tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40363131115092878082024-03-13T07:29:33.395-05:00Cooking and Eating in ChicagoA Chicago Chef uses the web as an outlet for his near-constant stream of chatter regarding all things food, eating, and cooking. His friends and family appreciate this blog for any and all time they will be spared his mind-numbing micro-analysis of the best cheese, the correct way to make a sandwich, Costco, pizza crust, or whatever his food-obsession of the moment might be.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-59669038977785208972009-08-11T22:58:00.004-05:002009-08-11T23:18:46.762-05:00Please Excuse Eddie From Blogging....Dear Readers,<br /><br />I'm going to be posting a lot less frequently here, due to the fact that I'm now officially in the midst of OPENING A RESTAURANT.<br /><br />Yes, it's official. I've <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/03/so-we-may-be-opening-restaurant.html">posted</a></span> fleetingly about this here because I didn't want to get too ahead of myself, but we closed on the purchase of the existing restaurant last Friday, the lease is in place, the brown paper is covering the windows, and I'm officially working full-time toward getting the place open early-to-mid-September.<br /><br />I'm still going to be blogging...in fact, I may pick up the pace a bit, but not here. I've been using a <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://automaticburger.blogspot.com/">different blog</a></span> to document the buying-a-restaurant process for a while, and now I'm going to use it to document the opening-a-restaurant process. I plan on trying to write over there almost every day. It's a much more train-of-thought, journal-style blog, so it's a lot easier to crank out a quick post in a half hour.<br /><br />So, given these circumstances, I would like to now take this opportunity to notify all of you that I probably won't be reviewing bacon, analyzing the difference between using half-n-half vs. heavy cream in homemade ice cream, or reviewing Julie & Julia any time soon (ok, I made up that last one--I am SO FREAKIN' SICK of hearing about that damn movie. Can it open already so people can stop prattling on endlessly about it? Damn!)<br /><br />So. In conclusion. If you want to keep reading me, go run over to <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://automaticburger.blogspot.com/">my burger blog</a></span> and check me out over there. I'll still post here, but probably only a few times a month for a while. And mark your calendars to start counting down towards the opening of my burger, fries, and shakes joint in Evanston.<br /><br />The concept? The short explanation I've been giving everyone is "<span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://hotdougs.com/">Hot Dougs</a></span> meets <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.fiveguys.com/home.aspx">Five Guys</a></span>". That works. We're going to be grinding our own beef fresh every day for burgers, cutting potatoes fresh throughout the day for fries, hand-dipping corn dogs and beer battering onion rings, and mixing up shakes and malts on the old fashioned spindle mixer. It's going to be low-key, non-chain-feeling, and inexpensive. We'll also do classic Chicago style dogs, Maxwell Street style Polish sausages, beer-simmered brats, and some fun toppings for the fries.<br /><br />Anyway, thanks for reading, see you after the hiatus, and come find me over at the burger shop blog.<br /><br />See you there!Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-74600067244837277452009-08-04T20:35:00.018-05:002009-08-05T10:03:06.138-05:00Me to Michael Pollan; "You're an Elitist Gas-Bag"Yep, that's right. The ethical-eating authority, best-selling author, and Food, Inc. star muffed one. And I'm calling him on it. I'm no authority on anything (except maybe Italian Beef sandwiches), but there it is.<br /><br />I'm actually a big fan of Pollan and his writing. I loved <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594200823?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1594200823">The Omnivore's Dilemma</a></span><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1594200823" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" />, recently saw <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.foodincmovie.com/">Food, Inc.</a></span>, and have kept current by following articles he publishes every now and then. The guy's really well-informed and has a lot of worthwhile stuff to say about how we eat and how we should change our approach to food.<br /><br />But in his most recent <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2">article</a></span>, published last week in the New York Times, Pollan screws the pooch. Big time. Not only is he just flat-out factually wrong in about six different places, but in his attempt to find a scapegoat for the current sad state of affairs in how Americans eat, he targets feminism. Specifically, Betty Friedan.<br /><br />(Not that feminism, broadly, or Friedan, specifically, is above criticism. They're not. But neither are they guilty of what Pollan tries to pin on them. More to follow.)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SnkTMPNKI5I/AAAAAAAAAwQ/J334Z46Fqrk/s1600-h/2430688581_742c0063a1+copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SnkTMPNKI5I/AAAAAAAAAwQ/J334Z46Fqrk/s320/2430688581_742c0063a1+copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366341531949736850" border="0" /></a>That's not all, though. In his (mostly justified) rants about The Food Network (Lord knows <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/02/chocolate-pudding.html">I've made</a></span> my feelings about the network known), he gets enough details about the shows wrong to allow careful readers to realize he doesn't actually know what the fuck he's talking about. It seems like he had a research assistant watch a few episodes and report back or something, so he wouldn't have to lower himself to actually watching "low culture" like Iron Chef or <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/diners-drive-ins-and-dives/index.html">Triple D</a></span>. Who knows... maybe he switched the network on and left it running in the background while he flipped through the recent issue of <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/">The New Yorker</a></span>.<br /><br />And, really, that's where Pollan's article rubbed me the wrong way. The whole thing has this condescending, scolding, elitist tone that really muddies the message. The article is hung on the framework of discussing the recent film <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.julieandjulia.com/">Julie and Julia</a></span>, but he uses the film's subject matter as a jumping-off point to continue the national discussion of our broken, dysfunctional relationship with food and eating that he's been prodding us to have for years. Most of what Pollan's got to say is right on the mark. All his major points are true and, yes, need to be written about, discussed, and changed.<br /><br />But having a Long Island born-and-bred, Northern California-dwelling Berkeley-tenured ivy tower male like Pollan lecture middle America about why they're morons for watching The Food Network isn't a great way to move that discussion forward or get people to listen. And blaming Friedan's Feminine Mystique for re-framing our approach to cooking causing generations of women to view it as "drudgery" isn't a great way to get feminists, stay-at-home-moms, or working women to take what you're saying to heart.<br /><br />I'm going to quote liberally from the article and simply respond, since this is what I found myself doing as I sat in front of my computer screen reading it. Overall, it's a thought-provoking piece containing lots of valid points and valuable insights. But in the name of a good rant, I'm going to focus just on the parts that really got the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, starting with the one that's drawing so much ire all around the net:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Curiously, the year Julia Child went on the air — 1963 — was the same year </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/betty_friedan/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Betty Friedan.">Betty Friedan</a> published “The Feminine Mystique,” the book that taught millions of American women to regard housework, cooking included, as drudgery, indeed as a form of oppression.</span><br /></blockquote>This is the quote that's gotten Pollan into trouble with the feminists and has bloggers and twitterers of all stripes buzzing. I don't take issue with the sentiment behind it--neither Friedan nor feminism is anything approaching a sacred cow with me--but it's just flat-out factually incorrect. Dead wrong. Bzzzzt! Thanks for playing, Mike, you can pick up your parting gifts on the way out.<br /><br />Saying that Friedan's <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393322572?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0393322572">book</a></span><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0393322572" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /> "taught millions of women to regard housework...as drudgery" is just drastically, laughably, misleading. The post-war years prior to 1963 saw women emerging as a huge sector of the workforce and factories that had been geared up for the war effort re-tooling as production facilities for all manner of convenience food products. The booming advertising industry was quick to jump in and assist in the food industry's effort to convince women that food preparation was drudgery to be avoided at all costs, and did so with incredible effectiveness. All of this was well-underway by the time The FM was released in 1963. There are <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415930774?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0415930774">entire</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0415930774" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0865476039?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0865476039">books</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0865476039" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014303491X?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=014303491X"> dedicated</a></span> <img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=014303491X" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /> to documenting this phenomenon and what gets me is that I'm confident Pollan is not only aware of them, but has read them.<br /><br />Which means that his scapegoating of Friedan and feminism is lazy at best. Perhaps he didn't want to stretch an already-very-long article to more fully flesh out the various parties who really were responsible for this negative re-frame of cooking. A less charitable read, though, could view Pollan's choice as a cynical attempt to co-opt negative sentiment towards feminism to bolster his cause, or maybe just as a way to drum up some controversy and get people talking.<br /><br />Regardless of which explanation is accurate, it's some weak-ass shit from a guy I expect far better from. Incredibly enough, a few short paragraphs later, he says:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Many of these convenience foods have been sold to women as tools of liberation; the rhetoric of kitchen oppression has been cleverly hijacked by food marketers and the cooking shows they sponsor to sell more stuff.</span><br /></blockquote>So Pollan acknowledges here that other forces were working to portray food prep as "drudgery", not very long after trying to blame the whole thing on Friedan. But who had more influence in the early 60's? A feminist writer or "food marketers"? Which enjoyed more circulation--The Feminine Mystique or magazines like Women's Day and Family Circle?<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">I spent an enlightening if somewhat depressing hour on the phone with a veteran food-marketing researcher, Harry Balzer, who explained that “people call things ‘cooking’ today that would roll their grandmother in her grave — heating up a can of soup or microwaving a frozen pizza.”</span></blockquote>Another cheap shot in an attempt to make a valid larger point. I admit to having more limited knowledge than this Balzer guy, but I've never heard anyone refer to microwaving a frozen pizza as 'cooking'. It just seems like Pollan is taking the easy way out to make his point.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">...you do have to wonder how easily so specialized a set of skills might translate to the home kitchen — or anywhere else for that matter. For when in real life are even professional chefs required to conceive and execute dishes in 20 minutes from ingredients selected by a third party exhibiting obvious sadistic tendencies? (</span><span class="italic" style="font-size:85%;">String cheese?</span><span style="font-size:85%;">) Never, is when. The skills celebrated on the Food Network in prime time are precisely the skills necessary to succeed on the Food Network in prime time. They will come in handy nowhere else on God’s green earth.</span></blockquote>This comment misses the mark for me on two levels. First, the shows he's discussing--Iron Chef America, Chopped, and Top Chef--do not claim to be instructional cooking shows. They're billed as entertainment. Although the recipes are often made available online after the show airs.<br /><br />And second, the ability to improvise and construct a dish or meal from random ingredients *constantly* comes in handy in real life. I do it ALL THE TIME. It's a great skill to have and shows that give contestants a basket of unlikely ingredients and challenge them to compose a tasty dish with them can, yes, be instructional, but--and this is even more important--they can be inspirational, especially to home cooks who find themselves fishing around the bottom of the freezer with a hungry family due to arrive home any minute.<br /><br />I guess a guy like Pollan, who probably only shops at organic-humane-eco-friendly-localvore farmer's markets hasn't ever found himself in that situation. Must be nice.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">We learn things watching these cooking competitions, but they’re not things about how to cook. There are no recipes to follow;</span></blockquote>Arrgh! HUGE pet peeve! Learning how to cook <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/04/ditch-recipe-and-just-cook.html">isn't about</a></span> following recipes! Are you KIDDING me, Michael? This statement actually makes me wonder if *you* really know how to cook.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Or as a chef friend put it when I asked him if he thought I could learn anything about cooking by watching the Food Network, “How much do you learn about playing basketball by watching the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_basketball_association/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the National Basketball Association.">N.B.A.</a>?” </span></blockquote><br />Um....tons? But besides all that's learned by watching, the more important point is that watching often inspires people to get out there and PLAY. What a dumb, dumb comment.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">What we mainly learn about on the Food Network in prime time is culinary fashion, which is no small thing: if Julia took the fear out of cooking, these shows take the fear — the social anxiety — out of ordering in restaurants. (</span><span class="italic" style="font-size:85%;">Hey, now I know what a shiso leaf is and what “crudo” means!</span><span style="font-size:85%;">) Then, at the judges’ table, we learn how to taste and how to talk about food. For viewers, these shows have become less about the production of high-end food than about its consumption — including its conspicuous consumption. (</span><span class="italic" style="font-size:85%;">I think I’ll start with the sawfish crudo wrapped in shiso leaves. . . .</span><span style="font-size:85%;">) </span></blockquote>And the hits keep on comin'. It was at about this point in the article that I became really aware of Pollan's insulated bi-coastal sensibility. I'm not saying that he comes off as a totally out-of-touch, holier-than-thou elitist, but...um...yeah...actually, that IS what I'm saying.<br /><br />Listen, I've barely ever even seen crudo or shiso leaves on menus and I've been a chef for 15 years. I had to go look up sawfish to find out what the hell it is and the first thing I find out is that it's critically endangered and is completely banned from international trade. Where the hell is this Pollan guy eating? What's next? Is he going to drop a reference to the last <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1562561/Frances-songbird-delicacy-is-outlawed.html">ortolan</a></span> feast he went to?<br /><br />His point here his valid, but it gets completely lost in the underlying messages he's cluelessly broadcasting about himself and the perspective from which he approaches his work.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Sure, Guy Fieri, the tattooed and spiky-coiffed chowhound who hosts “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” ducks into the kitchen whenever he visits one of these roadside joints to do a little speed-bonding with the startled short-order cooks in back, but most of the time he’s wrapping his mouth around their supersize creations</span></blockquote>Again, Pollan doesn't allow reality to stand in the way of his scapegoating. I happen to watch D,D&D almost religiously and I can attest to the fact that Fieri almost always speaks with the owner or chef, that he's sincerely respectful of their success and their "creations" and that he possesses a solid enough kitchen background to know exactly what the folks he's interviewing are talking about--something that probably couldn't be said of Pollan. Fieri doesn't usually interview "short order cooks" and his characterization of the restaurant staff as "startled" reveals Pollan's ignorance of how the show is filmed (restaurants featured on the show close down on the day they do the "kitchen shoot" so no one is being caught unaware).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">“I love that after a day where nothing is sure — and when I say nothing, I mean </span><span class="italic" style="font-size:85%;">nothing</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> — you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It’s such a comfort.” How many of us still do work that engages us in a dialogue with the material world and ends — assuming the soufflé doesn’t collapse — with such a gratifying and tasty sense of closure? Come to think of it, even the collapse of the soufflé is at least definitive, which is more than you can say about most of what you will do at work tomorrow.</span></blockquote><br />Ok, I haven't seen the movie and I assume Pollan has, but I'm not sure how he gets souffle from egg yolks, chocolate, sugar and milk. Maybe that's what Julie Powell was talking about, but <span style="font-size:100%;">soufflés</span>, which do usually contain some egg yolks, are more characterized by the presence of egg whites, which are whipped stiff and then folded into the mixture to give the <span style="font-size:100%;">soufflé</span> its essential poofy rise. I've also never seen a <span style="font-size:100%;">soufflé</span> recipe containing milk. When I hear a recipe described as "yolks, chocolate, sugar, and milk getting thick", I think chocolate mousse, not chocolate <span style="font-size:100%;">soufflé</span>.<br /><br />I'm telling you, I think this Pollan guy DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO COOK!<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Since 1967, we’ve added 167 hours — the equivalent of a month’s full-time labor — to the total amount of time we spend at work each year, and in households where both parents work, the figure is more like 400 hours. Americans today spend more time working than people in any other industrialized nation — an extra two weeks or more a year. Not surprisingly, in those countries where people still take cooking seriously, they also have more time to devote to it.</span></blockquote>Oh, but it's all Betty Friedan's fault that women view cooking as drudgery and reach for Rice-a-Roni or canned soup. Gimme a freakin' break!<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Shapiro shows that the shift toward industrial cookery began not in response to a demand from women entering the work force but as a supply-driven phenomenon. In fact, for many years American women, whether they worked or not, resisted processed foods, regarding them as a dereliction of their “moral obligation to cook,” something they believed to be a parental responsibility on par with child care.</span></blockquote>Gosh, I just can't imagine why feminists like Friedan would portray this sort of mindset as a form of oppression. Uh....maybe because it IS one? Sheesh, Pollan, can you contradict yourself MORE?<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Chunks of animal flesh seared over an open fire: grilling is cooking at its most fundamental and explicit, the transformation of the raw into the cooked right before our eyes. It makes a certain sense that the grill would be gaining adherents at the very moment when cooking meals and eating them together is fading from the culture. (While men have hardly become equal partners in the kitchen, they are cooking more today than ever before: about 13 percent of all meals, many of them on the grill.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Yet we don’t crank up the barbecue every day; grilling for most people is more ceremony than routine.</span></blockquote>Ugh. The <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/03/smokin.html">dreaded</a></span> use of "barbecue" as a synonym for "grill". A bigger pet peeve doesn't exist in my world. More evidence the guy's not a cook. Attention, fancy, multi-degreed writer guy; "grilling" is cooking food quickly directly over live flames. "Barbecuing" is cooking food slowly with low, indirect heat. They aren't the same. You grill a burger. You barbecue a pork shoulder. Look it up.<br /><br /><br />Rant over. I'm done here. Read the article and lemme know what you think. My take on it is that Pollan didn't do his normal standard of due dilligence. Maybe the grad students that usually do his research for him are all on summer break. <br /><br />Either that, or he's trolling.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-17612545546733023772009-07-30T00:26:00.007-05:002009-07-30T22:56:09.426-05:00Visit Number 10,000<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SnE72pmQN3I/AAAAAAAAAwI/QmrsvsVXxvA/s1600-h/wrigley.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 287px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SnE72pmQN3I/AAAAAAAAAwI/QmrsvsVXxvA/s400/wrigley.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364134441240246130" border="0" /></a><br />That's a direct cut and paste from my <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.sitemeter.com/?a=home">sitemeter</a></span> in the title above. Hooray for me, ten thousand visits have been logged to this site. Nice of the folks over at Wrigley to notice. When can I come sing the 7th inning stretch?<br /><br />All things considered, I'm not even sure that 10,000 is a lot for the amount of time we've been open for business, but it feels like a big number and we're celebrating and feeling festive about it over here at C&EinC corporate HQ. Bourbon and blackberry ice cream may soon be busted out.<br /><br />I'd like to take this opportunity to now thank a very special person, the distinct individual who was my 10,000th visitor; to you, person in unknown state, country, and city, someone who apparently did a Google image search on the term "SMOKEHOUSE" and somehow got linked to my site, and whose visit consisted of 1 page view lasting zero seconds, I say....<br /><br />Thanks. Nice knowin' ya. Come on back, now.<br /><br />The bloggers know all about the statistics and analytics that are available. I just have what they offer for free. It's crazy stuff. Mr. SMOKEHOUSE's info wasn't there, but about 75% the visits do give me info about the person's state, city, country, and often their ISP and/or the name of the business. I've checked my sitemeter and discovered that my wife or my mom is reading *right at that very moment*. Spooky.<br /><br />It's kind of voyeuristic. I don't have that many visits (50-70 a day) that I can't recognize some of the individuals who come through fairly often. You get to imagining what that person in Auckland or Bettendorf is like, checking in nearly every day, using their XP or Safari operating systems, and I can't help but fantasize about how after that person from Kraft or Panera reads my site and becomes a big fan, they'll be calling me up to offer me a high-paying job any moment. More likely, though, it's just some staffer loafing on the job.<br /><br />I can also see how people enter and leave the site, so I get an idea of where my traffic comes from. I can tell when friends check in via my Facebook page, especially if they do it from work, where the ISP and IP address are more likely to tell me the company name. When people log in from home, it's almost always just "comcast" or "cox cable" or something, so it's harder to tell who's who.<br /><br />I can see how all this info could be really useful to people trying to generate orders or business through their site, but since I'm not doing that, it all just comes across as kind of surreal and nosy. Is it really my business what screen resolution the guy using Road Runner in Temple, Texas is running? Is it worth my time to speculate about whether the person reading me over at the University of Pennsylvania is a professor or a student? And why does that same address from the EPA keep popping up? Are the feds monitoring my carbon footprint?<br /><br />Oh, and then there's my most loyal customer...the one who comes back time after time, never missing an article, yet not bold enough to write a comment and try and break the plane of the computer screen by engaging in a discussion. Perhaps someday I can meet this person, my most loyal reader and fan. You know who you are.....anyway, thanks for reading from your home out there in Mountain View, California.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-17815708700129939572009-07-28T23:02:00.009-05:002009-07-29T00:16:32.721-05:00Almost Meatless Virtual Potluck--Potato Corn Chowder<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sm_UmuX87iI/AAAAAAAAAvw/wZEuRLKtIOI/s1600-h/almost+meatless+book.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 290px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sm_UmuX87iI/AAAAAAAAAvw/wZEuRLKtIOI/s400/almost+meatless+book.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363739442970160674" border="0" /></a><br />I met <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.tastebook.com/authors/2982-Tara-Mataraza-Desmond">Tara Mataraza Desmond</a></span> at the food writing <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.greenbrier.com/site/foodwriters.aspx">symposium</a></span> at The Greenbrier in May. Tara's book, which was published by Ten Speed Press in April is called <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1580089615?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1580089615">Almost Meatless: Recipes That Are Better for Your Health and the Planet</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1580089615" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /></span>. It looks nice. I haven't read it, but Ten Speed always publishes lush, beautiful books, and Tara seems like she knows what she's talking about.<br /><br />I also follow her blog, <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=3&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcrumbsonmykeyboard.com%2F&ei=s89vSpOQD5CsMPGNteAI&rct=j&q=tara+mataraza+desmond&usg=AFQjCNHmdlQPmBe6FyEoXlgSPcDBrIUcDQ&sig2=kU__v51UvsaoXmWC-crBeA">Crumbs on my Keyboard</a></span>, and when she recently contacted me about taking part in a virtual potluck, where a whole bunch of food bloggers cook and blog a recipe from the book, and then everybody would publish it all on the same day, I said "cool idea. Just send me a recipe involving bacon."<br /><br />So she did. But it also has silken tofu.<br /><br />Of course, I left this until the last minute (it's supposed to be cooked, photographed, and blogged by tomorrow), and with all the other <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://automaticburger.blogspot.com/">stuff</a></span> I've been up to lately, I was pressed for time. First thing I had to figure out was where to go to buy good bacon (it only calls for two strips, so I figure I need to use the real stuff), the aforementioned tofu, as well as a fancy ingredient like chives. I didn't need to be going store to store to find stuff, so I was thinking that I was going to go to Whole Foods, but I doubted that they'd have real (read; cured) bacon, rather than that nitrate-free celery juice <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=24997&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a">crap</a></span>, so I headed over to Sunset Foods in Northbrook.<br /><br />I make it a point to really never go to <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/">Whole Foods</a></span>, because I spend way too much time and money in there, and the place just pisses me off out of general principle. I can't help but feel like I'm teetering on the brink of the fall of the empire when I'm in a WF, do you know what I mean? It's just such a big, overblown spectacle. It disgusts me, and yet I also love it. And then, later, I feel bad about loving it. Food shopping is just not meant to be that nice. I'd make an exception for this sort of thing, but to be honest, I'm relieved I thought of a better option.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.sunsetfoods.com/">Sunset</a></span> is (or tries to be) just as fancy and upscale as WF, but they also carry everyday items like Diet Coke, Kraft cheeses, and Cheetos. I did indeed find good bacon (<span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.nueskes.com/">Neuske</a></span>, long overdue review to come), silken tofu, and chives, so Sunset was the right place to go, but I wasn't overly impressed with their offerings. It's a high service place--they have people that put the food on the conveyor belt for you--but I'm much more interested in the food. I'm always game for a few impulse purchases in a new grocery store, but even though I hadn't eaten all day, nothing looked all that good to me, especially for the prices they were charging. I ended up with two pretty full brown paper sacks for around fifty bucks.<br /><br />Besides the ingredients for the recipe, I picked up the makings for a salad, a loaf of sourdough bread to go along with it, and a few other things.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">Almost Meatless' Potato Corn Chowder<br /></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >Serves 4 to 6</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >2 slices bacon, cut into 1/4-inch dice </span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >6 ounces silken tofu </span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >5 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels </span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >salt and pepper </span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice </span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice </span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >4 cups chicken stock (page 131) </span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >1 bay leaf </span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >3 (2-inch) pieces parmesan cheese rind </span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >1 small bunch chives, minced </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><p><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >Cook the bacon in a Dutch oven or large saucepot over medium heat for about 5 to 7 minutes, until the fat renders and the bacon is crisp. Remove the bacon bits from the pot and set aside. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >While the bacon is cooking, combine the tofu with 2 cups of the corn and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor and puree until smooth and creamy. Set aside. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >Add the onion to the bacon fat left in the pot, and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until the onion is completely softened but not brown. </span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >Add the potatoes and the remaining 3 cups corn, along with a heavy pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper, and stir to combine. Add the stock, bay leaf, and cheese rind, bring the liquid to a boil, and then reduce the heat; let the soup simmer for 20 minutes, until the potatoes are very tender. Remove the cheese rind and bay leaf. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p> <span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:85%;" >Working in batches, puree about half the soup in a blender or food processor. (Or blend partially with a stick blender in the pot.) Return the pureed soup to the pot and stir in the pureed tofu and corn mixture. Simmer for 10 more minutes. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust as needed. Top with chives and reserved bacon bits. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><br /><br /><br /></blockquote>I liked the flavor of soup. It had a lot of good sweet corn flavor. Basically, the jist of this recipe is that you take the silken tofu and puree it with the kernels from 3-4 ears of corn. This tofu "creamed corn" subs in for the cream and milk that would normally go into a chowder and makes the end result healthier.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sm_Xfx9Hr_I/AAAAAAAAAv4/1kgh6-qzBuY/s1600-h/kdk_1390.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sm_Xfx9Hr_I/AAAAAAAAAv4/1kgh6-qzBuY/s320/kdk_1390.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363742622207160306" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">By now, everyone knows that trick of cutting the kernels off the cob in a bowl, right? It works.</span><br /></div><br /><br />If I did this recipe again, I'd remove half the solids, then puree the soup well and add the chunks of corn and potato back into the soup. I pureed the whole thing a bit too far, I think, and the finished dish didn't have the characteristic chunkiness that you'd expect from a chowder. Doing it this way is easier (I just used my stick blender, rather than the food processor that the recipe calls for), but I think a smoother soup would be worth the effort.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sm_ZjfbBMSI/AAAAAAAAAwA/lPtLvkhjFRE/s1600-h/corn+chowder.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 319px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sm_ZjfbBMSI/AAAAAAAAAwA/lPtLvkhjFRE/s400/corn+chowder.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363744884975022370" border="0" /></a><br />It's hard for me to follow recipes. I found myself virtually unable to avoid adding some diced red bell pepper to the onions as they sauteed gently in the rendered bacon fat, although I did manage to restrict myself to only using Tara's proscribed two slices of bacon. Which wasn't easy. But it actually was enough since there was plenty of smoky bacon flavor throughout the soup.<br /><br />I'm looking forward to seeing what the others bring to the virtual potluck!Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-72239947704127114442009-07-26T23:51:00.007-05:002009-07-27T01:35:41.957-05:00Blackberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream (with recipe!)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sm1CnklyWMI/AAAAAAAAAvA/gVdKC_ozvCo/s1600-h/kdk_1388.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sm1CnklyWMI/AAAAAAAAAvA/gVdKC_ozvCo/s400/kdk_1388.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363015978872625346" border="0" /></a><br />I've been working with the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002IES80?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0002IES80">ice cream maker attachment</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0002IES80" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /></span> for my KitchenAid and having some success. My <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/07/ice-cream-misadventures.html">first take</a></span>, an attempt at strawberry, went horribly wrong, resembling more of an icy, frozen mousse than ice cream. It tasted fine, but the texture was awful.<br /><br />More recently, I've been working with blackberries. I made this <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.saltandchocolate.com/2008/06/blackberry-ice-cream.html">blackberry ice cream recipe</a></span> prior to leaving for our recent <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/07/road-trip-up-north-wisconsin.html">jaunt</a></span> to the North Woods, and then I made it again, with the addition of sour cream, yesterday.<br /><br />After the problems I had due to not properly chilling my mixture the first time, I've been letting it sit at least overnight before spinning, with improved results. Overloading the bowl is another pitfall I quickly learned to avoid.<br /><br />I've been doing some reading about making ice cream and learning. Many people recommend allowing the mix to sit in the fridge for 24 hours before freezing, and say that this 'curing' of the batter ensures a creamier product. I also hit my mixture with a stick blender right before I churned it, per another website's recommendation.<br /><br />I learned that the term "overrun" refers to the amount of air that's incorporated into an ice cream while it freezes. The longer the freezing process takes, the more air is whipped into the mix. Italian <span style="font-style: italic;">gelato</span> gets it's luxuriously smooth mouth feel from its lack of overrun, and for me, the denser and smoother an ice cream is, the better, so that's what I'm working toward.<br /><br />Using the KA attachment on the mixer's lowest speed ensures the quickest freeze time, and therefore the lowest amount of overrun, since the ice cream mixture stays in contact with the freezer bowl longer. Turning up the speed helps in avoiding ice crystals, since the mixture freezes more slowly and uniformly, but this also whips more air into the mixture. Also, as I learned with my batch of strawberry, that never fully froze, the KA's freezer bowl thingy only has so much time before it's not cold enough to perform. This is one huge drawback of the "freezer insert" style of home ice cream makers. You can't just add more ice and salt.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sm1COH4W0VI/AAAAAAAAAuw/FUrH51nboOI/s1600-h/kdk_1277.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sm1COH4W0VI/AAAAAAAAAuw/FUrH51nboOI/s400/kdk_1277.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363015541669155154" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Making fresh fruit ice creams really smooth and creamy is even more challenging, due to the additional factors the fruit brings and how they work against smooth creaminess.<br /><br />If I'm making a fruit ice cream, I want the flavor to really pack a wallop, so I use a LOT of fruit. I'm using stuff that's in season, and is inexpensive, and that's the point is to enjoy it and really concentrate its flavor as much as possible when it's available.<br /><br />I also want to use the fruit in its *fresh* form. The first strawberry ice cream recipe I tried involved cooking the fruit down and making a jam, essentially, which was then mixed into the ice cream base. To me, that misses the point of using fresh fruit, which brings all sorts of wonderful flavor notes that disappear when cooked. Cooked berries are nice, but they are a distinctly different taste than fresh ones. It's the fresh flavor that I'm after here, so all the recipes that I'm using involve pureeing and straining out lots of seeds.<br /><br />But these choices about flavor have a trade-off; the finished product will be less smooth and creamy. Raw fruit freezes to ice crystals, and pureed fruit is always going to lend a more sorbet-like quality to a finished ice cream. That being the case, I need to really try and maximize the techniques I use to ensure what I make is as smooth and creamy as it can be.<br /><br />Making ice-cream is a very technique-heavy process. Each time I do it I'm surprised by the amount of bowls, strainers, and rubber scrapers that I use. Lots of moving things from one place to another.<br /><br /><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Blackberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream</span><br /><br />1 C half-and-half<br />12 oz. sour cream<br />1 C sugar<br />1 C heavy cream<br />4 egg yolks<br />2 quarts blackberries<br />1/2 a vanilla bean<br />pinch salt<br /></div><br />1. Mix yolks and half the sugar together in a bowl.<br />2. In a saucepan, heat half and half, cream, the remaining sugar, scraped vanilla bean, and one pint of the berries. Scald cream, allow to simmer for about five minutes. Remove from heat for a couple minutes. Remove vanilla bean. Puree with stick blender. Strain.<br />3. <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=tempering+eggs&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g3&fp=5TZlSg8c0wI">Temper</a></span> warm cream into yolk-sugar mixture, whisking quickly while adding a bit of warm cream, then more, to ensure eggs do not curdle. Return mixture to sauce pan, put on medium heat, and cook slowly, stirring with a rubber spatula until the mixture thickens to coat the back of a spoon.<br />4. Strain the ice cream mixture into a shallow pan or bowl set in ice*.<br />5. Puree remaining fresh berries with stick blender. Push through a fine mesh strainer to remove seeds. This should yield about 1 1/2 cups of seedless berry puree.<br />6. Cool mixture thoroughly. Once cool, add berry puree and sour cream, whisking to fully incorporate everything.<br />7. Allow to chill overnight in the coldest part of the fridge overnight or for 24 hours.<br />8. Process according to the ice cream maker's directions.<br /><br />*lots of advice out there about cooling the mixture down as quick as possible. the bowl set in ice appears to be key. Some say to hold back 25% of the cream and pour it in cold to aid in cooling, but then the proteins in the cold milk won't have been denatured during the scalding process, which is also supposed to aid in producing smaller ice crystals and yielding a creamier product. Ice cream is all about trade-offs. </blockquote><br /><br />That's a good recipe, adapted from the one I linked to above. I'll keep working on it, but I've also found a few other <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/03/candied_bacon_i_1.html">recipes</a></span> that look pretty nice.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-32554628080597494682009-07-23T14:50:00.006-05:002009-07-25T09:51:05.128-05:00Road Trip--Up North, WisconsinDue to spotty internet access, a few pics will have to serve as a sneak preview of the posts that will surely bubble up as a result of my recent trip to the North Woods.<br /><br />Kids, Wisconsin, Summer, fishing, swimming, and eating. Lots of good stuff to write about. Over the next couple weeks I'll document my experience with an old fashioned shore dinner, the North Woods phenomenon known as the supper club, and some real-deal contender burger places.<br /><br />For now, enjoy!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SmjAy2ehX3I/AAAAAAAAAuY/8BkKq1LWxjY/s1600-h/kdk_1299.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 211px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SmjAy2ehX3I/AAAAAAAAAuY/8BkKq1LWxjY/s400/kdk_1299.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361747336234098546" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Very good (but not the world's best) burgers at Fred's in Burlington.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SmjBRqu9WqI/AAAAAAAAAug/iKmFLAy2S74/s1600-h/kdk_1317.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 288px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SmjBRqu9WqI/AAAAAAAAAug/iKmFLAy2S74/s400/kdk_1317.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361747865657760418" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Enjoying the clean sands of Crystal Lake.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SmjB6DUZ8rI/AAAAAAAAAuo/5uzqsyOmDJs/s1600-h/kdk_1361.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SmjB6DUZ8rI/AAAAAAAAAuo/5uzqsyOmDJs/s400/kdk_1361.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361748559452041906" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Shore dinner</span><br /></div>Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-60631030902186100092009-07-16T09:34:00.008-05:002009-07-17T00:01:08.395-05:00Ice Cream MisadventuresBetween the amazing peaches and cherries that have been showing up at Costco, farmers' markets, and even my local Jewel(!), we've been eating a lot of fruit recently, and when I stumbled onto a two-dollar ice cream maker at a garage sale on a particularly balmy lunch-hour, I instantly thought of making a great peaches and cream or cherry with mascarpone*.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sl9Gw3ZtCPI/AAAAAAAAAuI/PxO6IVX0fdY/s1600-h/kdk_1130.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sl9Gw3ZtCPI/AAAAAAAAAuI/PxO6IVX0fdY/s400/kdk_1130.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359079886913603826" border="0" /></a>But the two-dollar ice cream maker's motor died halfway through the first batch of nectarine I made and I ended up finishing it by spinning the metal drum by hand and holding the dasher. Needless to say the end result was not smooth and creamy. Once it was cured--stored in the freezer overnight--it was hard like a rock and full of ice crystals. Not very pleasant to eat, even if we allowed it to thaw for quite a while before digging in.<br /><br />I had the taste for this project at this point, though, so I started researching. Everything I looked at for less than around forty bucks seemed cheap and chintzy and I figured that the motor on these cheapies would quickly burn out as well.<br /><br />So when I came across the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002IES80?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0002IES80">ice-cream maker attachment</a></span><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0002IES80" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /> for the KitchenAid stand mixer, I figured, ok, that makes more sense, since it uses my KA's motor. (I have one of the older KA's, which are gems. )<br /><br />After debating the pros/cons of spending $75 on something that's just an attachment, when all these full-on, freestanding appliances can be had for fifty or less, the next round of produce was upon us and my romantic notions of making some beautifully creamy fresh fruit ice creams motivated me to dip into my gifts/bonuses mad money <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://home.ingdirect.com/">account</a></span>, and I doubled up on the shipping by including a copy of the new <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://wilcoworld.net/records/disco.php">Wilco</a></span> cd. Splurge!<br /><br />I went looking for more nectarines or peaches in the midst of a trip over to Babies 'R Us for more childproofing stuff (Nora is into everything these days), but I found some organic strawberries that just smelled great at <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=24680">Fresh Farms</a></span>, I spun up a batch of strawberry ice cream.<br /><br />We were in a rush to eat dinner, get the ice cream made, and get out of the house for Henry's camp carnival, which is a pretty huge event here in bucolic <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.parkridge.us/">Park Ridge, Illinois </a></span>(an officially-designated <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.arborday.org/programs/treeCityUSA/index.cfm">Tree City, USA</a></span>), so I didn't think to take any pictures.<br /><br />The main issue was that I didn't allow the mixture to chill thoroughly before using the KA attachment to freeze it. Also, forgot to think about the mixture expanding while freezing, so I totally overloaded the bowl. And THEN added a bunch of chopped strawberries for good measure. Then, while it was spinning, I read the instructions where it said not to overload the bowl. Duh.<br /><br />So it never quite fully froze. After about 50 minutes, it had a light, frothy, mousse-like consistency, and tasted great (I added a few drops of balsamic vinegar for tang), but it was barely cold and not at all smooth and creamy. Pressed for time, I dumped it into tupperware containers, threw them in the freezer, and headed out for an evening of bouncy slides and rubber chicken toss.<br /><br />I knew it was going to be bad when I put it away, and it was. Very hard and crunchy, even after it softened and I mashed it around with my spoon a lot. Not good.<br /><br />I'm holding out on any assessment of the KA ice-cream maker attachment at this juncture, because I just went about the whole thing all wrong. The ice cream mixture should always be well-chilled and allowing it to sit overnight is good for flavor development as well, so rushing the process the way I did was a boneheaded mistake. Overloading the well didn't help and, since I've never done this before, I'm just randomly pulling recipes from the web.<br /><br />Anyone have a good ice cream base recipe? Maybe one that includes a measure for fruit or fruit puree? The peach one I made with the doomed garage-sale ice cream machine was interesting because it involved making a simple syrup, and then using the hot simple syrup to cook the egg yolks while running in the stand mixer. This technique seems easier to me, plus there's less risk of curdling than the traditional method involving tempering the egg yolks with the hot cream, then returning that mixture to the pot to finish cooking.<br /><br /><br />I'll try it again a few times over the next couple weeks and we'll see how it goes. As I write this, it occurs to me that I'm following <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fruhlman&ei=D0xfSqKWDIrcNY-1ua4C&rct=j&q=ruhlman+twitter&usg=AFQjCNFaTmPwZgysV2EoDMxVlnu_pVlW8A&sig2=I5cG3RmDnWrDIyyV417WyQ">Ruhlman</a></span> and <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.davidlebovitz.com/">Leibowitz</a></span> on Twitter, but it never occurred to me to check <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416566112?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1416566112">Ratio</a></span><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1416566112" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" />, or Leibowitz's ice cream <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1580088082?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1580088082">book</a></span><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1580088082" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" />. Duh again. Learning process.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />*ugh. huge pet peeve, here. The endless inability to pronounce the name of this soft, creamy fresh cheese. <span style="font-style: italic;">Mas-car-</span>, folks, not <span style="font-style: italic;">mar-ska</span>-. And don't get me started on Chee-pohl-tay.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-87504850830406794312009-07-13T23:49:00.020-05:002009-07-14T17:16:56.101-05:00Woo Lae Oak--Korean BBQ in Schaumburg<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sl0AahlsA-I/AAAAAAAAAt4/OuLZEI-q6Vw/s1600-h/beef+and+belly.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 154px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sl0AahlsA-I/AAAAAAAAAt4/OuLZEI-q6Vw/s400/beef+and+belly.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358439587333800930" border="0" /></a><br />Ok, it's actually in <strike>Algonquin</strike> <strike>Rolling Meadows</strike> <a href="http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22greater+woodfield%22&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g2&fp=Xmf0jJ9P_V0"><span style="font-size:85%;">Greater Woodfield</span></a>, but Mitch spotted this place when he was all drunk, riding in my car on the way back from Finn McCool's <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/03/march-madness-outing.html">one time</a></span>, and asked me what Korean barbecue's all about. After a brief description, he muttered something like "anything that involves meat and has the word 'barbecue' is alright with me" so when another high school friend came in from Texas for a visit, we looked the place up and figured out that it was <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.woolaeoak.com/tysons.html">Woo Lae Oak</a></span>.<br /><br />I couldn't find <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chicago.metromix.com/restaurants/korean/woo-lae-oak-rolling-meadows/144631/content">much</a></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/2/866626/restaurant/Chicago/Woo-Lae-Oak-Rolling-Meadows">online</a></span> about the place. It's a chain based in Seoul, Korea, with outlets in New York, Beverly Hills, and Tyson's Corners(?). It's quite large and well-appointed, and I think for that reason they do a pretty good business on banquets and meetings--almost everyone else in the place was dressed up; the men were mostly wearing suits and there were quite a few of what looked like business meetings taking place. The four of us were seated around a large, very comfortable booth with a circular table, quickly plied with cold beer and <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://www.kusoju.com/">soju</a></span>, and our modest attire of shorts and t-shirts didn't seem to faze anyone.<br /><br />I haven't had a whole lot of Korean barbecue, but I was expecting the server to bring a hibachi or some kind of portable charcoal grill to the table. Once we ordered, though, the waiter came over and removed the center portion of the table to reveal a round grill right there, embedded into the table. Cool.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlwgOfwnkKI/AAAAAAAAAto/NAapYYU8a7c/s1600-h/mitch+crop.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 273px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlwgOfwnkKI/AAAAAAAAAto/NAapYYU8a7c/s320/mitch+crop.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358193090079723682" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">"Yeah, grill in the table... real cool, Ed. Bring me some meat RIGHT NOW."<br /></span></div><br /><br /><br />While the grill's getting hot, they bring you all the <span style="font-style: italic;">panchan</span>, which are different relishes, pickles, and various fish-jerkies and such, and there was some sort of steamed egg custard-like cube served up, which I can't say I enjoyed. There are three essential dipping sauces, which our server encouraged us to use individually, or together. I liked the sesame oil salt best, and used that on almost everything, along with the soy-sauce based one. The three sauces can be seen at the far right of this picture, with chopsticks being dipped into the soy, the uppermost of the three little dishes. The sauces really did a nice job accentuating the flavor of the meat.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlwYpL8fVfI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/z5svrIF1oLs/s1600-h/steaks+cooking.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlwYpL8fVfI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/z5svrIF1oLs/s400/steaks+cooking.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358184752524252658" border="0" /></a>Because, basically, it's all about the meat. We ordered a few different kinds of beef, some pork belly, and some shrimp and scallops. I knew to ask for a couple specific things--<span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgogi"><span style="font-style: italic;">bulgogi</span></a></span>, for example--but some of the stuff we had was just me pointing at the menu randomly. The best one, which I won't even attempt to remember the Korean name for, was rich beef rib meat, cut from the bone into 'fingers' which completely melted when cooked quickly.<br /><br />The experience was, over all, pretty nice. Our waiter wasn't the most outgoing, but he did a decent job of cooking and serving the offerings, using a scissors to cut neat portions of the various meats and doling them out bite-by-bite, suggesting specific sauces or other <span style="font-style: italic;">panchan</span> to eat with each different item. I wasn't sure if we were going to have to cook our own meat, as is standard in some Korean BBQ places, but there it didn't seem to even be a possibility. Our server never gave us the choice, and whether that's because we weren't Korean and he assumed we wouldn't know what we were doing (he'd have been correct) or that's the standard practice at this place, I can't say.<br /><br />Among the online reviews, I did read a few cranky criticisms about the waiters not speaking English very well. And while this is probably true, the staff did a fine job of communicating with us, and the menu's translated well enough, so I'm not sure why it's such a big problem.<br /><br />Oh--good opportunity for a minor rant; what is it with people who get all upset if their server in an authentic (and by that I mean that it's run by people who are cooking and serving their native cuisine) restaurant doesn't speak great English, or they don't have tea or ketchup or whatever it is that person "must" have or they will just absolutely <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plotz">plotz</a></span>?<br /><br />People, please get over yourselves. Look, I can appreciate the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.leye.com/">LEYE</a></span>-level standard of customer service, appointments, and just general fit and finish of the restaurant, but I don't carry that expectation out into the world of small, family-owned and run restaurants. Why would I?<br /><br />If you're going to places like that (and you should be) you're going for the food, so forget about assessing the level of service, or focusing on the haphazard, chintzy decor, or the spartan qualities of the bathrooms. Leave your chain-restaurant expectations at home, strap yourself in, and just point to some stuff on the menu. Take a plunge, try something with a head or an eyeball fer crissakes. Order something with tendon, maw, or tripe in it, and allow yourself to be taken out of your comfort zone once in a while. It's just one meal. Really, what's the worst thing that could happen? If it's terrible, you'll have a snack at home later.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sl0AkxWe5XI/AAAAAAAAAuA/kGOEIK4n694/s1600-h/belly.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sl0AkxWe5XI/AAAAAAAAAuA/kGOEIK4n694/s400/belly.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358439763363685746" border="0" /></a>The meal at Woo Lae Oak seemed kind of slow, at first, since they could only really cook one or two different things at a time, but the pace actually ended up being something that I really enjoyed about the meal, since getting only a few bites of each item at a time, then waiting for the next course provided a much calmer, more leisurely feel to the evening and I think I probably ate less while not feeling any less full as a result. Plus, it gave us ample time to catch up, which was nice. Probably another reason why this place seems to cater to larger parties.<br /><br />The one complaint I have is that the in-table grill didn't seem to generate enough heat to really put a good sear on the meat, and because of that, a lot of the stuff seemed to steam more than grill or "barbecue" once the cooking surface was loaded with raw beef, pork, and/or shellfish. Kind of a fatal flaw. I've only been to a couple other Korean barbecue places, but it's my impression that the ones using charcoal are cooking over higher heat and, subesequently, putting out a better-quality end product.<br /><br />So, bottom line; Woo Lae Oak was nice, but nothing fabulous. It's acceptable Korean barbecue in a fairly luxurious and upscale setting, so it's perhaps a good middle ground for those who want to be adventurous diners without wanting to give up the mainstream-restaurant-level surroundings. Or for those who want the experience but don't want to go all the way into the city to go to somewhere like <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=8771">San Soo Gap San</a></span> or <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/cgi-bin/rrr/details.cgi?numb=1991">Hae Woon Dae</a></span> where you'll end up cooking your own food over live charcoal.<br /><br />Our tab ended up being about $60/per person, including tax, tip, and quite a few drinks. Plus, we ordered almost all protein items, rather than adding some rice or noodle dishes that would have filled us up a bit more economically, so really, it's not all that expensive, all things considered. Definitely worth a try.<br /><br />Just make sure you bring your English->Korean dictionary. Or have a couple glasses of <span style="font-style: italic;">soju</span> and muddle through...that's more fun anyway.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-31683549172850003102009-07-09T09:58:00.006-05:002009-07-09T14:18:46.966-05:00Food, Inc. Screening (FREE)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlYbQ2rE3NI/AAAAAAAAAsw/981sSRHHtUQ/s1600-h/food-inc-poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlYbQ2rE3NI/AAAAAAAAAsw/981sSRHHtUQ/s320/food-inc-poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356498783171828946" border="0" /></a><br />I haven't seen <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.foodincmovie.com/">Food, Inc.</a></span> yet. It's currently the biggest thing since sliced uh, whatever in the food world and it's high on my list of to-do's, but I'm not generally a movie-goer and what with the two kids, we generally pass out shortly after 9:30 most nights anyway.<br /><br />But, <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.chipotle.com/">Chipotle Grill</a></span> is sponsoring <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.chipotle.com/#/flash/fwi_food-inc">free screenings</a></span> of the film next week, July 15th and 16th at the Landmark Century theater at 7:15. Free is just enough of an excuse to get me to motivate and get out of the house to check it out. It's a first come-first served deal, so expect lines.<br /><br />The film, directed by <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://robertkennerfilms.com/home_return.html">Robert Kenner</a></span>, features <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref%255F%3Dnb%255Fss%255F%255F0%255F8%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3Deric%2520schlosser%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps%26sprefix%3Deric%2520sch&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957">Eric Schlosser</a><img src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=ur2&o=1" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /></span> and Bay Area uber-food authority, <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fentity%2FMichael-Pollan%2FB000AQ74HQ%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref%255F%3Dep%255Fsprkl%255Fat%255FB000AQ74HQ&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957">Michael Pollan</a></span><img src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=ur2&o=1" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" />, so if you've read some stuff by those two guys, you already know at least some of what this movie is going to be about. My impression is that it will be a much glossier, better-produced presentation of the high points of <span style="font-style: italic;">Fast Food Nation</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Omnivore's Dilemma</span>, and Debra Koons Garcia's wonderful 2004, <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQ5IXM?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000BQ5IXM">The Future of Food</a></span><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000BQ5IXM" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" />.<br /><br />Some reviews I've read have said it's <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/12/MVE1184DN6.DTL">quite disturbing</a></span>, and that you'll "never want to eat again" after seeing it. But Alice Waters is quoted on the film's ads as saying it's "the film I have always been waiting for". It'll certainly be thought-provoking, and should generate plenty of fodder for discussion.<br /><br />Along those lines, I was hoping to get a post-film meet-up* going. For those who are interested in this, head over to the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.dukeofperth.com/">Duke of Perth</a></span>, just up Clark, after the Thursday night screening. Around 9 or so, I'm thinking, and we can break it down. I'll be there having a beer or two, at any rate, for those interested in stopping by.<br /><br />After learning about fun stuff like extra-virulent strains of E. Coli and Salmonella, I'll probably just limit my post-film intake to beer. And/or whiskey.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">*Ok, I </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >know</span><span style="font-size:78%;"> the term "tweetup" but am I obliged to use it? Please don't make me. Though, I </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >am </span><span style="font-size:78%;">going to "tweet" this event. Argh. I hate that term. I only use Twitter because people tell me I'm supposed to. I swear. Anyway, hope to see lots of you there.</span>Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-44475571973049655652009-07-07T15:51:00.020-05:002009-07-07T22:56:16.455-05:00Chicago Food Blogger Virtual Cook-Off<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlO_-bymFeI/AAAAAAAAArc/joggkNI8ObA/s1600-h/tamarind+crates.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlO_-bymFeI/AAAAAAAAArc/joggkNI8ObA/s400/tamarind+crates.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355835461206414818" border="0" /></a><br />The Tribune's "news lite" arm, <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/redeye/munch-time/">Red Eye</a></span> is generating some content by staging an Iron-Chef style cookoff involving some fellow members of the Chicago food blogerati. It's a bracket elimination type contest that will be going on over the next few weeks.<br /><br />Fun! I'm in.<br /><br />The deal is that at 10am, someone from Red Eye announces the secret ingredient and then four of us all start cooking. And taking photos. And writing. The blog entry and photos are due by 8pm that evening, and then people vote. I face off against Titus Ruscitti, whose <a href="http://chibbqking.blogspot.com/">blog</a> I'm a huge fan of, and he's also a three-time (I believe) Chicago Chili Cookoff <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/restaurants-bars/71181/the-2009-toc-chili-cook-off-champion/2.html">champ</a></span>, so I'm just going to try and do my best.<br /><br />Last week's ingredient was cherries and two fine bloggers <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/redeye/2009/07/and-the-winners-of-round-1-of-redeyes-virtual-kitchen-stadium-are.html">moved on</a></span> to the next round with <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/redeye/2009/06/time-to-rate-the-plate.html">dishes like</a></span> cherry meatballs and cherry knockwurst or something, and I was figuring the Red Eye folks would stay in the summer fruit mindset so was thinking peaches, plums, maybe...<br /><br />But they hit us this morning with.....tamarind.<br /><br />Crazy. I've worked with it sparingly. Mostly the paste, which is already processed, and have tasted it plenty in drinks like <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarindo_%28drink%29"><span style="font-style: italic;">tamarindo</span></a></span>, which is a staple in hot summer Chicago prep kitchens. The main idea with tamarind--which is sour, tart, and a bit astringent--is to sweeten it up plenty so as to get that really nice sweet-sour thing going. After brushing up on <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/ingredients/tamarind.html">all things tamarind</a></span>, I set out upon my quest.<br /><br />First question; where to go to get some? My local Jewel isn't going to have any (my wife gave me a list, since we figured I'd be going to the store for the epic cookoff), so I figure I'll head over to <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.hmart.com/">H-Mart</a></span> in Niles. And, as luck would have it, this is a day that I'm taking care of the kids, so wherever Battle Tamarind takes us, they're along for the ride.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlO6E2G96VI/AAAAAAAAArE/tLRs8OaN8aQ/s1600-h/kids+h-mart.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 282px; height: 280px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlO6E2G96VI/AAAAAAAAArE/tLRs8OaN8aQ/s400/kids+h-mart.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355828974280632658" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Woo-hoo! H-Mart! Sweet bean cake samples!</span><br /></div><br /><br />They had some fresh pods, no paste, and I also picked up a few cans of tamarind juice, some tamarind candy and a whole bunch of other stuff that I was planning to use for my dishes. Once I got home, I got busy with lunch for the kids, naps, and processing tamarind!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlPE2WBgMqI/AAAAAAAAAsE/l7eL0NSEGvE/s1600-h/tamarind+pod+close.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlPE2WBgMqI/AAAAAAAAAsE/l7eL0NSEGvE/s320/tamarind+pod+close.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355840819777516194" border="0" /></a>Whole tamarinds come in large maroon-brown pods that are very dry and brittle and pulled away from the seed sac kind of stuff inside. You just crack off the shell and pull away the pulp and fibers, yank the strings out and then throw the seeds and pulp together into a bowl. It's way too sticky to clean so the way it's usually done is to soak the seed pods for a few minutes in hot water, and then work the whole mess with your fingers until the pulp separates from the seeds enough that you can strain them out and get a paste. I did it this way and got a nice smooth brown paste, which is what I worked off of for all my dishes.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlPBP5MpYgI/AAAAAAAAAr0/S1ygY1CVT5k/s1600-h/tamarind+paste.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 252px; height: 335px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlPBP5MpYgI/AAAAAAAAAr0/S1ygY1CVT5k/s400/tamarind+paste.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355836860669714946" border="0" /></a>That's it on the right. It looks kind of like refried beans, but the taste is strongly sour, also tart, but with lots of floral notes and a somewhat mouth-numbing kind of quality.<br /><br />After tasting it straight, I mashed it through a sieve and sweetened it with a simple syrup I made from palm sugar and water, then added a bit of salt. I worked off of this basic tamarind paste for all my dishes.<br /><br />First off, I took some of the tamarind paste, muddled it with some fresh mint and ice, and then added a couple cans of "tamarind juice" which, the label states, is 30% tamarind mixed with water, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup, some fresh squeezed lime juice, and poured the whole thing into a pitcher of ice to chill in the fridge.<br /><br />I served this <span style="font-style: italic;">tamarindo</span>, strained, to Henry to have with his lunch, and then mixed up a little cocktail for myself to enjoy after I put him down for his nap. It consisted of the <span style="font-style: italic;">tamarindo</span>, a tiny dash of bitters, more fresh mint, and a good couple glugs of <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.bourbonenthusiast.com/forum/DBvd.php?id=66&task=displaybottling">Elmer T. Lee</a></span> single barrel bourbon. I shook it all up in a cocktail shaker with lots of ice and served it in a glass dusted with pulverized tamarind candy. Kind of a Thai Julep, I guess.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlPFLJ-XhVI/AAAAAAAAAsM/_14uMIF5_B4/s1600-h/tamarind+cocktail.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlPFLJ-XhVI/AAAAAAAAAsM/_14uMIF5_B4/s320/tamarind+cocktail.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355841177320392018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Thank you, Red Eye, for giving me an excuse to drink bourbon at lunch!<br /><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlO_ysWcJII/AAAAAAAAArU/86qHInmxJIM/s1600-h/mise+tamarind.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlO_ysWcJII/AAAAAAAAArU/86qHInmxJIM/s400/mise+tamarind.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355835259493295234" border="0" /></a>Once I got a nice buzz on and promised Henry another <span style="font-style: italic;">tamarindo</span> if he took a good nap, I got busy cooking.<br /><br />I decided to do an appetizer and an entree, in addition to the cocktail. I laid out my prep and started working on both dishes. For the entree, my plan was to do an Asian braise with some chicken quarters, and then grill them to crisp up the skin, which I would glaze with a tamarind barbecue sauce. Braised-and-glazed chicken legs and thighs. Description to follow.<br /><br />I got the braise in the oven and then started working on the shrimp appetizer.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlO68y8RwkI/AAAAAAAAArM/ajelzb-e2To/s1600-h/baconshrimpmelon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 330px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlO68y8RwkI/AAAAAAAAArM/ajelzb-e2To/s400/baconshrimpmelon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355829935503163970" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Appetizer; Bacon-wrapped shrimp, herb salad, French melon sauce</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I picked up some head-on shrimp at H-Mart, which were a bit small, but it's always more interesting to have the heads on, both visually and for sucking once everything's all brown and<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlPHWRTQkpI/AAAAAAAAAsg/7yRlFV3x0Ro/s1600-h/palm+sugar.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 120px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlPHWRTQkpI/AAAAAAAAAsg/7yRlFV3x0Ro/s200/palm+sugar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355843567288881810" border="0" /></a>crispy. I shelled the tails, rubbed them with a bit of the tamarind paste, wrapped them in bourbon-vanilla bacon from <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.fatherscountryhams.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CBVBS">Father's Country Hams</a></span>. Next, I made a syrup out of <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://vietworldkitchen.typepad.com/blog/2008/10/palm-sugar.html">palm sugar</a></span>, soy sauce, and fish sauce, that I reduced down to a thick caramel before mixing it with the tamarind pulp.<br /><br />They had nice-smelling French melons at H-mart, so I got one, chunked it up with a little salt and lime juice, and hit it with the stick blender until it was as smooth as I could get it. Then I turned the stick up and streamed in some canola oil <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/01/vinaigrettes.html">to emulsify</a></span> and smooth-out the sauce. I stuck it in the fridge for a while and then strained it, since I knew I was going to take a picture, but if you wanted to make a cool melon sauce like this at home, you really don't have to strain it, and I normally wouldn't.<br /><br />To fill out the plate, I picked leaves of cilantro, mint, and parsley, chopped them roughly, and dressed them just a bit with a squeeze of lime juice and a dash of oil. These flavors all play off of each other really well. The sour tamarind, bright lime, and fresh herb flavors cut through the richness of the bacon and the shrimp, and everything really plays well together in your mouth to give you that awesome Southeast Asian eating experience where all of your taste buds are going at full bore--spicy, sour, salty, sweet--all at the same time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlPfU7lNXII/AAAAAAAAAso/bcK3fHaRVVM/s1600-h/tamarind+chix+close.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlPfU7lNXII/AAAAAAAAAso/bcK3fHaRVVM/s400/tamarind+chix+close.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355869932557786242" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Entree; Tamarind Braised-and-Glazed Chicken Legs and Thighs, Sesame Slaw</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />After separating the chicken legs from the thighs, I browned them a bit and then sweated onion, ginger, garlic, scallion, and red chile before adding a can of the tamarind juice, a can of coconut milk and a bit of water. I brought the whole thing up to a simmer and then covered it and put it in a 275° oven for about 2 hours. My goal was to get the chicken really tender and infused with those Asian flavors, but not to allow it to break down to the point that it was falling apart and the skin came off. I pulled it out, refrigerated it, and then made my tamarind barbecue sauce.<br /><br />The tamarind pulp, molasses, rice wine vinegar, lime juice, and palm sugar went into the glaze. I cranked up my grill and charred the glazed chicken bits over high heat, getting plenty of browning and caramelization. Since it was already braised, the chicken was fully cooked and almost falling-apart tender. I just grilled it to get the char on the skin and crisp up the glaze. It wasn't easy to get it on and off the hot grill without it falling apart, but I just managed.<br /><br />The slaw is red cabbage, some napa, shredded carrot, some mayo thinned with rice wine vinegar and lime juice, and enriched with sesame oil. I added some anise seeds and sesame seeds as well. Crispy shallots went over the top.<br /><br />It turned out great. You could definitely taste the ginger, garlic, and coconut from the braise, the meat was super-tender, and the burnt sugar and smokiness of the barbecue sauce nicely offset the sour tanginess of the tamarind. The slaw added a nice fresh, crunchy contrast to the braised dark meat chicken.<br /><br />So that's that. It's now 7pm, I'm just finishing this post within the time limit, we've eaten dinner, my bourbon buzz is gone, Henry's begging me for yet another cup of tamarindo, and I can definitely say I learned a lot about tamarind today. Hopefully I will manage to move on to the next round as well.<br /><br />Good luck to all the blogger-chef-testants and thanks to Red Eye for putting this fun deal together! Oh, and don't forget to vote early and often for me <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/redeye/munch-time/">here</a></span>, by writing a comment in the section after the Red Eye blog entry about Battle Tamarind!<br /><br /></div></div></div></div>Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-75565993013778540282009-07-06T10:03:00.003-05:002009-07-06T10:21:34.996-05:00The Bacon List Scoreboard<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlIWFlRjtJI/AAAAAAAAAq8/Jr7WEJEbW-M/s1600-h/bacon46.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 386px; height: 315px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlIWFlRjtJI/AAAAAAAAAq8/Jr7WEJEbW-M/s400/bacon46.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355367192057853074" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Seems like a good idea to tally up the scores and see how the various bacons stacked up. I'm sure most of you are scoring at home, but for those that aren't, here's a quick-n-dirty rundown for you:<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><ol style="text-align: justify;"><li><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/02/bacon-list-broadbents-original-hickory.html">Broadbent's</a> Original Hickory Smoked 9.1</li><li><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/03/bacon-list-niman-ranch-applewood-smoked.html">Niman Ranch</a> Applewood Smoked 8.5</li><li><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/07/bacon-list-fathers-original-hickory.html">Father's</a> Hickory Smoked Country Bacon 7.7</li><li><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2008/12/bacon-list-kirkland-hickory.html">Kirkland</a> Hickory Smoked 6.0</li><li><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/02/bacon-list-dutch-farms.html">Dutch Farms</a> 6.0</li><li><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/01/bacon-list-andys-deli-smoked-slab.html">Andy's Deli</a> Smoked Slab Bacon 4.0</li><li><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/01/bacon-list-cudahay-signature-applewood.html">Cudahy Signature</a> Applewood Smoked 3.0</li><li><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/03/bacon-list-gusto-brand-bulk-bacon.html">Gusto</a> Brand Bulk Bacon 2.0</li></ol><br /><br /><br />More to come soon! Anyone have a particular bacon that you think I should try and review? Let me know!<br /></div>Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-41709445448891913812009-07-05T08:39:00.010-05:002009-07-05T09:42:57.635-05:00The Bacon List--Father's Original Hickory Smoked<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlC3BrlO1oI/AAAAAAAAAqk/r8PLEWtpdM0/s1600-h/kdk_1133.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 273px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlC3BrlO1oI/AAAAAAAAAqk/r8PLEWtpdM0/s400/kdk_1133.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354981196450158210" border="0" /></a><br />It's been a while since I've added to my now-approaching-formidable list of bacon reviews that I lovingly refer to as <a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/search/label/the%20bacon%20list">The Bacon List</a>. Hence, a new addition to the future archives;<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.fatherscountryhams.com/Aboutus.asp">Father's</a></span> is making country ham, bacon, and other cured porky delicacies out of Bremen, Ky, which sits, along with numerous other country ham producers, in the western tip of Kentucky. This area is centered loosely around Owensboro, which is a largely untapped culinary goldmine, considering the amount of really good barbecue, ham, and bacon being made in the area.<br /><br />My brother gifted me a pack of four different flavors of this lovely-looking bacon; he's a big fan of the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.gratefulpalate.com/">Grateful Palate</a></span> and I believe he used their site to internet them to me as a birthday gift. Father's makes a huge selection of <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.fatherscountryhams.com/products.asp?dept=7">flavored</a></span> bacons, stuff I've never seen or heard of before; honey-barbecue bacon, jalapeno bacon, vanilla-bourbon, peach-cinnamon, and a bunch more. For the purposes of consistency and comparing apples-to-apples as much as possible, I'm sticking to their most basic offering in the review.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Designation--Fancy or Grocery Store?</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fancy. </span>Dry-cured, long smokehouse smoke, not compressed. Definitely a artisanal-type fancy bacon.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlC3KCTJqrI/AAAAAAAAAqs/5U5CNZp_zQc/s1600-h/kdk_1137.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 271px; height: 332px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlC3KCTJqrI/AAAAAAAAAqs/5U5CNZp_zQc/s400/kdk_1137.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354981339987290802" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Price--How much did I pay per pound for the bacon? </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">$9.23/lb.</span> I didn't pay for this, but when I went to their website and clicked through as if to buy a quartet of one-pound packs at $27 plus shipping costs, I got this number, which is by far the most expensive bacon I've reviewed to date.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Uncooked appearance--Color, texture, wet- or dry-ness, mushy or firm, etc...</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nice looking slices, </span>for the most part, dry yet moist, plump meat, nice and red. Asymmetrical slices, larger on one end than the other, show that the belly wasn't compressed or tumbled prior to processing. This is typical of a true artisan-quality product. The package I had, though, contained quite a few half-slices and what looked like trim. At this price point there should be only perfect center slices.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">How it cooks--Tendency to curl, how much it shrinks, tendency to spatter...</span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cooks fast.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>I have no idea why, but this bacon cooks much faster than most that I get. It hardly shrinks at all, which is typical of true dry-cured, long smoked bacon.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Cooked appearance--Color, shape, texture</span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cooks flat. </span>Almost no curl, a normal amount of grease rendered, beautiful dark red color, perhaps indicative of a bit more nitrites than other producers.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">How does it taste--Sweetness, saltiness, smokiness, texture (melting, chewy, flabby, spongy), "porkiness".</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Strong salty flavor. </span>Salt is the dominant component with this one. There's nice pork flavor and smoke there too, but salt hits you first and keeps hitting. Very little sweetness as well, resulting in a fairly unbalanced overall flavor. It's a good hangover bacon for this reason, but it's not as well-balanced as I like to see from a producer of this level. I had high expectations, so that may have changed my perspective some. This is a very good bacon--the quality of the process is evident and the meat definitely has that great melting/crisp quality that you get from dry-curing, but the finished product, in my opinion, missed the mark due to being too salt-heavy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlC3WyWSUFI/AAAAAAAAAq0/gLBhitkA47U/s1600-h/kdk_1140.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SlC3WyWSUFI/AAAAAAAAAq0/gLBhitkA47U/s400/kdk_1140.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354981559043772498" border="0" /></a><br />One thing that occurred to me is that, given the fact that this company offers all kinds of maple, honey, vanilla, and cinnamon-flavored bacons, perhaps they veer towards the less sweet side on their products that don't overtly feature the sweet sticky stuff. We'll see. Although I don't include flavored bacons in the sweeping-in-scale project that is The Bacon List, my brother's gift did include a few, so I'll report back here at a later date if I find that I like them better than this straight-up hickory smoked stuff.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Overall rating--All bacons reviewed will be given an overall rating from 1-10, with 1 being practically inedible (I say "practically" since, you know, it's bacon--how bad can it be?), 5 being a perfectly serviceable bacon for use in cooking or on a sandwich, and 10 being....well, let's be honest; there won't be a 10. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">7.7</span>. This is a good rating, but not where a product of this caliber or price should be at. Father's puts itself up in the seven range simply by doing it the old fashioned way, artisanally curing and smokehouse-smoking their bacons. But the flavor of the finished product isn't as balanced between pork, smoke, salt, and sweet as I would've liked, and the somewhat sloppy packaging, which included some trim and ends, is simply unacceptable for something being sold for ten bucks a pound.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-75505858630329471902009-06-30T20:07:00.011-05:002009-06-30T21:59:48.267-05:00Starbucks VIA Giveaway (or How I Rationalize Being a Corporate Shill)<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;">FREE STUFF ALERT!</span><br /><br />I am giving away four Starbucks VIA gift packs!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Skq-0lwMm9I/AAAAAAAAAqM/dTD48jFXxlo/s1600-h/starbucks193765.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 225px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Skq-0lwMm9I/AAAAAAAAAqM/dTD48jFXxlo/s400/starbucks193765.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353300917779995602" border="0" /></a>Four lucky winners will receive the handy-dandy tumbler pictured above along with six three-packs of Starbucks VIA Colombian and Italian blends. The mug is specially designed to hold six individual VIA packets, so you will, according to <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.starbucksstore.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=193772">their website</a></span>, "never be without great coffee again". Whatever. It's a package valued at $22.95!<br /><br />How to enter and win:<br />Simple. Comment on this post and tell us all about your favorite coffee--where you get it, what kind of drink you like best, how it's made, what makes it so good, your individual coffee quirks...whatever.<br /><br />After a week or so, I'll choose the four comments I like best and send out the Starbucks swag to the lucky winners.<br /><br />____________________________________________________________<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><br />Now, to address the larger issues and ramifications of such a shameless display of symbiotic mutual self-promotion.<br /><br />I've referred briefly in the past to my policies about reviewing stuff that comes my way for free, from PR companies, event organizers, or whoever, but I haven't ever codified an actual policy. Maybe now's a good time.<br /><br />Basically, my driving guideline is that the credibility of this blog means far more to me than a free book, dinner, or pound of coffee, so I err on the side of caution. For example, I will always indicate when products or services came my way for free when reviewing them, and I always tell people offering freebies that my acceptance of the goodies in no way guarantees a positive review.<br /><br />That said, I try and keep this blog relatively positive, so unless something is just egregiously bad, or I'm in the mood to <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/search/label/rants">rant</a></span>, I would probably be more likely to simply not write the piece. This is my general tendency whether I've paid full price or not.<br /><br />This wasn't much of an issue at first, but as this site has gained traction and generated more traffic, I've started getting frequent unsolicited emails from folks who would like to see their products (or the products of their clients) featured.<br /><br />It all seemed fairly small-time and manageable until a PR guy representing the supposed <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07085/772564-152.stm">evil empire</a></span> known as <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.starbucks.com/">Starbucks Coffee</a></span> came knocking at my <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="mailto:cookingandeatinginchicago@gmail.com">Gmail address</a></span> . All of a sudden, entertaining the option of taking a mug and some free coffee made me feel like I was on the brink of becoming a complete corporate sell-out whore. What would be next, I figured--crowning some corporate PapaDomino'sHut pizza franchise the new <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2008/11/barnabys-family-inn.html">Barnaby's</a></span>? Hell, no!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkrOeNUGlFI/AAAAAAAAAqc/QeCfX9uzvTs/s1600-h/shill.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 140px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkrOeNUGlFI/AAAAAAAAAqc/QeCfX9uzvTs/s400/shill.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353318125448631378" border="0" /></a>But, crazy coincidence; I got some free samples of VIA from a Starbucks a few months ago when they first came out. They sat in a drawer until a couple weeks ago, when I brought them with on the camping trip <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/06/albers-ice-creamunion-dairy-freeport-il.html">I took</a></span> with Henry, and at 6:45 in the morning, after sleeping fitfully through a night of thunderstorms and then escorting a four-year old through the mud to utilize a horsefly-plagued outhouse, this new "gourmet" instant coffee seemed like an acceptable option.<br /><br />I drink iced coffee when it's warm out, so I just mixed two VIA packets with about 8 oz. of cold milk, some ice cubes, and a Sweet-n-Low.<br /><br />The verdict? It was damn good. In fact, under the circumstances, it was fantastic.<br /><br />I mean, it's not espresso good. Not anything like the nectar I generate with my <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00076SCVG?ie=UTF8&tag=cookandeatiin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00076SCVG">Rancilio Silvia</a></span><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=cookandeatiin-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00076SCVG" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" border="0" height="1" /> and the Adam's Blend I get from <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/01/casteel-coffee-in-evanston.html">Casteel</a></span>. Nor was it as good as an iced latte at Starbucks (which I find fine; acceptable in a pinch, if overpriced).<br /><br />But for something I can make on the go--on a road trip, or camping, or as an alternative to the garbage that sits outside hotel-room bathrooms--it's pretty damn good. I can definitely see situations where this would be a welcome alternative to driving around hoping to find a place to get a decent cup of coffee, when I'm not willing to drop down to a gas station or Dunkin' Donuts level-brew.<br /><br />Not a ringing endorsement by any stretch of the imagination, but it's certainly something that makes sense in certain situations.<br /><br />This is the conclusion I'd already reached when the PR company goons tried to strongarm their way into my inbox, with their fiendishly courteous emails proffering their tantalizing freebies.<br /><br />So, I figured....why not?<br /><br />Bottom line; I'm going to take free stuff and go to free dinners and events sometimes, but I will always disclose when whatever I'm reviewing was a freebie, and I will always inform the party offering the freebies that there's no guarantee of a favorable review.<br /><br />I'll try not to let if effect my opinion of the product, service, or event being reviewed, but whatever...I'm human. Sometimes, despite my attempts to approach the review from the perspective of someone who paid full price, I'll probably be unduly influenced by the tiny "thrill" that getting free stuff brings. The flip side of this of course, is that, depending on how the exchange is handled (sometimes people can be really crass and pushy about this kind of stuff), it might have a negative impact on my opinion of whatever's being reviewed.<br /><br />That's that. I'm human, this is a blog, not Journalism, and, in the great scheme of things, you'll still probably see far more PR-agency-generated material in your daily newspaper or evening news than you'll see here.<br /><br />See? You can trust me. I am <strike>not</strike> a corporate shill.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-35691016646298542462009-06-28T16:33:00.008-05:002009-06-28T16:50:25.389-05:00Finchville Farms Bacon Shots + More Ham<div style="text-align: center;"><br /><br />I had so many pork porn shots from my Finchville visit that I'm doing a second post just to show them off.<br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Skfjdggvn4I/AAAAAAAAApw/WkLsspO3Px0/s1600-h/finchville+bellies.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 386px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Skfjdggvn4I/AAAAAAAAApw/WkLsspO3Px0/s400/finchville+bellies.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352496778236108674" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Bellies</span><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkfjZXilxQI/AAAAAAAAApo/i5Dnfygbd5s/s1600-h/bacon+slabs.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 274px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkfjZXilxQI/AAAAAAAAApo/i5Dnfygbd5s/s400/bacon+slabs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352496707108455682" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">More bellies</span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkfjVMdK-pI/AAAAAAAAApg/2Q7DoQLELMw/s1600-h/bacon+slabs+bw.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkfjVMdK-pI/AAAAAAAAApg/2Q7DoQLELMw/s400/bacon+slabs+bw.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352496635413461650" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Cured bellies</span><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkfkfSDOOTI/AAAAAAAAAqA/IL6Tc21vwNg/s1600-h/kdk_0628.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 291px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkfkfSDOOTI/AAAAAAAAAqA/IL6Tc21vwNg/s400/kdk_0628.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352497908225554738" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Ham slices ready for the store.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Skfj7FR_3tI/AAAAAAAAAp4/J1n8zwi-m2w/s1600-h/ham+stockings.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Skfj7FR_3tI/AAAAAAAAAp4/J1n8zwi-m2w/s400/ham+stockings.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352497286322577106" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Hams in stockings.</span><br /><br /><br /><br />I'm probably going to get more static from vegans for this. Oh well.<br /></div>Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-40331426198853841582009-06-25T16:00:00.023-05:002009-06-28T16:32:48.002-05:00Country Ham--Finchville Farms, Kentucky<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkQ63hNf6uI/AAAAAAAAAow/fSqOLHMkmLw/s1600-h/hams+window.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 344px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkQ63hNf6uI/AAAAAAAAAow/fSqOLHMkmLw/s400/hams+window.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351466982705195746" border="0" /></a><br />At a <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://skyfullofbacon.com/blog/?p=5">dinner party</a></span> hosted by <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://skyfullofbacon.com/">Sky Full of Bacon</a></span>'s very talented Mike Gebert a few months ago, I was served (among other delicacies) ham biscuits. Which, if you just do a quick google and look at, say, <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,171,151167-246200,00.html">cooks.com</a></span>, you'll see are just simple little biscuit sandwiches of sliced ham.<br /><br />These were not just simple little biscuit sandwiches of sliced ham, though. They were amazing. Biscuits made with lard Gebert had rendered himself, part of his homemade bacon process, a country ham from <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.fatherscountryhams.com/">Father's</a></span> in Kentucky, and home-canned preserves to slather on the delicate yet rich biscuits before adding a thin slice or two of the smokey, somewhat funky ham. This elegant little sandwich literally melted in my mouth, and the ham made a strong impression on me.<br /><br />I managed to latch onto the tag from <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://skyfullofbacon.com/blog/?p=200">Gebert's ham</a></span>, which sat on my desk for a couple months. My intention was to order a ham from the same purveyor and try and replicate it for myself. I never got around to doing that, but as part of a recent road trip, I incorporated a visit to a different producer of country hams named Finchville Farms in Finchville, Kentucky.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.finchvillefarms.com/">Finchville Farms</a></span> is a small, family-owned operation run by Bill Robertson, whose family has been operating it since its inception in 1947. I sat down with Mr. Robertson before we embarked on a tour of his facilities and, as we talked about ham, we both eventually asked the same question aloud, incredulously--"why not?"<br /><br />See, we were taking about country ham as opposed to European cured ham products like Italian <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosciutto">prosciutto</a></span> or the Spanish<span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam%C3%B3n_serrano"> jamons</a></span> Serrano and Iberico. And we both wondered why American country hams haven't yet attained the same success or recognition as their European counterparts. I didn't have an answer. Part of the reason it's taken me a month or so to write this article is that I've been trying to come up with one. <br /><br />For me, as a chef, I was always somewhat bewildered by country ham. I never worked with it, so didn't really know the process. I knew it needed to be soaked in changes of water for a few days, and then roasted like a "regular" (read; saline-injected commercially processed) ham, and the resulting product would have a firmer texture and a more pronounced flavor than the standard spongy salt nibbles that turn up in our everyday omelets and deli sandwiches.<br /><br />But I'd never tried it, so I just wasn't sure. And could it be thinly sliced, raw, and used in elegant presentations as a homegrown stand-in for prosciutto? I'd never seen it done that way and it seemed like everything I read about country ham was a cooked preparation like Gebert's , so, again....it remained a mystery.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkQ7HAD69xI/AAAAAAAAApA/L_kGt87K7sQ/s1600-h/bill+desk.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 336px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkQ7HAD69xI/AAAAAAAAApA/L_kGt87K7sQ/s400/bill+desk.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351467248684562194" border="0" /></a>Bill's answer (that's him to the right, in his office at Finchville) was, yes. "Sure, you can eat it raw, thinly sliced, like prosciutto," he said. "But nobody does. "<br /><br />Country ham is most often seen as "steaks"--thin leg cross-cuts with a round slice of the bone in the middle--and these are cooked quickly on a griddle or in a pan and served alongside eggs, toast, and hash browns for $3.95 at gritty little neighborhood diners throughout the South and Midwest. When I've had it this way, though, I haven't cared much for it; it's usually kind of tough and stringy and too salty.<br /><br />So that's more or less where I've always been on it; I'm a big fan of the European cured ham products, sliced thinly and draped over cool, juicy melon slices or ripe figs, but I haven't been much for American hams, whether the clove-studded, pineapple-ringed, Dr. Pepper-glazed, spiral-sliced Easter <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/2039826/ham_Full.jpg">variety</a></span>, or the more gourmet-sounding, but still disappointing country ham.<br /><br />I appreciated Mr. Robertson's hospitality and generosity, for sharing both his time and products (My intention was to purchase a whole ham, like the ones seen sitting on his store countertop, but Bill steered me towards the ready-to-eat or cook products and laid a trunkload of samples on me). I've tried a bunch of different ones, but I'm still don't think I'm fully appreciating or understanding the appeal of this product. The only really amazing experience I had with it was at Gebert's dinner party.<br /><br />Maybe part of it is how Gebert cooked his ham, I don't know. Another factor to consider is the varied styles of curing and processing. Bill at Finchville doesn't use any <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://blog.ruhlman.com/ruhlmancom/2007/04/mcgee_on_nitrit.html">nitrates or nitrites</a></span> in his hams, only salt and sugar. Some producers add spices or herbs, or use different types of sugar like brown sugar, molasses, or maple. Oh, and Finchville hams aren't smoked, either. Most that you'll find are, like the Father's ham I had at Gebert's gathering.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkRIUL5K5RI/AAAAAAAAApI/bLbqYw6OqLA/s1600-h/ham+rack.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkRIUL5K5RI/AAAAAAAAApI/bLbqYw6OqLA/s400/ham+rack.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351481768850154770" border="0" /></a>The process varies enormously from one maker to the next, but the essential steps are that a fresh or "green" ham is dry cured for a period of 3-5 weeks, then is rinsed and hung for a longer period--usually 8 to 12 months. At this point the ham can be used, or it can be smoked. The smoking can also be done prior to hanging. Some ham producers wrap the hams in muslin during the hanging process, others leave them naked to the air.<br /><br />Obviously this process was developed prior to refrigeration and these methods were originally motivated by the desire to preserve fresh meat. Pig slaughters were usually at the beginning of the cold-weather months as a way to further prevent spoilage, and the various parts of the animal would be cured, cooked, smoked, and/or hung so that the cooler temperatures would prevent spoilage during the crucial point, and once the warmer weather arrived, the hams would be sufficiently cured to last through hot summer.<br /><br />In fact, the summer is said to be beneficial to the flavor of the country hams. Like cheese and wine, ham is a product of its environment. As they hang, the hams are exposed to hot temperatures on summer days, but cooler evenings, and this temperature fluctuation is said to be beneficial for the flavor of the meat. Locals speak of the "July Sweats" as crucial to a country ham's flavor development. Native molds form on the outside of the hams as a reminder that this is a living process, and white specks of concentrated protein, similar to what's found in superior long-aged cheeses like <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://staceyzier.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/oh-great-parmigiano-reggiano/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Parmigiano-Reggiano</span></a></span>, appear in the meat. Essentially, this is controlled spoilage.<br /><br />But, hey, controlled spoilage is where it's at. Beer, wine, stinky cheese. Spicy kimchee, sauerkraut.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkPuXdUB7-I/AAAAAAAAAog/96l66RLoVxI/s1600-h/ham+cross.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 256px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkPuXdUB7-I/AAAAAAAAAog/96l66RLoVxI/s400/ham+cross.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351382869019324386" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />So the ham I got from Finchville is more or less exactly the same as what they make in Parma, Italy...I'm thinking. Why can't it be served more like <span style="font-style: italic;">prosciutto di Parma</span> is typically used?<br /><br />Well, I'm not entirely sure that it can't. But the intended end use needs to be considered while the product is being processed. That is to say, if a country ham producer set out to make Kentucky Prosciutto, they'd have to employ a different process. The current products are heavily salted, because the end users are going to soak them in changes of water, and then either roast or boil in more water. If the ham were going to be served raw, sliced paper-thin, the salt content would have to be scaled way back, so as to allow the end product to be less salty and also softer and more full of moisture than current country hams, which are like rocks. Typically, prosciutto is left to cure for 15-20 days, while country ham sits soaking up salt for 35-50 days.<br /><br />The other thing is that Finchville uses commercial pork. I asked Bill about it when I noticed some Swift boxes near the dumpster, and got a waved a hand in the air as a response. This appeared to be Bill's way of acknowledging to the heritage pork movement, so other than mentioning some of the attention <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.chow.com/stories/10213">heritage breeds</a></span> are getting from Chicago chefs, I didn't press him about it.<br /><br />European hams are all made from pigs from the particular region, and the pump-it-full-of-hormones-and-saline-and-get-it-to-market-weight-in-half-the-time American factory farming model has, for the most part, been rejected in Europe. So, like with heritage breeds, the meat of the European pigs has a more fully developed flavor. It's fattier, and of a superior quality.<br /><br />Now seems like a great moment to mention <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.laquercia.us/">La Quercia</a></span>, which appears to be doing just exactly what I just described over in Iowa, and their products are now being carried and touted by just about every pork-loving chef in Chicago.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkdljQMFEpI/AAAAAAAAApY/FtEuQNd9ZlA/s1600-h/hanging.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkdljQMFEpI/AAAAAAAAApY/FtEuQNd9ZlA/s400/hanging.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352358338468582034" border="0" /></a>So, after plunging headlong into this project, I find myself with more questions than answers. I'm kicking myself for limiting my experience with Finchville's products to the pre-fabbed steaks and ham biscuit slices, wrapped all tight and shelf-stable in their cryovack packs, and not bringing home a whole ham, as I'd planned.<br /><br />Is the main reason that country ham isn't utilized similarly to prosciutto simply that it hasn't traditionally been done? American country ham producers have always included pre-cooking as a part of their process, and almost always market convenience products, like the ones Bill graced me with. As a result of the cooking being such a prominent part of their process, the USDA requires all uncooked country ham products to carry a label bearing cooking instructions, including the suggestion that pork always be cooked to an internal temperature of 160°.<br /><br />So partly, it's a matter of it's always been done this way, and the government suggests that it continue to be done this way.<br /><br />Technically, however, the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Ham/index.asp">USDA</a></span> has no opinion about whether country ham can be eaten raw. They have not taken an official position. And the country ham producers haven't asked, for fear of having some stringent requirements slapped on them. So the mystery continues.<br /><br />So, the next logical step for me is to buy a whole ham. Whether from Finchville, Father's, or somewhere else. There are now tons available through internet mail-order. And then maybe get one from La Quercia and do a taste test to compare how the various hams taste raw. Oh, and I'll need a profressional deli slicer to do these fine products justice.<br /><br />Yup. Next time I've got a spare thousand bucks laying around, I'll be sure to do that. I guess that's part of the reason there hasn't been more experimentation with these products...the entry costs are high.<br /><br />S0, there you go. Lots of valuable info about a traditional American product, some taste tests, a visit to the producer, an interview with the guy who runs the company, and still, the answer to the question that Bill and I asked in his office remains elusive.<br /><br />"Why not"? I don't know.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-72961909883543747742009-06-22T21:17:00.032-05:002009-06-24T19:10:59.349-05:00Alber's Ice Cream/Union Dairy; Freeport, IL<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkA7m_ZNN0I/AAAAAAAAAng/3NvS9wR70CU/s1600-h/kdk_1034.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 202px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkA7m_ZNN0I/AAAAAAAAAng/3NvS9wR70CU/s400/kdk_1034.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350341898354374466" border="0" /></a><br />I took my four year old son, Henry camping a couple weekends ago. Ever been camping with a four-year old?<br /><br />Anyway, he loved it and we more or less accomplished my goal, which was to give him his first real overnight camping experience so when we start doing longer trips, he'll be used to it. After doing a few backyard campouts, this was our first real foray out into the wild world.<br /><br />We ventured out about an hour from the city, to nearby <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/Landmgt/Parks/R1/ROCKCUT.HTM">Rock Cut State Park</a></span>, which is a very nice little state park that I've visited and camped at before. They have two lakes--one that's used for fishing, another with a sandy beach, and the campground where the tent campers (as opposed to RV campers) set up is situated nicely between the two lakes. Henry, however, in his typical assertive-for-no-apparent-reason-about-things-he-doesn't-even-have-the-faintest-clue-what-he's-talking-about way, told me early and often that he did "NOT want to ride in a paddle boat. NO. WAY. DAD."<br /><br />I've learned not to try and convince him that paddle boats are fun, or to even ask what he's got against them, anyway, since he's never been on one. No point to it. Mmm hm. No paddleboat. No way, no how. Check.<br /><br />After getting an early start, setting up camp, and loading up on firewood and worms for fishing, we were ready to get something to eat, and I was determined to avoid the campground hot dog stand and the endless highway exit fast food options.<br /><br />We cast about for a while, then found ourselves in the nice little old town of <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.ci.freeport.il.us/">Freeport</a></span>, Illinois, which just happens to be one of the sites where Abraham Lincoln <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln-Douglas_debates_of_1858">debated</a></span> Stephen Douglas in 1858, as the two stumped around Illinois in their respective campaigns to become the state's next US senator. The debates all centered around the issue of the day--slavery, and are said to be where Lincoln's mettle was proven and his chops were honed for his presidential run just two years later.<br /><br />More importantly, though, directly behind Debate Square, where the historic event is commemorated, there's a really cool old ice cream parlor.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkA_Z6783QI/AAAAAAAAAno/Rrczw3MHww4/s1600-h/kdk_1007.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 182px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkA_Z6783QI/AAAAAAAAAno/Rrczw3MHww4/s400/kdk_1007.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350346071866137858" border="0" /></a><br />I saw the art deco facade when I turned a blind corner and knew that my aimless wandering had paid off. Sometimes when you're hungry it's tempting to give in and just hit the Denny's or the Culver's off the exit ramp, but then you find a sleeper like this place just loaded with old time character and charm.<br /><br />I was hoping for a patty melt or something similarly diner-minded, but we found out that the "grill" portion of this establishment is closed on Sundays, so we had no choice but to eat massive ice cream sundaes for our lunch. Here they are:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkA_6cDUvHI/AAAAAAAAAnw/dHAqSeMoVzM/s1600-h/kdk_1015.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 224px; height: 295px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkA_6cDUvHI/AAAAAAAAAnw/dHAqSeMoVzM/s320/kdk_1015.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350346630511246450" border="0" /></a>Mine was the turtle sundae, that's it on the left, and Henry is all about the mint ice cream, so he got what they were calling a mint meltaway sundae, which had mint chip ice cream, hot fudge, a ton of whipped cream, and a bunch of crushed Andee's mints all over the top and sides.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkA_-TuBkfI/AAAAAAAAAn4/C7yxjUkFaMc/s1600-h/kdk_1021.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 265px; height: 171px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkA_-TuBkfI/AAAAAAAAAn4/C7yxjUkFaMc/s320/kdk_1021.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350346696993903090" border="0" /></a>The ice cream in this place was good (it's <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.cedarcresticecream.com/">Cedar Crest</a></span>), and they appear to be doing a nice job jazzing it up with their sauces, toppings, and all the fixin's, but the reason this place is worth an hour drive (or at least a detour if you're heading west) is its perfectly preserved condition. It's beautiful. Pristine. It could (and probably should) be in a museum, but it's not; it's still functioning as this town's little local restaurant and ice cream parlor, the counters are staffed by local high school girls, and honestly, most of the people in there looked at me like I was nuts for taking pictures of the shiny chrome and Formica, the amazing soda fountain set-up that runs down the center of the long oval of counter seating, and their sweet old jade green Hamilton Beach spindle milkshake mixer.<br /><br />But I'm NOT crazy. THEY'RE the ones who are crazy for not recognizing beauty and art when it's right under their noses! Look at that setup!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkBGbkMJxwI/AAAAAAAAAoI/2YTdGOPAIlc/s1600-h/kdk_1032.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkBGbkMJxwI/AAAAAAAAAoI/2YTdGOPAIlc/s400/kdk_1032.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350353796701210370" border="0" /></a>The ice cream dipping cabinets are still working, they're using those pumps for their syrups and flavorings, the hot well holds the hot fudge and caramel at just the right temperature, and there's not a speck of dirt or a bent piece of stainless to be found. Do people realize how rare that piece is? How incredible it is that no one ripped it out during all these years?!<br /><br />Remember what I said about camping with a four year old. I'll just say this; no matter how many times they tell you they want to "help", they really don't. Oh, and we now know that four is not old enough to apply <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.offprotects.com/insect-bites/?sid=SEM&cid=Google">Deep Woods Off</a></span>. But if you let'em get really hungry and then promise them a big ice cream sundae, they're putty in your hands.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkBFrfYh2CI/AAAAAAAAAoA/KlVx-LHwlNc/s1600-h/kdk_1012.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 376px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkBFrfYh2CI/AAAAAAAAAoA/KlVx-LHwlNc/s400/kdk_1012.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350352970777221154" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Henry doesn't understand why they would prepare and bring the dad's ice cream sundae a full ten minutes before they prepare and bring the kid's. I didn't get it either.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;">Anyway, after a couple of big ice cream sundaes, our stomachs were cooled down and full, our faith was restored in the world, and we headed back to the campground for some short-attention-span fishing and a few good hours of playing with the pump (endless fun, apparently).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkBJLzCoXvI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/ZUZ0ZQW9pj0/s1600-h/kdk_1055.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 274px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SkBJLzCoXvI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/ZUZ0ZQW9pj0/s320/kdk_1055.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350356824344780530" border="0" /></a>We did our campfire dinner, had the obligatory s'more or two, strummed the guitar a bit, and then settled down in our sleeping bags for some flashlight play and, eventually, sleep. I'm fairly sure I slept at least a little.<br /><br />Whoa! Camping with a four year old! No one ever said it was restful. Remember what I said earlier about training Henry for longer camping trips? Maybe I'm the one who actually needs a warm-up outing or two.<br /><br />I won't say the ice cream sundaes at <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.albericecreamparlor.com/">Alber's/Union Dairy</a></span> were the highlight of the trip...but let me just put it this way; I'm glad I know it's there in such close proximity to the campground for next time.<br /></div></div>Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-49675699035401290252009-06-16T08:22:00.003-05:002009-06-16T08:31:39.299-05:00Summer Break<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SjeesCKBEsI/AAAAAAAAAnY/lFPUOvNZ-HQ/s1600-h/i_love_summer_break_mousepad-p144638130244031315trak_400.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 362px; height: 271px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SjeesCKBEsI/AAAAAAAAAnY/lFPUOvNZ-HQ/s400/i_love_summer_break_mousepad-p144638130244031315trak_400.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347917561856070338" border="0" /></a><br />Just wanted to touch base quickly and offer an explanation, of sorts, for the long gap in posting. Most of my energy these days is going into enjoying the weather, taking care of the kids, and <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/03/so-we-may-be-opening-restaurant.html">other endeavors</a></span>, so I haven't been posting much of late.<br /><br />But, not to worry. I'm anticipating having some quality time on my hands soon, and have posts about Korean barbecue, my first crack at making duck prosciutto, the best bagels in Chicago, a perfectly preserved 40's era ice cream parlor, and my tour/interview with a Kentucky country ham producer working their way through the process.<br /><br />So stay tuned!Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-63949425212479023812009-06-05T00:45:00.007-05:002009-06-05T01:18:12.314-05:00Healthy Kids Cook-Off<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SiizgeuyoAI/AAAAAAAAAnM/nwaJUDwjIyc/s1600-h/19035.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 100px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SiizgeuyoAI/AAAAAAAAAnM/nwaJUDwjIyc/s400/19035.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343718328461598722" border="0" /></a><br />There's a great event this weekend that I was invited to attend and unfortunately won't be able to get to (Henry and I are going camping!) but it's not too late for you to plan on attending and bringing your kids.<br /><br />It's an Iron-Chef style <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chicagoist.com/2009/06/03/kid_chefs_cook-off_for_share_our_st_1.php">cook-off</a></span> where kids will team up with <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://culinary.kendall.edu/">Kendall College</a></span> students as well as local well-known chefs like <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.ciachef.edu/admissions/spotlight/spotlight.asp?iSpotID=656">Michael Kornick</a></span>, to see who can whip together a tasty and nutritious snack using "secret ingredients".<br /><br />The finalists will compete in what the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://join.strength.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SOS_cookoff">press release</a></span> calls a "fast paced" cook off in front of a live studio audience "just like on TV". Snacks and prizes are provided, and the whole thing is also done in conjunction with something called the Healthy Living Fair which features demos, free samples, and lots of other cool stuff. You'll also get the opportunity to check out Kendall College's amazing <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/2804417483_c542317b25.jpg?v=0">new facility</a></span> on Goose Island.<br /><br />The whole thing promises to be plenty of fun, but it's also pretty important; when school lets out, 8 out of 10 kids who receive free school lunches during the year don't get any assistance over the summer. This event is geared towards raising awareness about child hunger and also teaching adults and kids alike how to prepare simple and nutritious meals and snacks.<br /><br />It takes place this Sunday, June 7th from 12:00 noon to 5pm at Kendall College--900 North Branch Street (on Goose Island near Chicago Avenue and Halsted) in Chicago.<br /><br />So, go! Bring your kids. Cook, watch, feast, and have a good time.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-54567355637923963292009-05-30T07:34:00.006-05:002009-05-30T09:12:02.471-05:00The Best Burger in Chicago<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SiEoFzU4ZfI/AAAAAAAAAmE/79ylJKXavJ8/s1600-h/xtra+contrast.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 224px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SiEoFzU4ZfI/AAAAAAAAAmE/79ylJKXavJ8/s400/xtra+contrast.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341594713180366322" border="0" /></a>I finally made the trek down to Beverly to try what many claim is the best burger in Chicago. <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.topnotchbeverly.com/">Top Notch Beefburgers</a></span> is located at 2116 W. 95th, just a bit east of Western Ave., and yes, it's all it's cracked up to be.<br /><br />What can I say, other than to add my name to the pile of admirers who have crowned Top Notch as the standard-bearer? It's the best of the form. Hands down.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SiE4Rwz26gI/AAAAAAAAAmM/UP8c_2ivvqE/s1600-h/kdk_0956.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SiE4Rwz26gI/AAAAAAAAAmM/UP8c_2ivvqE/s400/kdk_0956.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341612510849460738" border="0" /></a>The beef is incredibly fresh. Top Notch uses round for their burgers, and they grind the beef fresh, in-house, every morning, from great 90-lb primal cuts of beef. They patty their fresh beef into thin, 5 oz. burgers, and griddle cook them, gently, until they're just cooked through, but still juicy, with tons of wonderful fresh beef flavor.<br /><br />The bun is the classic, flabby, nondescript, white bread burger bun. It wouldn't stand up to a larger, medium-rare burger, but it's perfect for the style that Top Notch is serving, mainly because it stays in the background and doesn't interfere with the beefy flavor of the meat, which is really the focus here. I had mine with grilled onions and cheese (sharp American comes standard), which I believe to be the purist's preference.<br /><br />I've gone into <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/04/burger-research.html">some</a></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/05/more-burger-and-fries-research.html">detail</a></span> already about what I'm looking for from a burger, so I won't repeat myself, but I want to state for the record, right here, that Top Notch delivered exactly what I have been seeking from a burger. The <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://blogs.trb.com/cheeseburgershow/2009/04/kingsize-beefburger.html">raves</a></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chicagoist.com/2007/08/22/south_side_chea_2.php">are</a></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chibbqking.blogspot.com/2008/09/top-notch-beefburgers.html">on</a></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?erube_fh=cp&cp.submit.restaurantDetail=1&cp.id=69">the</a></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=21070">mark</a></span>. It's just too bad this place is roughly 167 blocks south of where I spend most of my time.<br /><br />Oh, and the fries! I didn't mention the fries yet, but they are fabulous. They may not be the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0528-fries-storymay28,0,1757123.story">best fries in the city</a></span>, but they're damn close. A place with a burger this good doesn't need to turn out a perfectly-done version of the fresh-cut, double-cooked fry. Their burger is the draw, right? So they definitely don't need to cook their fries in beef tallow, do they?<br /><br />But they do, and they're perfectly seasoned, crisp, and nicely browned without even approaching dark. While I was sitting at the counter, during a fairly busy lunch, I saw the fry cook make batch after small batch of fries which went straight onto plates with their burgers almost every time. The guy could've made two or three really large batches, considering the rate at which they were serving them up, and just worked from the heat-lamped dump pan, but he didn't. Instead, almost every customer got fries that had just emerged from their sizzling hot bath of beef fat.<br /><br />Details like that are what makes this place so awesome. They get it.<br /><br />I could go on and on about the retro-without-trying-to-be wood paneling and formica counters, or the milkshakes made on the old spindle machine with milk straight from the "<span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://mbauction.com/Gallery/84f86ae9-e87c-417c-bb8f-7f28624aede9/Milk%20Dispenser.jpg">cow</a></span>". But, honestly, I wouldn't care if they served these burgers and fries to me out of the back of a rented moving truck or from a kiosk inside of a Wal-Mart--they're just that good.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SiE5Z_tiuFI/AAAAAAAAAmU/NynkW404szo/s1600-h/kdk_0961.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SiE5Z_tiuFI/AAAAAAAAAmU/NynkW404szo/s400/kdk_0961.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341613751800084562" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Life is generally better when viewed through a vanilla malt.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div>Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-86717906168854865412009-05-27T15:57:00.017-05:002009-07-12T16:24:03.870-05:00Road Trip--Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sh37HIcnQSI/AAAAAAAAAl0/L4IejHE4-AA/s1600-h/kdk_0820.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 232px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sh37HIcnQSI/AAAAAAAAAl0/L4IejHE4-AA/s400/kdk_0820.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340700833076429090" border="0" /></a><br />The final stop on my trip back from <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/04/tooting-my-own-horn.html">the Greenbrier</a></span>, earlier this month, was a visit to what I now know to be the legendary <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.buffalotrace.com/">Buffalo Trace</a></span> distillery, where they create some of the finest Kentucky Bourbons on the market.<br /><br />Buffalo Trace is a part of the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.kybourbontrail.com/">Kentucky Bourbon Trail</a></span>. It's being marketed to tourists and Bourbon lovers as a destination, and there are folks who even buy the "passport", make a trip of it and try to visit as many of the eight distilleries that ring the area around Frankfort as they can.<br /><br />In keeping with this attempt to make this whole thing more marketable and accessible for tourists, I found the area to be well-marked, with street signs indicating where to turn once I got off the main highway, so finding the place was fairly easy. I pulled off into what appeared to be a large estate, and the drive wound around past some very well-kept gardens until I pulled into what was obviously the working distillery and tour zone.<br /><br />As soon as I stepped out of my car, I was smacked in the face with the smell of bourbon. The distillery's parking lot sits right next to one of the large barrel aging warehouses, and the grainy, caramelly, woody smell seems to hang in the air around the compound of more than 100 buildings that make up the distillery. This smell, along with the fact that the 55 gallon barrels can yield as little as 5 gallons of finished product, have given rise to the term "angels' share" to refer to the huge quantity of the tasty brown liquor that evaporates into the Kentucky air as the environment and its temperature fluctuations work their magic and turn grain spirits into fine Kentucky bourbon.<br /><br />I did what they refer to on their website as the "hard hat tour", which took me, according to their literature, "behind the scenes of the bourbon making process where the magic happens". As part of a small group of four guys, the tour guide walked us through the entire brewing/distilling/aging process from where the grain gets trucked in, right through to where the pure spirits go into the barrel to age.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sh35SsVl7TI/AAAAAAAAAlk/Q47xjN7AGuI/s1600-h/kdk_0752.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sh35SsVl7TI/AAAAAAAAAlk/Q47xjN7AGuI/s400/kdk_0752.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340698832665963826" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The grains (corn, wheat, malted barley) are cooked in giant pressure cookers.</span><br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sh36BVjZPII/AAAAAAAAAls/rCPgc54kW_Q/s1600-h/kdk_0781.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sh36BVjZPII/AAAAAAAAAls/rCPgc54kW_Q/s400/kdk_0781.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340699634003688578" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">The mash is then cooled, yeast is added, and it's allowed to ferment in huge vats. The mash is constantly bubbling furiously and an oily, bubbly scum forms along the top. It smells like beer.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br />Buffalo Trace is really a pretty amazing place. The name refers to the fact that buffalo herds used to cross the Kentucky river at this particular spot, and is the owners' way of paying tribute to the "mighty herds that carved paths in the wilderness and a destiny for our ancestors."<br /><br />The site was first settled in 1775 by brothers Hancock and Wills Lee, and was originally called Leestown. The story goes that the region's fine limestone-filtered water and burgeoning grain farmers made it an ideal place for a distillery, and, perhaps due to those circumstances, there has been a working distillery on the site since 1787.<br /><br />It's gone through a lot, though. It was known as Blanton in the early 1800's, then was purchased by George T. Stagg in the 1870's and rechristened O.F.C. distillery. It eventually came to be known as the George T. Stagg distillery, which is what it's <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natregsearchresult.do?fullresult=true&recordid=37">called</a></span> on the National Registry of Historic Places.<br /><br />During prohibition, George T. Stagg distillery was one of only four distilleries in the country to be granted a permit to continue producing alcohol for "medicinal purposes". People could get a prescription from their doctor to purchase whiskey, and some 5 million people got in on the act, purchasing the quart maximum that they were permitted every 10 days.<br /><br />In 1992, it was sold to the New Orleans-based <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.sazerac.com/">Sazerac</a></span> company, which gave the distillery its current name and, in 1999, started marketing bourbon under the Buffalo Trace (which is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon) brand name.<br /><br />Which brings us to some of the rules and nomenclature associated with bourbon. The label "bourbon" is a federally-protected descriptor. In 1964, the US Congress recognized Bourbon Whiskey as a "distinctive product of the United States." The Federal Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits (<span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&rgn=div8&view=text&node=27:1.0.1.1.3.3.25.2&idno=27">27 CFR 5</a></span>) state that bourbon must meet these requirements:<br /><ul><li>Bourbon must be made of a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn.<br /></li><li>Bourbon must be distilled to no more than 160 (U.S.) proof (80% alcohol by volume).</li><li>Bourbon must be aged in new, charred oak barrels</li><li>Bourbon may not be introduced to the barrel at higher than 125 proof (62.5% alcohol by volume).</li><li>Bourbon which meets the above requirements and has been aged for a minimum of two years, may (but is not required to) be called Straight Bourbon.</li><li>Bourbon aged for a period less than four years must be labeled with the duration of its aging.</li><li>If an age is stated on the label, it must be the age of the youngest whiskey in the bottle.</li></ul>The distinction, then, between bourbon and other various types of American whiskey, is an important one. Bourbon need not be made in Bourbon County (there are, in fact, no distilleries in Bourbon County, Kentucky), and it doesn't even need to have been made in Kentucky to be called bourbon. But it does need to adhere to the requirements above.<br /><br />So, for example, <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.jackdaniels.com/age.aspx">Jack Daniels</a></span>, is categorized as Tennessee whiskey, and cannot, by law, be called bourbon.<br /><br />Now that the term "bourbon" has been fully explained, we can tackle the concept of "single barrel".<br /><br />Basically, as bourbons go, the less expensive commercially-produced brands like Jim Beam or Maker's Mark, while they are legitimately called Kentucky Straight Bourbon, they are not "single barrel" bourbons. These brands consist of the contents of hundreds of barrels--some may be ten or twelve years old, others as young as two--which are then combined (don't say "blended"--I learned the hard way) so that a consistent color and flavor profile is achieved.<br /><br />Which is fine. There's a certain consistency and appeal to these products, and the price is right. Buffalo Trace's eponymous brand falls into this category.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sh37ccrM6rI/AAAAAAAAAl8/8fC4Vhar3a4/s1600-h/kdk_0827.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sh37ccrM6rI/AAAAAAAAAl8/8fC4Vhar3a4/s400/kdk_0827.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340701199283579570" border="0" /></a>But the real draw here is the single barrel stuff. In 1984, the world’s first single barrel bourbon to be marketed commercially was released under the label, Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon, named after Colonel Albert B. Blanton, who dedicated his life to preserving the tradition of handcrafted small-batch produced bourbon amidst a quickly-modernizing industry.<br /><br />Buffalo Trace makes and markets its own brand of single barrel, Eagle Rare, which is available as a 10 year-old single barrel at 90 proof and a 17 year-old "antique collection" offering.<br /><br />But what I found really cool is the fact that Buffalo Trace produces and ages a number of other brands, each to the specifications of their master distiller, each with a different personality and flavor profile; <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="https://blantonsbourbon.com/Page.aspx?pageid=5">Blanton's</a></span> is a great brand with a number of different offerings, <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.spiritsreview.com/reviews-bourbon-elmer-t-lee.htm">Elmer T. Lee</a></span> is named after Buffalo Trace's distiller emeritus, and is bottled when he decides the time is right, and <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.bourbonenthusiast.com/forum/DBvd.php?id=64&task=displaybottling">Rock Hill Farms</a></span> is much prized, but difficult to find. There are <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.greatbourbon.com/">others</a></span>.<br /><br />These distillers get first crack at the prime aging spots. Experts claim that specific floors within specific aging warehouses are superior; they offer the best temperature fluctuations between Kentucky's hot, humid summers, and cool, foggy winters, and that these severe temperature changes are what gives the contents of the barrel its distinctive mellowness and flavor notes. According to their website, "the fourth and fifth floors of Warehouse C and the fourth through sixth floors of Warehouses I and K produce our absolute best whiskey." Who knew?<br /><br />Other products produced at Buffalo Trace include <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.oldripvanwinkle.com/newbs/vw/website3.nsf/docsbykey/HNEY-5FFM32?opendocument">Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve</a></span>, which is a <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5640">wheated bourbon</a></span>, has been rated the number one bourbon whiskey in the world and goes for around $250/bottle, and <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.greatbourbon.com/sazeracrye.aspx">Sazerac Rye</a></span> (rye whiskey is a smoother, yet spicier version of bourbon) are also made at the distillery. <a href="http://www.rainvodka.com/">Rain vodka</a> (the only vodka made exclusively from organically-grown American grain) is also produced at BT.<br /><br />Bourbon is a distinctly American product which, despite achieving some degree of notoriety in recent years, hasn't even begun to approach the prestige level that Scotch whiskey has enjoyed forever. Until I went and immersed myself in the history of this fine amber sipping liquor, I was sorely ignorant of the amazing tradition, incredible standards, and great variety that Bourbon offers to those who are inclined to delve deeply into the genre and start learning and drinking. There's simply a ton to know, and there <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.spiritsreview.com/reviews.htm">are</a></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.whiskymag.com/whisky/type/american_whiskey/bourbon.html">lots</a></span> of <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.straightbourbon.com/">great</a></span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.bourbonenthusiast.com/forum/DBvd.php">resources</a></span> out <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.thebourbonreview.com/index.php?option=com_idoblog&view=idoblog&Itemid=86">there</a></span>.<br /><br />And, amazingly, the center of the bourbon universe is a short 5-6 hour drive south of Chicago, tucked away in the country between Lexington and Frankfort, Kentucky, just waiting for city dwellers like me to discover, which, in my mind, is a pretty good excuse for a road trip.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-39102580545268929502009-05-19T15:18:00.008-05:002009-05-19T19:17:45.113-05:00Granola RecipeI referred to making granola in an <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/01/cooking-with-kids.html">earlier post</a></span>, but never posted the recipe. We've been working from a recipe that I got from the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/">Food Network</a></span>'s recipe website for nearly a year now, and I've tweaked it to the point that it gives us great, consistent results.<br /><br />This makes a big batch, maybe 2 weeks' worth for a small family, but it keeps just fine in a sealed plastic container.<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">6 Cups rolled oats<br />1.5 Cups freshly-ground flax seeds<br />1.5 Cups wheat germ<br />1 Cup brown sugar<br />2 Cups shredded coconut<br />1 Cup toasted sunflower seeds<br />3 Cups other nuts (we use walnuts and pecans), chopped<br />1 Cup vegetable oil<br />1 Cup maple syrup (real)<br />2 T. salt<br />1 T. vanilla paste</span></blockquote><br /><br /><ol start="1"><li>Pre-heat oven to 275°</li><li>Mix the dry ingredients.<br /></li><li>Mix the wet ingredients.</li><li>Combine and mix until well coated.<br /></li><li>Spread mixture evenly over two half-sheet pans.</li><li>Bake on bottom rack until well-browned and dry (maybe 1 hour).</li><li>Turn pieces over, lower oven to 200°, bake another 45 minutes to ensure it's fully dried and crunchy.</li></ol>(my blogger software is changing the numbers on that list to little flowers, for some unknown reason. Somone who knows html, could you write me on how to fix that?)<br /><br />It's a great breakfast option to have on hand for everyday, get-out-of-the-house type eating, combined with some nice creamy yogurt, or just milk.<br /><br />I used a vanilla paste that's made by <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.rodellevanilla.com/">Rodelle Vanilla</a></span> that's just fantastic as well. Vanilla paste is the actual pulp from the vanilla beans, pre-scraped and mixed with a bit of extract and corn syrup, so the texture is nice for this kind of application. If I poured vanilla extract straight onto the granola, it would quickly soak into only a few chunks; this pasty stuff allows it to thoroughly mix with the dry, sticky granola ingredients.<br /><br />(full disclosure--they sent me some swag after I did a <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2008/12/relatively-inexpensive-vanilla-beans.html">review</a></span> of their whole vanilla beans that I buy at <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.costco.com/">Costco</a></span>)<br /><br />No long commentary here. Truth is, I'm doing some late Spring cleaning and I almost threw out the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-recipe/index.html">original recipe</a></span>. I haven't re-written it with the alterations, and just wanted to get it down somewhere that I wouldn't lose it. Paper is so obsolete.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-29237524262862422009-05-18T16:09:00.018-05:002009-05-22T20:25:42.735-05:00Road Trip Photos--Hip Louisville<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbDlmPvTkI/AAAAAAAAAkE/AvtA_hgK1Qc/s1600-h/neon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 379px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbDlmPvTkI/AAAAAAAAAkE/AvtA_hgK1Qc/s400/neon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338669458983439938" border="0" /></a>Ok, I will readily admit that I'm not as cool as I used to be. I'm forty. I have two young kids. Sorry. I try my best.<br /><br />But as a once-hip indy-record-store-dwelling post-collegiate goof-off of some notoriety, I feel that even in my advanced middle-aged <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/05/happy-birthday-to-me.html">state</a></span>, I can appreciate a good thing.<br /><br />During my recent <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/04/tooting-my-own-horn.html">trip</a></span> through the mid-South, I stopped in Louisville one evening for dinner and a stroll and happened up a great neighborhood along <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://thingsyoushoulddo.com/what-to-do/dining/eat-drink-and-be-merry-on-bardstown-road-louisville-kentucky">Bardstown Road</a></span> that featured lots of urban hipster eye-candy in the form of cool bars, restaurants, and shops, live musicians playing outside a coffee shop in what I think is called Deer Park, and just a really nice neighborhood, with many friendly folks out and about.<br /><br /><br />Lots of cool signage in this area. I'm a sucker for creative and retro signage.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbGlsBkA1I/AAAAAAAAAk0/Br_SWJHxpLQ/s1600-h/kdk_0695.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 306px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbGlsBkA1I/AAAAAAAAAk0/Br_SWJHxpLQ/s400/kdk_0695.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338672759069475666" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbFphm7IRI/AAAAAAAAAkk/2bo-6lXzUrc/s1600-h/kdk_0693.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 141px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbFphm7IRI/AAAAAAAAAkk/2bo-6lXzUrc/s400/kdk_0693.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338671725481238802" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbF_atiD3I/AAAAAAAAAks/ZEmW9k0Pan4/s1600-h/kdk_0688.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 337px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbF_atiD3I/AAAAAAAAAks/ZEmW9k0Pan4/s400/kdk_0688.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338672101587029874" border="0" /></a><br />I had some food, which didn't actually impress much (maybe Louisville isn't a barbecue town, despite its proximity to <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=owensboro+barbecue&=Google+Search&=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g2&fp=EPM4eul9pXk">Owensboro</a></span>, which happens to be one of the great barbecue regions of the US), so I'm not really going to speak to the restaurants much with this post. But the neighborhood and the people really struck a nice tone for me on a warm late-Spring night.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbDwfvoPpI/AAAAAAAAAkM/CETm7_TKR78/s1600-h/kdk_0739.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 348px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbDwfvoPpI/AAAAAAAAAkM/CETm7_TKR78/s400/kdk_0739.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338669646216707730" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">I love record stores.<br /><br /><br /></span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbILnoWUlI/AAAAAAAAAlE/llUfPvxIESc/s1600-h/kdk_0727.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbILnoWUlI/AAAAAAAAAlE/llUfPvxIESc/s400/kdk_0727.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338674510236635730" border="0" /></a>Walking a block or two off the main strip, I found a nice neighborhood with old trees and architecture very reminiscent of Chicago bungalows. Lots of brick, limestone, and squared-off corners which are everywhere in the Midwest and always give me a very comfortable and familiar feeling.<br /><br />A little further off the main shopping drag, there are some amazing turn-of-the century mansions, too. You'll have to crane your neck out your car window to see them, since the most ornate and stoic examples <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xoBIPoObedw/SH1oLY3ujeI/AAAAAAAABzE/23-M-Zwsgx0/s320/america-louisville22.JPG">sit</a></span> perched way up on their own little hills, but park real quick and get out and look around at these beauties. They're amazing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbLMcWVCVI/AAAAAAAAAlM/xPYOL3s5gG8/s1600-h/home_detail.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 280px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/ShbLMcWVCVI/AAAAAAAAAlM/xPYOL3s5gG8/s400/home_detail.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338677822923016530" border="0" /></a><br />I was amazed at how, only five hours south of Chicago, Louisville felt so positively <span style="font-style: italic;">southern. </span>Despite the quick drive, I was in The South; people had accents, every restaurant served cornbread and biscuits, and it was so much more warm and humid and green. This would be a nice place to live, I think.<br /><br />The proof that I'm old, of course, is that I came back buzzing about Louisville and the impression it made on me, but instead of suggesting to my wife that we pick up and move there right now, as I might've done when I was in my 20's, my thought was that it would be a great place to retire to someday. Sad, this getting old thing. But also kind of cool.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-88440457051636643612009-05-17T15:29:00.006-05:002009-05-17T22:34:19.376-05:00My Post-Symposium PostSorry for the prolonged absence. I've been out of town the past week at the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.greenbrier.com/site/foodwriters.aspx">Symposium for Professional Food Writers</a></span> at the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.greenbrier.com/site/default.aspx">Greenbrier</a></span> in West Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.<br /><br />It was an incredible honor to be there. The whole thing was hugely inspirational and validating, both as a writer, but also just as someone who's as interested in food as I am. Spending a week with similar-minded people was great fun and really re-charged my batteries on both an intellectual and spiritual level.<br /><br />Now, the challenge is to harness that energy. Many of the successful presenters at the Symposium shared their methods and models with the attendees, and I find myself going in twenty directions at once, trying to write for this or for that potential project, so I've taken a few days off from posting here, out of sheer inability to organize my thoughts and head in one specific direction.<br /><br />I road-tripped it down there, so I took advantage by visiting a few food-related spots. I spent an evening in the hip Highlands area of Louisville, visited a farm where they make country ham the old fashioned way, ate lunch at a cool art deco diner in Charleston, West Virginia, and toured a bourbon distillery that's been in continuous operation since 1787. I'll be blogging about all that stuff under the new header "Road Trip" which will feature stuff that's outside the scope of Chicagoland.<br /><br />I've also started a second <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://automaticburger.blogspot.com/">blog</a></span>, where I'll be documenting the process of opening and running my restaurant; it's going to be a good quality burger joint here in Chicago and I'll be blogging the story more or less in real time. As a business owner, I'll be hoping for things to run smoothly, but the writer part of me wants to see plenty of challenges and drama, which always make for better storytelling. As a restaurant industry vet, I know I can safely count on the latter.<br /><br />The burger blog is in development now, but it'll be fully up and running soon.<br /><br />Thanks for reading.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-59779262004193064822009-05-07T11:11:00.019-05:002009-05-07T18:20:43.454-05:00More Burger (and Fries) ResearchAs the unveiling of <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cookingandeatinginchicago.blogspot.com/2009/03/so-we-may-be-opening-restaurant.html">my project</a></span> grows closer (I'll share more details when I can), I've been cruising around town trying boatloads of burgers and fries.<br /><br />The more I try, the more I'm amazed at the differences from place to place. Here are some quick reviews of places I've tried recently.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMLyQYSSkI/AAAAAAAAAhY/og8mcLwDEQM/s1600-h/kdk_0370.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 307px; height: 275px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMLyQYSSkI/AAAAAAAAAhY/og8mcLwDEQM/s400/kdk_0370.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333119341754993218" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><u>Muskie's</u><br />2878 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago<br /><br />This is a classic-looking old place with a sparse, simple menu that regularly gets pretty good marks on the various restaurant review sites. It's very clean inside, the owner is usually running the show behind the counter, and is extremely competent and friendly.<br /><br />The burger, however, is your standard-issue frozen hockey puck. Besides lacking juiciness and good beefy flavor, which is almost always the case with a factory-formed, machine-stamped frozen patty, mine tasted freezer-burnt to boot. If the best part of a burger is the toppings, it's just not worth it, in my opinion.<br /><br />The highlight at <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/muskies-chicago">Muskie's</a></span> is the fries. They're cutting their own potatoes here, but they're doing a thin fry, just about the same size as that awful place that starts with McD. And, these crispy shoestrings were cooked perfectly. Nicely cooked through with a great crunchy, well-browned exterior. This is the only place I've ever seen do a fresh-cut fry in this style. Very nice.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMRY08EAFI/AAAAAAAAAhg/oF6_5L3fh3M/s1600-h/kdk_0373.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 217px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMRY08EAFI/AAAAAAAAAhg/oF6_5L3fh3M/s400/kdk_0373.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333125501961896018" border="0" /></a><u>That's-a-Burger</u><br /><span class="addr">2134 E 71st St., Chicago</span><br /><br />This place has been recommended to me by dozens of people and I finally got around to trying it. The burgers are a nicely-done example of the diner-style griddled smashburger; fresh beef scooped and then smashed on the flat top. I did see (despite having to look through the bullet-proof glass) the guy scoop the fresh beef and flatten it with a specially-bent spatula that he fashioned (I presume) for this specific task, so they're at least doing it the way it's supposed to be done.<br /><br />As a result, the burger was pretty good. Beef tasted fresh and had that nice crispy-yet-crumbly texture you want from a griddled diner-style burger. It was pretty juicy as well. They have a lot of other interesting-sounding stuff on their menu, and I've heard rave reviews about their turkey burgers, but I was interested in sampling just the straight-up burger and fries, mostly unadorned, in order to really be able to taste and assess the meat.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMSi-3sswI/AAAAAAAAAho/q7rqMLTR1J4/s1600-h/kdk_0377.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMSi-3sswI/AAAAAAAAAho/q7rqMLTR1J4/s400/kdk_0377.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333126775938265858" border="0" /></a>The fries, while fresh-cut, were abysmal. The trick with fresh-cut fries is to be able to cook them through in the time it takes the outside to brown and crisp up. In order to accomplish this, most places cook their fries twice--first in a lower-temperature oil, to cook the potatoes, and then again, at a higher temperature, to crisp and brown them.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chicago.menupages.com/restaurants/thats-a-burger/">That's-a-Burger</a></span>, I believe, skipped the first step, resulting in fries that did not fully cook through before they started to brown. Then they wrapped them up in the same butcher paper as the burger, <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=2284">Gene and Jude's</a></span> style, where the trapped steam caused them to lose any hint of crispness that they might have had when they came out of the fryer. They also lacked salt.<br /><br />Which wouldn't normally be that big of a deal--I can add salt myself, no problem--except that since That's-a-Burger offers no dine-in options, not even a ledge to perch on while you stand and eat, we were a block and a half away, eating in the car, so it wasn't all that feasible to go back and beg for a salt packet.<br /><br />Oh, and I also had an issue with the spongy, cake-like bun, which had a kind of strange-tasting artificial sweetness to it that I found just very off.<br /><br />Another thing about this place was that it took them more than 20 minutes to cook our order of three burgers and fries. We just walked in and ordered, but from what I observed, it seems like the protocol is to call your order in ahead of time. I'm not sure why it would take that long to cook burgers and fries. Wish I could say better things about this place. I wanted to like it, really I did.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMU3un9HII/AAAAAAAAAhw/AZ1SK10Zxxc/s1600-h/kdk_0500.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMU3un9HII/AAAAAAAAAhw/AZ1SK10Zxxc/s400/kdk_0500.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333129331377773698" border="0" /></a><u>Poochie's</u><br />3832 Dempster St., Skokie<br /><br />I stopped at <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=103">Poochies</a></span> with the intention of having a burger and fries--honestly. But the really unique item on their menu is the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2588">char salami </a></span>sandwich. They cut thick slabs the long way off of an all-beef kosher salami, and then cook it on the char-grill, crisping it up, rendering out some of the fat, and giving it a great, smoky, charred flavor.<br /><br />It's served on very good crusty bread, as well. It's quite a sandwich. I ordered mine with the mustard and grilled onions, and I give this combo very high marks.<br /><br />The fries, though, at Poochie's, are really the star. Here is a perfect exemplar of the fresh-cut fry the way it's supposed to be. Cooked through, almost creamy on the inside, nicely browned and crispy on the outside, and well-seasoned. These fries are perfect. Order the cheese fries and they'll slather a mound of gloppy <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/324166">Merkt's</a></span> on there too. Just as good as <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chicago.citysearch.com/review/3677757">Weiner's Circle</a></span>, but without the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo1LPf9mnyU">verbal abuse</a></span>!<br /><br />They do char cheddar burgers with the Merkt's at Poochie's too (in the same vein as <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chicagoburgerproject.blogspot.com/2007/08/paradise-pup.html">Paradise Pup</a></span>), so I'll have to get back there fairly soon and check out the burger, although I doubt it's made with fresh beef.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMYqiYx8HI/AAAAAAAAAh4/rdwJeXWbDro/s1600-h/kdk_0446.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 296px; height: 265px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMYqiYx8HI/AAAAAAAAAh4/rdwJeXWbDro/s400/kdk_0446.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333133502801113202" border="0" /></a><u>Goldyburgers</u><br /><span class="street-address">7316 Circle Ave.</span>, <span class="locality">Forest Park</span><br /><br />Another oft-recommended burger spot is <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://goldyburgers.homestead.com/goldyburgers_home.html">Goldyburgers</a></span> in Forest Park, just west of Harlem Avenue and south of the Metra tracks. This place is definitely worth seeking out. It's a classic old tavern that's just perfect for taking in a Cubs day game.<br /><br />The burgers are definitely fresh beef, hand-pattied, and have good flavor. They're also pretty big--at least a half pound, I'd guess. The one I ordered was, unfortunately, overcooked, but I believe that if it had been cooked as I ordered it, there would've had a lot more juiciness to it. Even cooked all the way through, it wasn't dry.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMaTuMfY8I/AAAAAAAAAiA/GuReyWyPk70/s1600-h/kdk_0449.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 190px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMaTuMfY8I/AAAAAAAAAiA/GuReyWyPk70/s320/kdk_0449.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333135309857055682" border="0" /></a>The service here was very friendly, in that kind of neighborhood corner bar sort of way. There's a lot of low-rent charm here as well--the food is served on cheap paper plates, 50's-era paper place mats appear after you order food, and kitschy burger-themed salt and pepper shakers adorn the tables.<br /><br />The fries were nothing worth mentioning, but the feel of the place and the good (potentially very good) burgers make it worth checking out.<br /><br /><br /><u>Kuma's Corner</u><br /><span class="style3"><span class="style4">2900 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMb-aWAkvI/AAAAAAAAAiI/_Uv07vX9z0k/s1600-h/kdk_0504.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 249px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/SgMb-aWAkvI/AAAAAAAAAiI/_Uv07vX9z0k/s400/kdk_0504.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333137142774272754" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.kumas-corner.com/food.html">Kuma's</a></span> was a must-try for me, since they've won all sorts of <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/features/18699/pub">awards</a></span> for the best burger in the city. So I stopped in for lunch on a weekday around 2pm and the place was packed to the point that I just managed to find a spot at the bar.<br /><br />I had the "Kaijo" which featured bacon, blue cheese, and "frizzled" onions. As you probably know, all the burgers are named after heavy metal bands at this place. I'm not familiar with the band Kaijo, but the burger sounded good to me.<br /><br />It was cooked spot-on perfect, as you can see from the picture above, and the meat tasted like it was fresh and looked hand-pattied. It was juicy for days and was, overall, probably the best burger of the bunch I'm reviewing here.<br /><br />The one thing I didn't love about the Kuma's burger was the fact that it was over-topped. They really heap on the toppings, which, when you're dealing with fresh, good-quality beef, really kind of overwhelms what's supposed to be the star of the show. I also wasn't crazy about the "pretzel"-style bun, but I did appreciate the fact that it was structurally sound enough to stand up to the giant, juicy, over-topped mess (and I mean that in a good way) that is the Kuma's burger experience.<br /><br />The freezer-bag-to-fryer waffle cut fries and chips are nothing worth mentioning. It's a shame that a place that features burgers this good isn't also doing high-quality fresh-cut fries, but given the volume they're doing and the small kitchen, I understand why they've made that choice.<br /><br />So, to recap, the Kuma's burger was the best of the bunch, with their good-quality, fresh beef and ability to cook it to the correct degree of doneness. While I prefer the thinner, diner-style griddled burger featured at That's-a-Burger, the main consideration for me is the quality of the beef, the freshness, and the juiciness, and Kuma's really delivered on all three.<br /><br />The runaway winner for fries was Poochie's, with a special mention to Muskies for their unique shoestring hand-cut fries.<br /><br />That said, I think I can do better.Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4036313111509287808.post-82764416225991040732009-05-03T09:26:00.005-05:002009-07-12T16:25:08.757-05:00Happy Birthday To Me!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sf2pySU6sXI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/AWPVPAoGN7k/s1600-h/bigwoopbirthdayweb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 303px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S4ffauNO4p0/Sf2pySU6sXI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/AWPVPAoGN7k/s400/bigwoopbirthdayweb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331604215254659442" border="0" /></a><br />Today's my 40th birthday!<br /><br />I'm not one for big blow-out type birthday celebrations; I usually just work on my birthday and don't make a big deal of it. Today I'm packing up the family and going out for breakfast at an old-fashioned <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=11626">diner</a></span> I've been meaning to try, and then heading over to the <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.kanecountyfleamarket.com/">Kane Country Flea Market</a></span>. My wife hates going to antique stores and flea markets so I try and drag her to one on my birthday, when she can't protest or complain about it.<br /><br />Later, we'll all go out for dinner with my parents and the plan is to follow it up with a visit to <span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chicagoist.com/2004/06/16/a_closer_look_at_margies_candies.php">Margie's Candies</a></span> for some of their amazing ice cream, which, for me, is far superior to cake.<br /><br />On days like this, I'm just happy to spend time with family, appreciate the fact that we're all healthy, relatively happy, and in a position where we can spend quality time together.<br /><br />Thanks to everyone for the kind birthday wishes. And, since forty is "the new thirty" (or so I'm told), I'm not at all worried about being old. (Yeah, right!)Eddie Lakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04026064693361555466noreply@blogger.com4