American Bred

Some time ago Michael Ruhlman opined that America didn't have a cuisine (I looked, but couldn't find the specific post). I objected to his assertion, but he defended it well. Nevertheless, it's been bothering me since and I finally articulated a response. It's not a broad disputation of his argument because I didn't have space for that, but it's a specific example that I think anyone, with some knowledge of food in this country, can extrapolate from. It's also my latest column on Spot-On.

Technorati: Food | commentary | essay | New Orleans | american cuisine

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The Day of Pigs



Today was far more special than you could have imagined. This is not only the Chinese Year of the Pig, which occurs every 12 years, but the Golden Year of the Pig, which occurs every 600 years. On top of that, March 1 is National Pig Day, the first, and perhaps only, time there will be such a confluence porcinus. Clearly such an auspicious event called for a panoply of piggish prodigality. Fortunately I didn't have anything time-critical scheduled today so I had time this morning to give a little thought to the matter.

But what to do? I didn't want to make a trip to the store just to buy a pork chop for some lame last-minute effort at some lame last minute effort. And although I did have bacon and a couple of different kinds of sausage in the freezer, I wanted something special. Then I remembered I had some pork confit that I'd made a month ago and hadn't gotten around to tasting since I'd made it. This was the perfect occasion. A little more thought and I had my menu planned.

I decided to fry some potatoes with the pork confit in the fat from the confit and

then toss the potatoes and confit with some grated Parmigiano Reggiano. I would serve it on a bed of Italian green beans sautéed with some of my homemade pancetta, garlic, and a couple of minced anchovy fillets (a treatment that has become one of my favorite ways of fixing greens and I thought it would work equally well with the beans — it did). I also had a few homemade bratwursts in the freezer, so I thawed one of them out as well. Then, figuring if it's worth doing it's worth over-doing, I decided to make buttermilk biscuits using lard that I'd rendered.

But even that wasn't enough. La Tienda had a sale on Serrano ham last week and I'd ordered some. It arrived today, clearly a omen, and in a last frenzy of pig-headedness I decided to wrap a few orange segments in ham as an amuse bouche. (The flavor pairing worked, but the orange overwhelmed the ham. I may try this again using country ham.)

And, as you can see above, that's exactly what I did. It was a remarkable meal built almost entirely of pork products that I made myself. I think even the CIA would be happy with the results.

Technorati: Food | recipe | pork | pig | National Pig day | bratwurst | pork confit

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Culinary Fundamentalism

Just as there are religious fundamentalists and evangelists. There are food fundamentalists and evangelists. Hell, I may be one — witness my homemade corned beef as an effort to find and, in some way, worship at the shrine of Real Food. After all, the true evangelists call to mind James 2:18, "I will show thee my faith by my works," and so I make corned beef from scratch. The fact that these works of my hands are good at worst and insanely great at best is beside the point. I have shown my faith by making the effort.

Read the whole article at Spot-On.

Technorati: Food | spot-on | food column | fundamentalism | essay | made from scratch | food commentary

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Title

Pie Happens



I pictured a mound of overlapping circles of golden-brown potatoes strewn with sprigs of green. Instead, I ended up with a single circle of potatoes surrounding a bird's nest of potato strips. Such are the uncertainties of creation.

This month Jeanne at CookSister is playing the role of hostess for the online event, Waiter, there's something in my... Pie!. WTSIM is an online event being conducted by Jeanne, Johanna of The Passionate Cook and Andrew at Spittoon Extra. Each month they pick a theme and invite bloggers to submit recipes — this month the theme is pies, either sweet or savory.

Four and twenty black birds, baked in a pie...

I have a deep-seated fondness for pies in almost any form, and recently published an article at Kitchen Window on NPR's Web site about pot pies. It was while reading about this version of WTSIM that I had my vision. I imagined a steak and mushroom pie, flavored with juniper and rosemary, and encased in a "pastry" of sliced potaoes — a twist on the English cottage pie.

I checked the rules and the only real restriction was that the pie had to be enclosed. No problem, I thought. I jotted down my ideas — a proto-recipe — and got to work.

In general the pie came together smoothly and much as I'd envisioned, with one exception. I underestimated the number of potatoes I'd need and at the end found I didn't have enough potato slices to cover the top. My solution was to rinse the peelings and cover the center with them. I knew they were thin enough to cook completely in the oven, but I didn't anticipate them curling up into light delicious potato chips — hence the birds nest in the center.

Steak and Mushroom Pie

3 ea md. Yukon gold potatoes
2 ea sm. carrots — cut into 1/2” dice
3 tbsp olive oil
1 lb sirloin — sliced very thin and seasoned with salt and pepper
1/2 lb baby portabella mushrooms — sliced
1/2 ea lg. onion — diced
1/2 c cut, frozen Italian beans
1 tbsp juniper berries — crushed
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp fresh rosemary — minced
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 1/2 c beef stock
1/2 c red wine
3 tbsp butter — melted

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Peel (reserving peelings) and slice potatoes into 1/8 inch thick rounds. Add potatoes to water and cook until just tender — about 5 minutes. Scoop out potatoes and drain, reserving water. Bring pot back to a boil and toss in diced carrots. Cook until tender — about 10 minutes. Drain.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Brown sliced meat in two batches and save in the pot you cooked the potatoes and carrots in.

Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and reduce heat to medium. Add mushrooms, onion, thyme, juniper, and minced rosemary to the skillet and cook until mushrooms have given up most of their liquid. Add mixture to steak.

Heat oven to 400F.

Pick the end pieces from the potatoes and mash — You need about 1/3 cup of mashed potatoes.

Deglaze skillet with wine and reduce by half. Add stock and reduce by 1/3. Stir in mashed potatoes. Add to meat mixture along with carrots and frozen beans. Mix thoroughly.

Line a pie plate with overlapping slices of potato. Add meat mixture to pie. Cover outside edge of the pie with overlapping slices of potatoes. Rinse and dry about hlf the potatoe peelings and layer those over the center. Drizzle potatoes and peelings with melted butter and season with salt and pepper. Strip the leaves from the sprig of rosemary and sprinkle over the top.

Cook on the middle rack of the oven for 35 - 45 minutes until lightly browned.

Technorati: Food | recipe | pot pie | savory pie | | wtsim | waiter there's something in my

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