The Menu is Not the Meal

In the Fermenter: Dough Formula Spreadsheet

thefermenter:

(Full-sized image here.)

For years, I have been using a spreadsheet to calculate amounts and keep a record of the doughs I make for bread and pizza, and thought others might find it useful…

In the Fermenter: Mash Notes

thefermenter:

So I broke out the green mash recipe at the new gig today. I’m working on recipe for [redacted], which calls for an accompanying sauce, and I figured I’d give it a try in the test kitchen. It went over pretty much as I’d expected: most tasters liked it a lot, but reckoned that it might be a little too exotic for publication, and would likely end up on the cutting room floor. Several of them asked me for the recipe, so I figured it was time to finally get it up here on The Fermenter. The recipe, such as it is, was passed down to me from Peter* and John, who got it from Richard, who learned from it a Zen master on the eastern slopes of Mt. Fuji, or so I’ve heard.

…

Robot Naked Lunch

When I Was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School, Sam Kashner, p. 130:

We waited on line at a health food store called Workingman’s Dead. It was run by fans of the Grateful Dead, and the album Workingman’s Dead was always playing on the record player. I had brought William Burroughs here the day before. Burroughs stood on line for a minute, looking over the sandwiches being prepared for customers holding their plastic trays. Burroughs said he couldn’t possibly eat any of the food.

‘I hate sprouts,’ he snarled. ‘They put them on everything they serve. Eating sprouts is like going down on a robot.’

In the Fermenter: Squasha Ganoush

Over at The Fermenter, I have a post about how I have finally figured out what the fudge to do with the avalanche of summer squash we always end up with at this time of year: Squasha Ganoush

Cragie On Main 10 Course Glutton Menu (8/28/09)

(Apologies for the dearth of photos, and the shite iPhone pics we did remember to take). We don’t eat out much in Boston, and even less at pricey joints like this one, but this was a stellar meal, at easily one of the best restaurants in town. That it is a new addition to our humble neighborhood makes it all the better. We’ll be going back soon, especially since we couldn’t get them to send us an order of crispy fried pig’s tails from the bar menu to our table in the main dining room.

~~~

Tasting Menu Friday, August 28th , 2009

Three Chilled Seafood Preparations: chilled squid noodles, nuoc cham lobster, lime pickle vinaigrette crispy brandade fritter, squid ink anchoïade

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Salad of Yellowfin Tuna Sashimi red onion-shiso salsa, avocado, harissa-rose vinaigrette

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Herb-Marinated and Grilled Diver Sea Scallop charred pineapple, yuzu kosho, crispy ginger

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Guanciale-Wrapped Line-Caught Swordfish mussel and leek ragoût, cubanelle pepper purée

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House-Made Papparadelle smoked sablefish, corn, caviar, sorrel

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Ragoût of Local Forest Mushrooms, House-Made Chorizo, Kohlrabi and Green Beans farm-fresh egg, zucchini-calaminthe purée, herbs and flowers

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All Natural Veal Two Ways: Braised Cheeks, Roasted Sweetbreads local bolete mushrooms, summer vegetables, roasted eggplant purée

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Jasmine and Rooibos Tea-Infused Panna Cotta toasted rice syrup/candied citrus zest

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Cornbread Pain Perdu candied fennel, plum purée, anise hyssop ice cream

~and~

Macerated Summer Fruits peach tea soda, yogurt sorbet

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Chilled Rhubarb & Hibiscus Tea Mousse yogurt foam

cravings and indulgences, 2.14.09 (for M.)

french fries
pizza
anchovies
bacon
arugula
duck confit
soup dumplings
Di Fara’s
french fries
duck fat
duck fat french fries
Frank Pepe’s
lobster rolls
Toscanini’s burnt caramel ice cream
corn nuts
mee krob
ahi poke
Kona coffee
hamachi kama
Coast Cafe fried thigh plate
Swedish fish (red ones)
Chewy SweetTarts
apple Jolly Ranchers
dulce de leche
pork skin banh mi
Spiritus coffee shake
felafel im frites
chaat papri
tacos de lengua
broccoli rabe
french fries
pizza
        and you.

In the Fermenter: 'French fold' video

Over in The Fermenter, my recipe & instructional blog, I have posted the first of many videos from around the web that I have found helpful to illustrate baking techniques. In this one, Richard Bertinet, French-British baker and author, shows his ‘French-fold’ dough mixing method, which makes quick work of turning a wet mass of dough into a smooth, extensible ball: link

Get the butter

According to Lifehacker, you can hermetically seal your cheese in butter, to keep it from going all moldy-like:

The key is to get the butter lightly spread on the cheese you aren’t serving yet, and to cover the end you exposed by cutting. It’s a tip backed up by both recent how-to articles and really, really old cookbooks. If you don’t like the idea of plebian butter infecting the taste of your aristocratic cheese choices, simply shave off the borders of your block before serving.

Interesting and useful. According to another really, really old cookbook I’ve never read, you can also protect your butter from spoiling by covering it with a thin layer of cheese.

Obscure food word of the day: Tracklement

Tracklement: n, any kind of condiment served with meat.

As seen in The Artful Eater, by Edward Behr, who (in “On French and English Mustards”) writes: “Tracklement is a curious word that means ‘a flavorful adjunct to meat’: mustard, onions, herbs, various root vegetables, mint sauce with lamb, applesauce with pork.”

Behr speaks highly of prepared mustards from Wiltshire Tracklements, which, alas, are apparently hard to come by in the US. I’d sure like to try a jar of that Beer Mustard someday.

Hero worship / jobs I want #692

Nach Waxman, rock on.

To Do Item: Riverview Pizza, Ipswich, MA

(This post is one I ported from the previous incarnation of this blog. I have taken the liberty of copying over comments left as well. It remains high on my to do list.)

From 3/07/2007 Boston Globe food pages:

Great pizza, plain and simple:

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. What ain’t broke at the Riverview in Ipswich is the pizza, served the “old way” or regular. This year Saveur magazine named Riverview’s pie to its top 100 list. “Old way” means the sauce and seasonings are placed on top of the cheese, as though the sauce is so good they want you to taste that first. Recipes for the sauce and crust are top-secret. One server, who says she’s been at the restaurant since she was 18 and is now 46, says the recipes are still a mystery to her. Fancy it isn’t. The lighted beer sign hanging above the booths is still the same as when the pizza-only restaurant opened in 1947. What pass for plates are really rectangular slips of parchment paper. Handwritten checks are punctuated with a red smiley-face stamp. They don’t accept credit cards. Fortunately, a family of four could easily eat dinner on the spare bills in your pocket; the basic cheese and tomato pie is $5. Pizzas are one size only. The toppings menu tucks in some pleasant surprises, and is a carnivore’s delight: You’ll find both sausage and kielbasa, pepperoni and salami. The Riverview, 20 Estes St., Ipswich, 978-356-0500.— CATHY HUYGHE

Any of you MINTM readers on the North Shore been there?

In the Fermenter: Care and feeding of your sourdough starter

Wherein I explain how to keep your sourdough starter happy and productive.

thefermenter:

I’m gonna assume you either a) are using a starter I gave to you, or b) your starter, like mine, is at 100% hydration (aka, 1:1 w/w flour to water ratio.) …

Some-fold bread steps out.

The Menu is not the Meal & The Fermenter have their first linkback! Boo-ya, let the profits start rolling on in. Okay, so it comes from a friend, but still, its nice to know someone out there reads this blog. 

Peter and two other friends of ours gave my some-fold bread method a whirl this past week, with positive results. Have a looksee: 

Getting Baked With Medeski
When John and Debi got married, Andrew and Melissa came to stay with us for the weekend. They brought us two loaves of his mighty bread and some of the sourdough starter required for its making, and I reverently put the culture in the fridge and kept meaning to do something with it but never did. Then, recently, A&M sent us a thank you-holiday gift of some cookies and an array of bread-making tools. Shortly thereafter, Andrew put the recipe for his insane sourdough up on his blog. And then Debi called to say that they received the same toolkit, and asking would I be interested in getting together to tackle the alchemy in tandem. I said yes, yes I would.


Debi does the stretch-and fold.

Looking good, Debi. Develop that gluten!