave it to my wife and made her promise not to have a bite. <br /><br />Now giving someone a cone like that and a promise of 'don't touch' is a cruel thing to do to someone who'd actually listen. Neither of us believed she wasn't going to work it over while I attended to something or other in the kitchen, but it didn't matter because I had a backup ice cream reservoir.Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-42472117536048364082011-09-22T16:41:00.000-07:002011-09-22T16:44:39.610-07:00Cold Turkey Vindaloo<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQiy4QawFNH4KW9aJ6tLf-NRGH11etnmrT3QPEPAflDNJHvyboLxCMSG-3Nymlyvo-E56FkiDIMypdd51pJ1P8_-PYSZsnPQuS-KGB_Jt6OrWWPyk9g6TYtXYMwDj5OPmoBSpqhmNuRux/s1600/turkey.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQiy4QawFNH4KW9aJ6tLf-NRGH11etnmrT3QPEPAflDNJHvyboLxCMSG-3Nymlyvo-E56FkiDIMypdd51pJ1P8_-PYSZsnPQuS-KGB_Jt6OrWWPyk9g6TYtXYMwDj5OPmoBSpqhmNuRux/s320/turkey.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655334080590118578" /></a><br />Quick snack: some fresh ciabatta, a single slice of turkey -- just enough to flavor a mouthful of bread -- and a smear of vindaloo paste over the mayonnaise. Or under it, I can't remember. But I do remember it was pretty tasty. I wonder, though... I'm too much of a snob to used jarred condiments, mostly. Are these crappy vindaloo but I lack the basis for comparison? It's made in India, anyway. Maybe grab a jar at an Indian market and tell me what you think.Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-65231468213387896592011-09-18T19:16:00.000-07:002011-09-18T19:25:09.060-07:00Tenderly<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0V8or38g4UTePTv9pL2OzgbokjuMi0SrrZVKLd7aflWZVQ0T1fYTfNuU21R6Bk3unICziJgugUdEIeVEKwSPmSZ8pZ-pxyiC0RbrZbfI6WKFLFWtodctT3JVTEAll5nMnqgf01Fpkgi2p/s1600/tenders+meal.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0V8or38g4UTePTv9pL2OzgbokjuMi0SrrZVKLd7aflWZVQ0T1fYTfNuU21R6Bk3unICziJgugUdEIeVEKwSPmSZ8pZ-pxyiC0RbrZbfI6WKFLFWtodctT3JVTEAll5nMnqgf01Fpkgi2p/s320/tenders+meal.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653890470338895954" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAx8HBVpEp62l7fEaqnZNGtYyjCAtrstDNQHlxQJf5OVHDwmwLxPV-PER4E7cqodQwoJ4LLYDNAR47CI2GGRNovKG3b08N2Sap3Rj8krS14dDkXtCYCH4LAiVZxkR9TtcGpRv0iiDqclBh/s1600/tenders+sandwich.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAx8HBVpEp62l7fEaqnZNGtYyjCAtrstDNQHlxQJf5OVHDwmwLxPV-PER4E7cqodQwoJ4LLYDNAR47CI2GGRNovKG3b08N2Sap3Rj8krS14dDkXtCYCH4LAiVZxkR9TtcGpRv0iiDqclBh/s320/tenders+sandwich.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653890473826861330" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdrmTDLLPPXgByhF46U8wPeiTLdMyns5IF8RJfS5Z8xyy6yk1mWs91Pz_Avld-7_X_81Plt9sgdDwrWt-enzLW-65FzTrJaUdjD0qnyInKuYxLw-kVxHP9Ry7p9gAKbgROoUhAwIcFrG7/s1600/tenders+spike.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 274px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdrmTDLLPPXgByhF46U8wPeiTLdMyns5IF8RJfS5Z8xyy6yk1mWs91Pz_Avld-7_X_81Plt9sgdDwrWt-enzLW-65FzTrJaUdjD0qnyInKuYxLw-kVxHP9Ry7p9gAKbgROoUhAwIcFrG7/s320/tenders+spike.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653890479135273554" /></a><br /><br />The chicken 'tender', that triangular one with the tendon hanging out the back, is pretty much a product of modern chicken processing. They didn't have them when I was growing up, and came on the market not much after the 'McNugget' turned the chicken processing world upside down.<br /><br />I'm not crazy about them as a substitute for chicken fingers, because by the time you reduce the connective tissue in that tendon, you've totally overcooked the chicken. Or you get a chicken finger with a tendon in the middle.<br /><br />Day one leftovers for the kids, a one pot microwave meal with pasta and corn. Day two is my obligation, and here's some leftover chicken fingers in a sandwich, chopped fine, avocado, mayonnaise, lettuce, sri racha, and a good squirt of lime, all on a fresh St. Joseph's roll from Virgilio's. And with a big damned spike through it, so it doesn't fall apart or lose its integrity. I hate that.Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-41953847604074677402011-09-18T19:14:00.000-07:002011-09-18T19:16:19.185-07:00Brace of Virgilio's<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPFWcTYuAEAgTIujFJqvYs1gJ00P-PiB2KrABBqkpXktpgZfOBsd4XMfLy4F-RJoGyNcI2pLPtNWn76_eP3R1nma6zSWERFdRdrZLR29uD1lO1tWXPuQjQOzGrzMAguYEYwUiTpyB_8suo/s1600/brace+of+virgilio%2527s.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 220px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPFWcTYuAEAgTIujFJqvYs1gJ00P-PiB2KrABBqkpXktpgZfOBsd4XMfLy4F-RJoGyNcI2pLPtNWn76_eP3R1nma6zSWERFdRdrZLR29uD1lO1tWXPuQjQOzGrzMAguYEYwUiTpyB_8suo/s320/brace+of+virgilio%2527s.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653888825642791794" /></a><br />There's a pretty thing, two semolina loaves from Virgilio's Italian bakery, right there on the end of mainstreet. Dish of previously mentioned garlic salt. Room temperature sweet butter. Maybe some gravy from the pot. I want a chunk of that right now, but it's Friday night so I have to wait for blessings.Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-4863140648613588652011-09-18T19:05:00.000-07:002011-09-18T19:10:51.604-07:00I Laugh At Your Puny Garlic Salt<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij5MEZHUANxkUVYpzGQAlIWBnqdIQp5TPWS24YtwlLyFf2nIu0HxAutTBcDg2557cG3RoQQ0Y6N93Pu-uDccnbJnJEFfVNi3SY2m9F3o5M1Ao6WN-H1p-J1J0UnJiTIMNDRLvfpyC9OWVC/s1600/garlic+salt+veg.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij5MEZHUANxkUVYpzGQAlIWBnqdIQp5TPWS24YtwlLyFf2nIu0HxAutTBcDg2557cG3RoQQ0Y6N93Pu-uDccnbJnJEFfVNi3SY2m9F3o5M1Ao6WN-H1p-J1J0UnJiTIMNDRLvfpyC9OWVC/s320/garlic+salt+veg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653887411243884770" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATPTXtCFwK1BephMf__pc8eFXURzE3_B9ImSrnMzd8eUoy-Wgebjrsyiy9wvxNKiwEL8DdbpiqW5Wf2BXZrjjIv5rKk7GdLnX0mOW2ENryK1aMqry30mEpdPhv-K2O2mi2bFXyQTQdWWz/s1600/garlic+salt.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATPTXtCFwK1BephMf__pc8eFXURzE3_B9ImSrnMzd8eUoy-Wgebjrsyiy9wvxNKiwEL8DdbpiqW5Wf2BXZrjjIv5rKk7GdLnX0mOW2ENryK1aMqry30mEpdPhv-K2O2mi2bFXyQTQdWWz/s320/garlic+salt.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653887409007273794" /></a><br />Durkee garlic salt is for weaklings. Dried garlic powder and table salt. Please.<br /><br />If I want a salt and garlic kick, I take jarred Chinese fried garlic, and grind it in the ol' mortar and pestle with a good pinch of kosher salt. It's awesome just on bread and butter, or here sprinkled on seared vegetables, with a little olive oil.Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8322458258231746176.post-60703201239949932482011-09-18T17:15:00.000-07:002011-09-27T07:43:27.560-07:00My Small, Anorexic Greek Salad<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHvgwWBLwje9f2cflz4DbG_Bx8OwUw-emNHD4o8-TtFkwgJRNDlutBtqUNLDyLjHVgegCkIMHwk97aFFRgOqbmnb0WqPPX-CBxCMBl8DuSSmyfpysHEtwWQleOmtTQFxycBVpzBMxgAZf/s1600/greek+herbs.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHvgwWBLwje9f2cflz4DbG_Bx8OwUw-emNHD4o8-TtFkwgJRNDlutBtqUNLDyLjHVgegCkIMHwk97aFFRgOqbmnb0WqPPX-CBxCMBl8DuSSmyfpysHEtwWQleOmtTQFxycBVpzBMxgAZf/s320/greek+herbs.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653885955244169330" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmLNdy1h-d9TL9drc9Hm5P1n5QemAahLALYejmO1V6D2NCrqvxJCLLx2OwGDU6ACQZs63Qq_tiJF9j7jvXEe5yQBDPVw8_QLH-hyzB2hyPBA-X9uB4cRMdYVJCPijBTN5CUYey-McY5gIp/s1600/greek+salad+2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmLNdy1h-d9TL9drc9Hm5P1n5QemAahLALYejmO1V6D2NCrqvxJCLLx2OwGDU6ACQZs63Qq_tiJF9j7jvXEe5yQBDPVw8_QLH-hyzB2hyPBA-X9uB4cRMdYVJCPijBTN5CUYey-McY5gIp/s320/greek+salad+2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653885950929202882" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiStBvxaM0vEbXiTSqkgtiuXqpkDzooBBEXolqphdPlossFG-lQs3Kjn_QUI4S6GozBVYFec727qKL3qqXbU9N9HG32jZStIIKfiBFpvqGnI93SOBv7PlUWTIXv2iFGttDAHjDQqX20A31L/s1600/greek+salad+1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiStBvxaM0vEbXiTSqkgtiuXqpkDzooBBEXolqphdPlossFG-lQs3Kjn_QUI4S6GozBVYFec727qKL3qqXbU9N9HG32jZStIIKfiBFpvqGnI93SOBv7PlUWTIXv2iFGttDAHjDQqX20A31L/s320/greek+salad+1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653885948309284386" /></a><br />Why Small and Anorexic? Well, first, because if you google 'my big fat greek salad', you'll find dozens of greek salads under that clever heading. Google a small, anorexic greek salad, baby, and it takes you right to me.<br /><br />The other reason is that each of these is near fatally flawed for a Greek salad. They both have feta, but we barely make the cut on that point alone; this feta is probably rated higher by Consumer Reports as a caulking agent than by Cook's Illustrated as a cheese, but never mind. One of these salads has no kalamata olives, and one has no tomatoes. Now everyone knows, you make a greek salad by waving feta, kalamata olives, and a styrofoam tomato at a piece of lettuce, and serving with half a nearly stale pita and prepackaged dressing. That's how it's done. So how, you ask, can I claim these are Greek salads? <br /><br />Well first, there's the feta. But there's also a handful of fresh thyme, oregano, chocolate mint, and a little sage, rinsed, minced fine, and topping both. Fresh made dressing, a pretty simple job of good olive oil, kosher salt, fresh pepper, a mild vinegar. I bet a real greek salad is whatever you have lying around, with fresh herbs from the garden or hillside, and never mind the kalamata olives.Hot Sauce and Cold Steel: Northeast, Mideast, Far East Cookinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05369456071030023674noreply@blogger.com0