April 2004 Archives

Tiny E received an Easy Bake oven for his birthday this last weekend. Pretty cool stuff. First off we noted that one needs a 100 watt light bulb and not a Soft White one either, mark that one down for the grocery store. It comes with little cake tins, one shaped like a heart and the others were round. Some interesting purple colored pushy push push stick and some stickers to make it look like a real oven. You know, buttons and timer and handle. It believe it was Tuesday that we finally had the correct light bulb and E knew. It was time to start cooking with light.

Are you over the whole Tuscany thing yet? You know, the rolling hills, the Chianti, the autobiographical I-fixed-up-my-crumbling-villa books, the films, blah, blah, blah.... Everyone, they say now, is vacationing elsewhere in Italy. Elsewhere is cheaper, they say, Elsewhere is less crowded. But, the thing is, Tuscany is just great. Still great. And, as a company of people who make food, cook food, write about food, sell food, and love food, we can’t give up on Tuscany just yet. Sure, our most recent trips were to Sicily and Umbria, but we always return, physically and culinarily, to Tuscany. Um, excuse me, but, fresh pork, rosemary, white beans, and, yeah, Chianti...what’s not to like? We thought of Tuscany this week when a tender little piglet came into our possession. Roasted pork, anyone? Rosemary? Chianti? In the oven, or on the grill like a true Tuscan. Come on, you know you want to.

Joe Bob in Denver strikes gold with this latest update in dining out

I was headed for Kapre Fried Chicken but they were closed. So I went a block away to Ethel's House of Soul for some more "real" food. Ethel has been cooking it up here since 1971 in the same place and about the same menu.

Phew, what a weekend. My wife and I hosted a Meat Festival for some friends we hadn't seen in years and years, plus some new friends. The pie making started this last Friday evening and continued in to Saturday. Thus, my posting had lagged a bit. I was able to knock out a load of chicken stock in my new 16 qt pot though. And this is it.

piglet pancetta (above)

Do you ever feel lazy? Sometimes the raw, breezy Springtime weather makes us feel restless and distracted, and doing something as simple as planning a meal becomes either boring or just too much trouble. The problem is, being outside gardening or hiking really works up an appetite, one that might call for a hearty supper. Don?t worry, we have you covered. All you have to do is keep a conatiner of Sugo di Carne in your fridge or freezer. This Tuscan style meat sauce is made of pork, beef, onion, carrots, celery and vin santo. It is very aromatic and extremely versatile . Add a can of Italian tomatoes (we like the San Marzano variety), simmer briefly, and pour over pasta or polenta. Top with some grated Parmesan or Pecorino. Butcher Taylor?s lovely and talented wife Toponia chops, spices and simmers so you don?t have to! Toponia, who handles all of the administrative duties at The Fatted Calf, is also a chef and in the kitchen every week producing all of the product for the markets alongside Taylor. To quote Taylor : ?My wife is the best cook I know, and this one of the best things she makes?. Need we say more?

Another fine restaurant review from our very own Joe Bob in Denver.

Jackson, Wyoming.

Bubba's Barbeque.
This was the only barbecue joint I could find in Jackson, Wyoming. So of
course we had to go. The place was jammed with locals and tourists in a lame
attempt at a Wild West facade. The wait staff had these agonized looks on their
faces as they grappled the masses into place....also perhaps from serving the
horrid excuse for food to all of us. I had ribs and chicken with corn and beans.
Beans were awful....corn was cooked early that morning maybe....chicken was ok. The ribs were an odd grey color and tasted as if they were cooked a couple of days ago. Nothing was hot. The whole meal was a listless uninspired mess. The iced tea was even tragic. I believe there is no way to serve anything approaching decent food in such a large volume. Avoid Bubba's like a stubbed toe.

Spring has most assuredly sprung. People are out of their house, on the road and usually right where I want to be. The stunts they're pulling in town are amazing to say the least. All I was interested in doing was hopping onto the freeway and make my way into Berkeley via University Avenue. At 9:30 am Saturday morning there was one line of cars stretching for miles, all directly in front of my truck. Once finally making it to my favorite part of town for parking I find tree cutting trucks have taken everything. Back down University for 4 blocks, maybe some parking? You think? Mebe. Yes, I found one.
Was it all worth it? Yes! Fatted calf's News Letter said he had a new sausage this week and I wanted to be first in line.

click the meat to really see

I've been sitting here in front of my keyboard attempting to find words to describe this chicken breast. I wasn't going to post it, mostly because there didn't seem to be anything here that I haven't done before and/or often. But it is so pretty. Look at it. The colors, the texture, the contrast of the skin and bacon curling up. All you have to do is just 'think' bacon and you can taste it from here.

Directly from The Fatted Calf, upcoming things this Saturday ...

Mushroom Mayhem at the Market

That Taylor, he's always thinking. When our friend Anthony, the part time mushroom picker showed up at the market a couple of weeks ago, Taylor grabbed him and asked for some goodies. What resulted will be ready for you to pick up at the Berkeley Market this Saturday. The Skinny Pork Sausage with Morels will be great on the grill or perfect with pasta this weekend, and the incredible Duck Pate with Porcini Mushrooms actually improves upon what we all thought was a pretty wonderful thing.

Another fine restaurant review from our very own Joe Bob in Denver ...

M and Ds Cafe

Started back in Texas in the 1940s by Johnny Holiday, SR. He was barbecueing rabbit, armadillo and turkey along with the usual. His daughter and son in law, Mack and Daisy have been in Denver since the early 70s, and on 28th street since '77. This is the best barbecue I have had in a sit down restuarant.

This right here is a result of a Meat Alert, just in case you were wondering. As you're all aware of, last Tuesday MeatHenge Labs received an email from Fatted Calf announcing we had about 24 hours to put in our order for Agnello Ripieno. It's a lamb roast filled with Nicoise olives, orange zest and fresh pork sausage, yum. The tough part was waiting until Easter Sunday to roast it.

Nothing says spring like a basket of home made Southern-like fried chicken. Well, almost Southern-like fried chicken. On March 15th, MeatHenge hosted a birthday party and what turned out to be a real Meat Fest. Other than the birthday girl we had a guest, John Bell from Alabama. He offered to make us some of his fried chicken, sounded great to all of us. Well, we thought we were watching pretty closely. Turns out it isn't as easy as it looked. John's Fry Cook Fu is stronger than we knew.

This just rolled in, hot off the presses. We don't have much time, you must act right now.

Call the Fatted Calf immediately and order your Agniello Ripieno roast for Easter, Phone/Fax (510)653-4327.

Easter Special
Agnello Ripieno
Italian style Lamb Roast filled with Nicoise olives, orange zest and fresh pork sausage.
Price is $7.00/lb., approximate weight will be 5.5 to 6 pounds.
Each roast serves approximately six people and must be special ordered
by Wednesday April 7. For pick up at Berkeley Farmer's market,
Saturday, April 10.

Go NOW.

Wow, what a weekend. I started my Saturday off by heading out to the Berkeley Farmer's Market to visit my pals. I have to say, spring has sprung and people are out. The Fatted Calf had a row of customers 40 minutes before opening and Jan at Blue Bottle Coffee was swamped when I arrived soon after opening (10am). She qued me several times to jump in and make myself useful. That didn't happen, I was still all twitterpated from the work week and 'jumping in' on a Saturday wasn't a possibility, this time.
Since the weather was fair I decided to get myself some Hungarian Kielbasa from Taylor & Kim for some smokey barbecue love action later that same day.

And that is what I did. Around 3pm I fired up the smoker and got my hickory fire all warmed & spread nicely. In went a olive oil and herb flat chicky and I saved the kielbasa for the last hour and a half.
The chicken was served with Everett & Jone's barbecue sauce, warmed ever so gently. IT WAS JUICY NICE !!! You are well aware of how juicy a chicken can be when cooked in your oven at home? It was that juicy coming out of the smoker. What a TREAT. The Kielbasa was rich and bright and just enough heat to make you smile. Since there were only two people for dinner, my wife and I (the chillins won't eat smoked meatses), we saved half the kielbasa for Sunday's meal.
We had to make a few more trips to the store, but later Sunday found my wife hard at work in the kitchen with pie dough. Here is where the remaining sausage met its divine end.

It's been about a month since my trek into Berkeley's The Spanish Table rendered me a complete and total wreck. They were out of Pebrella. I was out of Pebrella, oh the horror.

Okay, so that is a bit too much drama. Even so, I was darned excited this morning when I called to see if it had come in. It had and I was out the door.

Pebrella is a rare form of wild thyme indigneous to the area between Valencia and Alicante. The flavor is quite warm and well rounded compared to our American dried thyme and has a nice rich perfume that works well on and in many dishes. I use it as a garnish or rub for meats & vegies. Even on the morning's eggs is quite wonderful. And since I do use it in rubs for meat the darned stuff doesn't last long.
Those pretty little jars are my own creation. Pebrella comes in 25g bags for about four bucks off the shelf. If you're looking for an interesting dried herb friend, try it. Go!

Fat in the fridge. That's what I've been looking at all week. I pulled out a half cup of duck fat from the Fatted Calf's Duck Confit earlier this week. Three times I pulled it out thinking I was ready to make some corn bread. Each time I was thwarted due to lack of ingredients or inspiration. Yesterday late afternoon I had it all, ingredients & inspiration.