A mango ate my grapefruit!

 food  No Responses »
Oct 282008
 

This morning I received a delivery from FreshDirect, a grocery delivery service. I ordered some red grapefruit.
FreshDirect ships mangoes instead of grapefruit
As you can see, there may be a small problem with how FreshDirect selects their fruit. So much for their improvements of “Better Produce-get what’s great right now.”

To their credit, FreshDirect refunded the amount of the grapefruit to my credit card and issued me a coupon for $5. But it’s a pretty silly screwup. And it’s not the first time I’ve gotten the wrong produce from FreshDirect.

 Posted by at 11:15 pm

The most beautiful cookbook ever created?

 food  No Responses »
Oct 162008
 

Alinea cookbook
Today, I received my copy of the Alinea cookbook by Grant Achatz. Mr. Achatz may currently be the most innovative chef in the United States, if not the world. The New Yorker wrote an in-depth profile of him in its innovation issue, and there is no question that his life makes for a compelling story even if you do not find his food intriguing.

I have not had the opportunity of dining at Alinea. Not only is it very expensive and difficult to get into, but also it is located in Chicago. However, there is no question that his cookbook is one of the most beautiful cookbooks I have ever seen.

The food at Alinea could be described as “molecular gastronomy.” But I believe that does a disservice to the food. Cooks throughout time have always been willing to work with new equipment and “exotic” ingredients, and Mr. Achatz is no exception. From a first glance, the most difficult elements of the Alinea cookbook for the home cook are not the generally unavailable ingredients or the unfamiliar equipment, but the intricate nature of the recipes. Just flipping through the book shows recipes that are composed of six or seven sub-recipes before a final assembly step. This goes far beyond the many layered approach of French sauces.

The Alinea cookbook is beautiful. I pre-ordered the cookbook through the Alinea Mosaic website; the pre-orders generated the funds to allow the bood to be produced. As an added bonus, the pre-ordered cookbooks are signed and numbered.

Here are a couple of quick snapshots of the new cookbook.
Alinea cookbook Alinea cookbook Alinea cookbook Alinea cookbook Alinea cookbook Alinea cookbook Alinea cookbook Alinea cookbook
I have not cooked anything from the Alinea cookbook yet, but I am looking forward to trying one or two recipes. (It would be like playing a round of golf after receiving instructions from Tiger Woods.) Regardless if my attempts to cook anything from the Alinea cookbook are successful, I’m looking forward to reading Alinea at Home, a blog by Carol Blymire. Ms. Blymire’s last project was cooking every recipe in the French Laundry cookbook, which she documented at French Laundry at Home. She just finished her last recipe from that cookbook, the Cornets signature dish.

If you get a chance, definitely check out this cookbook.

Finally, in the it’s a small world category, one of the essays at the start of the book is by Mark McClusky. We worked together when he was at Sports Illustrated several years ago.

 Posted by at 12:37 am

Dogmatic first thoughts

 food, New York  No Responses »
Oct 162008
 

Dogmatic store front
This past Monday, Dogmatic, street vendor turned fast food restaurant, opened on 17th Street in the former Mandler’s space off of Union Square. Mandler’s was a fast food store that served high end sausages, fries, and beers. Unfortunately, their food did not match their aspirations, the store always looked dirty, and the prices were a bit too high. Dogmatic is a new sausage store billing themselves as the “Gourmet Sausage System.” And they don’t disappoint.

The sausages at Dogmatic are served with a variety of sauces, but their bread steals the show. Rather than a standard hot dog bun, or even a fancy Chicago-style poppy-seed roll, Dogmatic uses French bread-style loaves. Each loaf is cut in half and shoved on a spike. The spike has two functions: it warms the bread and makes a nice receptacle for the sausage and sauce. I’ve tried a couple of sausage so far; my favorite combination is the beef sausage with the truffle-Gruyere sauce. (Don’t spill the sauce on your shirt–it is embarrassing, especially when your coworkers don’t tell you that you’ve spilled and you walk around all day with a splotch of Gruyere on your shirt like a nimrod.)

Dogmatic costs more than your typical dirty water dog stand–a sausage costs around $4.50. However, compared with nearby Chop’t (salad for $12), or other restaurants (sushi for $15), Dogmatic is a bargain. And I think the bread alone is worth the cost. Also, vegetarians (and those of us who have had their fill of sausage) have a very nice option: Dogmatic prepares grilled asparagus as a sausage substitute.

If you are in the neighborhood and want a quick bite to eat, Dogmatic is worth visiting.
Dogmatic store front
(Dogmatic sausage with horseradish mustard sauce: if you love strong mustard and horseradish, you will love this sauce. For everyone else, it might be a bit too strong.)

 Posted by at 12:17 am

Carpe Diem, New York City edition

 food, friends, liquor, music, New York  2 Responses »
Sep 282008
 

I had a fantastic weekend and took advantage of quite a bit of what the city had to offer.

The weekend started out with Dance. Friday evening, I met my friend Mary and her father and we went to see my friend Kristen perform in Sawdust Palace at Dance Theater Workshop. The piece, by Susan Marshall & Company, was a fun and entertaining 80-minute set of 20 dances. Kristen and her fellow dancers are extremely talented. The pieces were sensual and athletic. Some pieces were whimsical, while others were heart-rending. It was a great set of shows, and I wish they had more performances. That being said, they had a grueling schedule of six shows in four days; Friday and Saturday had back-to-back shows at 7:30 and 10.

After the dance, Mary, her father, and I went to Brooklyn and had some light dinner and drinks at Clover Club on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens. I had a “Gin-Gin Mule,” a tall gin drink with ginger, and an Anejo Mole Old-Fashioned. The Old Fashioned was made with tequila and flavored with mole seasonings; even though it sounds nothing like a traditional Old Fashioned, it managed to incorporate non-traditional ingredients while still remaining true to the spirit of the original drink. (I apologize in advance if I mangled the names of the drinks.)

Mary headed home, and I wandered towards my house down Smith Street. A few doors down from Clover Club is Char No. 4. I decided to stop in for a quick nightcap. Char No. 4 features over 150 whiskeys, including scotches, bourbons, and ryes. I decided to have a 2-ounce pour of Wild Turkey Single Barrel. It’s a very strong bourbon at approximately 100 proof, so I had it with a bit of water and a couple of cubes of ice. To further cut the heat of the alcohol, I ate a small order of deep-fried cheese curds with pimento sauce. Deep fried cheese and hard liquor? Not the worst end to a fun evening. I have two suggestion for Char No. 4, one silly and one serious. It would be nice if the strength of the alcohols were listed on the menu. And it would be nice if they had poutine. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out which idea is serious and which idea is silly.

Saturday morning, I got up bright and early to prepare brunch with my friends Harri and Kristiina. I always have fun making brunch, and this was no exception. In addition to fresh pastries from Almondine and berries from the farmer’s market, I also prepared Eggs Florentine and fresh homemade biscuits. It’s gotten easier to prepare brunch the more times that I do it. I’ve realized that the key to poached eggs is that they can be prepared ahead of time and kept in water before serving. (Thanks Mastering the Art of French Cooking!) This allows everything to come together very quickly. Also, fresh spinach, while a pain to clean thoroughly, is easy to prepare and tasty. This was my first time making biscuits for guests. I used cake flour. While it made for a very nice tender crumb, the biscuits did not rise as much as I would have liked. I think I will try all-purpose flour next.

Saturday evening, I met up with Betsy. We started the evening by going to Los Dos Molinos for dinner. They are a good New Mexican restaurant. It’s a bit pricey, but the food is very good with a fair amount of heat. It was also the perfect location for the next stop on our itinerary….

After dinner, we headed down Irving Place to the clumsily named The Fillmore at Irving Plaza. After waiting around for thirty minutes or so, we saw an opening act by Shawn Mullins. If you don’t recognize the name, you would certainly recognize his music; for example, check out this video of Lullaby.

The main event of the evening was a performance by Dar Williams. Dar is on tour in conjunction with her latest album release, Promised Land. She performed at one of the first concerts I attended when I first moved to New York City. I remember going to shows of hers at the Bottom Line and Town Hall. I really admire her, and once stood in line after a show to get her autograph on an album. She now lives in New York State very close to my friends Phil and Karen. Below are two shaky, poorly recorded clips from the show; in one she is performing Spring Street and in the other she other she is performing As Cool As I Am. You can really hear the crowd singing along during As Cool As I Am.


Dar has such a great energy, and it was clear that she loved performing in New York City. I’m really happy that I was able to catch her performing again.

Betsy and I stopped by The House for a quick drink after the show. In the future, I would not order a cocktail here; I ordered an Old Fashioned and received a very odd watered-down drink that tasted like it was made with muddled lemons and cherries and no added sugar. Betsy had a perfectly decent glass of Moscato D’asti. We were both going to switch drinks, but our waiter misunderstood us and brought another round. The twist on the evening was that I was charged extra for Maker’s Mark without requesting a premium liquor. Despite the odd drinking experience, the wine list and menu look very nice. It’s also a very elegant space, and I would love to check it out on another occasion.

I was looking for a fairly calm day on Sunday. I spent most of the day poking around on the computer and reading Elements of ML Programming, and then I met up with my friend Anne for Chinese food and soup dumplings. The default, and arguably best, choice for soup dumplings in New York City is Joe’s Shanghai. We enjoyed a terrific meal of soup dumplings, shrimp, and eggplant. Joe’s always has speedy and attentive service, and the food is terrific. (When my friend Andrew was visiting town, it was one of only three restaurants we went to in a city full of excellent restaurants.) After a nice late lunch, we walked through Chinatown and picked up some ice cream at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. I had lemon sorbet.

We walked around a bit; the day was surprisingly hot and muggy. (I wish I had worn shorts.) At the South Street Seaport, I was able to scope out my apartment from the Manhattan side of the East River before taking the subway back to Brooklyn Heights.

Overall, I had an amazing weekend. It was the kind of weekend that reminds me why I love New York City.

 Posted by at 10:02 pm

NY Times Dining section starts continuous publishing

 food, technology  1 Response »
Sep 162008
 

Weekly sections in newspapers have generally run their content on a weekly cycle. (Hence the name “weekly.”) The New York Times has just made the decision to start publishing content for their Dining section on a continuous basis. It’s fairly exciting, and it’s great to see a newspaper like The New York Times adapt to a continuous publishing cycle.

 Posted by at 6:11 pm

Brunch

 Brooklyn, food  No Responses »
Sep 102008
 

My friends Peter and Val stopped by my apartment for brunch this past Saturday. I enjoy having friends over for brunch on the weekends. It’s a great way to start the day: I get up early to straighten up the house and clean; I cook a nice meal with friends; we all enjoy a leisurely meal with nice drinks; and we still have the rest of the day to enjoy.

Peter and Sam
I tend to make and gather an excessive amount of food for brunch. You can see Peter and I sitting before the brunch table. We enjoyed croissants, beignets, and French bread from Almondine, an assortment of jellies and jams, eggs benedict, grapes, melon and prosciutto, raspberries and blackberries, prosecco, bloody marys, coffee, and orange juice.

Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict can be a bit difficult to make. The hardest part is trying to make sure everything comes together at the same time, especially when you are preparing the dish for multiple people. I’ve written about making Eggs Benedict before. One item I should note: fresh eggs are very important for this dish. Not only do they taste better, but preparing the poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce is much easier with fresh eggs.

Despite the challenges in preparing Eggs Benedict, it is worth it: this is a luxurious dish. It’s easy to make vegetarian- and kosher-friendly: just swap out the Canadian Bacon for cooked spinach (Eggs Florentine) or salmon. It’s not possible to make this dish vegan-friendly.

Almondine in Brooklyn, NY
Well before my friends arrived at my house, I took a walk down to Almondine in Dumbo. The baker at Almondine is Hervé Poussot, formerly a pastry chef at Le Bernardin. The story of Almondine is that it was opened with Jacques Torres of Jacques Torres Chocolate. (His store is across the street.)

Almondine has the best croissants in Brooklyn if not all of New York City. The breads, pastries, and cakes are also amazing. I have only been to a handful of bakeries that compare to Almondine. If you are in DUMBO, I definitely recommend stopping by there, and if you are not in DUMBO, it’s well worth the trip.

Brunch with friends is always a lot of fun. I’ve made these dishes for other friends as well, and I’m always happy to have people over.

[Thanks Val for sending me photos of Peter and the food!]

 Posted by at 9:12 am

Aged eggnog

 food, liquor  5 Responses »
Aug 152008
 

It’s been a while since there have been photos posted on the blog. I’m still taking photos, but unfortunately I haven’t had the time to edit, crop, and post the photos. Until now!

Before I left for New Orleans, I decided to make aged eggnog. I used the recipe for Best Eggnog from chow.com. What’s the difference between aged eggnog and regular eggnog? Like a traditional eggnog recipe, it’s made with fresh eggs. Unlike a traditional recipe, aged eggnog is aged for at least three weeks and up to a year.

Intuitively, we may think that uncooked eggs, cream, and milk will go bad after a significant amount of time even if refrigerated. In eggnog, the eggs, cream, and milk are mixed with quite a large amount of alcohol–the final alcohol content is well over 20%. This prevents the eggs, cream, and milk from going bad. The liquids continue to blend as they age, and the alcohol denatures the other elements. However, the exact chemical reactions are unclear to me.

(As an extra safety element, I took the precaution of thoroughly sanitizing the storage jar I used to store the eggnog. Given that the final mixture is highly alcoholic, I think this was probably an unnecessary caution. But it couldn’t hurt.)

I decided to start with some of the best possible ingredients available.
eggnog ingredients
I wasn’t sure exactly what liquors to use, so I reached out the Lenell Smothers of Lenell’s in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Lenell is an expert when it comes to all things alcohol. Her store is famous for its enormous selection of American Whiskey (especially Bourbon) and exotic liquors. It’s worth a trip to Red Hook; in fact, it’s worth a trip to New York City if you don’t live here.

Lenell and I discussed the eggnog before making selections. I didn’t want to go with any liquors that were extremely expensive or with an overly strong flavor that would overwhelm the eggnog. We decided on Wild Turkey Bourbon, Old New Orleans Rum, and Prunier VS Cognac. All three have rich, complementary flavors. In the photo, you’ll also notice a photo of Jack Daniels. The eggnog requires a bit more whiskey than a single bottle of Wild Turkey, so I added a bit of Jack Daniels to complete the liter. I don’t think it will be a problem.

I picked up milk and cream from Ronnybrook at the farmers market in Union Square. Ronnybrook is a farm in Hudson Valley; they produce some of the best milk, cream, and butter I have ever tasted or used. One of the reasons why their products taste so good is that they do not use ultra-high pasteurization. Their milk is still pasteurized, but their pasteurization takes longer to process and bottle and does not have as long as a shelf life. The eggnog was made the same day I purchased the cream and milk.

The eggs are from Knoll Krest Farms in Clinton Corners, NY. Like Ronnybrook, they also set up a stand in Union Square Farmers Market. I picked up a dozen eggs from them the same day I made the eggnog.
A dozen egg yolks
The eggs from Knoll Krest Farms were fresh. Really fresh. Separating eggs when they are fresh is a breeze, and I went through a dozen eggs in no time. (I ended up breaking one egg yolk, which is why there are only 11 yolks in the photo.)
A dozen eggs separated
I had a bunch of egg whites left over, so I had a couple of egg white sandwiches for breakfast in the next few mornings.

Egg yolks and sugar
The first step of the eggnog after separating the eggs was blending it with two cups of Domino’s granulated sugar. As you can see from the photo, the sugar significantly lightens the color of the egg yolks.

Egg yolks, milk, and cream
Then I added the milk, cream, and a pinch of salt to the eggnog. I had to switch to a larger bowl. You can also see the setup for what came next: the bottling funnel helped me get the eggnog mixture into the jar.

Eggnog
The finished eggnog perfectly filled my jar. A bunch of liquor was left over; it won’t go to waste. I wrapped the jar in foil and put it in the back of the refrigerator. (I’m not sure the foil is necessary, but again, I’m trying to follow the recipe.)

I’m keeping the eggnog in the back of my refrigerator; I check it every week or so. I’m not sure if the eggnog needs to be refrigerated at all due to the high alcohol content, but I want to stick to the recipe at least once before playing around with it.

Eggnog
One week after preparation there’s nothing strange growing in the eggnog and it looks pretty darn good. The mixture smells wonderful and it is staying homogenized.

I plan on serving the eggnog near the end of the year. I’m not sure if I will serve it over ice or straight up, but on request I will top it with whipped egg whites and nutmeg. Only four months to go!

 Posted by at 12:06 am
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