STL food bloggers potluck!

This pretty pretty picture of my mini meatloaf cupcakes was taken by Jonathan Pollack at a potluck he and his wife, Stef from Cupcake Project, generously hosted at their home on Sunday. Jonathan is a wonderful photographer with a camera set-up that gives me major lens-envy. Check out his site! Hire him!

So yes, I made the famous meatloaf cupcakes. Pretty much the same as here. I did make some colorful mashed potatoes for little extra pizazz...one batch was orange, made by adding lots of paprika, and one batch was bright yellow, made using turmeric and saffron. As always, they were delightful.

The potluck was fun! I got to meet a whole bunch of fellow food bloggers from the area. A great group of peeps, though I admit I didn't get to talk to everybody. I did get the buffet line going, though...


That dish I am lunging eagerly for has some potato flatbreads that Nupur from One Hot Stove made. She had a curry sauce and several fixin's to go with them. Man those were good. (EDITED TO ADD: Nupur sent me the link to her blog entry on how to make these glorious nibbles. In her e-mail, she adds: "But I posted this recipe such a long time ago, and the way I make it now is a little different :) The patties that I made had a little turmeric, ginger and garlic in addition to the ingredients mentioned. The curry- I skipped the tamarind and jaggery (unrefined sugar) because I served the chutney on the side.") I could have eaten them all night. Except there was so much other awesome food to eat, too...including some amazing desserts. I guess you'd expect as much from a gathering of food bloggers, huh? Still...I needed another stomach. For real. For instance, check out Kelly's Tyler's Ultimate mac & cheese. Barbaric Gulp indeed! Also, you can see more of Jonathan's photos from the evening (they'll make you drool) by going to his website and entering the code FOODBLOG in the box below.

Here's a list of all the blogs representin' at the potluck (Oh geez I hope I got everybody...please yell at me if you were there and I failed to give a shout out):

smith family recipes -Margaret recaps the potluck, and here's the recipe for her dish, the fabulous "Unnamed Italian Dish."

sounding my barbaric gulp -Kelly's recap and recipe for her dish, Tyler's Ultimate mac & cheese.

the kitchen at serafina studios -Kristen & Gabriel put some photos and such of the potluck up here.

resourceful living

miss food snob -Amy posts her lemon tart recipe here.

ZiNur -Natalia's coconut rum cake was a huge hit...like marriage-worthy. Here's her recipe for this "Bienmesabe."

show me vegan -Lisa brought Orzo with Roasted vegetables!

i digress...

becky and the beanstock

one hot stove -Nupur, as mentioned above, made divine ragda patties. She writes a bit more about the potluck in this post, after some awesome-looking "dosas" which I need to try. now. Also, notice one of my favorite photos from the night...the date-tamarind chutney being poured (by moi!) onto a ragda patty. Money shot!

everybody loves cheese

veggie venture

cupcake project -Stef made yummy-shmummy lavender cupcakes.

stl today's recipe exchange

It was fantastic to meet everyone. I hope we do stuff like this more often. Please check out these blogs. they rule the Lou!

Squeeeee Take 2...An evening with Trevor Corson

Last night I got yet another chance to meet an author of a favorite food book. Yet another chance to act like a spaz, not unlike my experience meeting Micheal Ruhlman. But, hey is it my fault that the writers of these very interesting and informative and fun-to-read books also happen to be handsome men with adorable hair? Can you blame me?

Last night Trevor Corson was in town, doing a sort of sit-down/reading/talk at the Kitchen Conservatory. Trevor (yeah, we're totally on a first name basis now) is the author of The Zen of Fish, a fantastic book all about sushi, which I wrote about as part of my Summer Reading series here. He also wrote a book called The Secret Life of Lobsters, which I will be reading soon...because who can resist lobster erotica, really?


Pardon my haircut...I knew it was bad, but good lord! Oh, and as another aside, I have to admit something. All the way up until Sunday mroning, when I decided to watch some of the videos on his website (you must check out the lobster porn stand-up), I thought Trevor was Australian. I have no idea where I go that notion. Perhaps because one of the main stars of his book is an intense aussi named Zoran? Or was it because he just looks Australian (whatever that means)? And his name...Trevor Corson...seems that it should be pronounced with an Australian accent? No? So anyway, he's from D.C. I R SMRT.

It was a neat little gathering...a small group of about 15 people gathered around a table with Trevor, eating some yummy seafood dishes and talking sushi! He told us all about the very fascinating history of sushi. It was all stuff he covered in the book, for the most part, but I still found myself learning a lot. The book is almost a reference book, it is so packed with info, but somehow, it reads like a fun novel. That describes the evening well, too. There is so much to know about sushi...the history, the techniques, the fish, the rice, the etiquette...and Trevor was funny and engaging and relaxed talking about all of it. I wish I would have taken notes or something, so I could better list some of the fun things we talked about...vomit rice, the Japanese word for orgasm, how a ban of fire helped the rise of sushi, the very unfortunate sex life of the eel, drunk monks, non-Japanese sushi chefs, omakase, gaining your sushi chef's respect....and much much more.

I guess you'll just have to read the book.

SRSLY. you should read it. How can you say no to those smiling faces?

More info on my new buddy Trevor:
On NPR
Interview on Serious Eats
Essay on how he came to write a book on Sushi
The Scrawling Claw, Trevor's blog
Lisa Hall, a friend of Trevor's from his lobster days who designs and makes jsewelry from seaglass. She made the bling you always see him wearing in photos. Pretty!

EDITED TO ADD: Trevor blogged about his trip to the STL and the honor of meeting me here!

Awesome apple pie, Awesome St. Louis bloggers

Today is National Pie Day. Not to be confused with Pi Day, which is March 14th (3/14...git it?). Though both Pie and Pi are things that tend to make my brain hurt a smidge. Baking?!?! Math?!?! Yikes!

Sunday I got over one of those brain challenges, at least. Alanna from A Veggie Venture arranged a gathering of St. Louis area food bloggers at the Kitchen Conservatory in Clayton. Anne, who writes the blog for Kitchen Conservatory, was sweet enough to teach us all how to make an awesome apple pie from scratch. Also, Christi from Response Builders was there to offer advice on search engine optimization. Thanks so much Ladies!!

Roll Call! The STL bloggers in attendance were; Stefani from Cupcake Project (who was very disappointed to find out that the "f" in iron stef is a farce...I actually spell my name with a "ph" but chose "f" because it was more like "chef" visually....), Karen from Family Style Food, Bruno from Bruno's Dream (who also has blogged this event here), Natalia from ZiNur, Joe and Ann from St. Louis Eats and Drinks, and, of course, Alanna from Veggie Venture.

We didn't hesitate to get our hands dirty...well we washed them first, actually, but you know what I mean. We got to the pie crust making! Anne was a great teacher...very high energy. She was on us, making sure we remembered the main rule..."Cold Dough, Hot Oven!" and other pie crust details. Here are some things I learned that were eye-opening:

-When you cut the butter in the final result should be about dime-size lumps. This seems big, but don't worry...It's RIGHT!

-When you add the ICE water, using a gravy separator is perfect for pouring the water in without the ice chunks.

-The water should barely make the "dough" stick together. You shouldn't knead the dough, nor should you handle it much at all. The idea is to press the water and the other ingredients together gently. There will be crumbs left at the bottom of the bowl...that's okay.

-To figure out how many apples you'll need for your pie...see how many whole apples fit in the pie dish you are using. Voila!

-Don't be shy with dusting the flour on your work surface and the crust you are rolling out. You can brush it off with a pastry brush.

-Butter!!! butter in the crust, of course, but also, dabs of butter on top of the apple filling. Yup.


This Pie was good, people. REALLY good. The filling could have been less sweet, I think. I don't know who the heck put all that brown sugar in there *innocent puppy dog eyes* ...Anyway, the crust is crumbly and melt-in-your mouth. So good. Not too difficult to make, either. I will be requiring some new kitchen tools, though...Namely a pastry blender, a scraper thingy and a big Silpat. And perhaps a fairy duster...mainly for the name...

You can see the recipe and process for this wonderful pie-crust here on Alanna's other blog, Kitchen Parade. Also, Here is the whole apple pie recipe.

And with that, here are some photos of St. Louis bloggers hard at work:


Bruno and Anne Rollin'


Karen sprinkles Fairy Dust!


Stef, Karen, Alanna, Christi and Ann. Making a mess!


It's a plethora of pie pros!


Bruno flips!

It was great to meet all these other bloggers, finally. STL food bloogers rule! It was also great to learn such a wonderful skill, and to talk about the internets and the blogosphere with similar-minded people. I learned a lot, and got some new friends in the process.

lo bob! you have pie?

throwed rolls and hog jowls

Over the weekend a group of us trekked to Sikeston, MO in a rented van to eat at Lambert's Cafe. If you are not familiar, Lambert's is the "Home of the Throwed Rolls," meaning you better watch your head, and was named as The Number 1 place to pig out on the travel channel.

I had never been, but Jack has, and some other friends, so I knew the jist of it. Country food, flying fresh rolls and people walking around serving up a variety of sides. I was excited. In fact the Thursday before, Jack had stopped there while out of town for work and brought me home what was left of his chicken fried steak dinner (which was a lot). Yum!


Once seated, we all held our hands up ASAP to get some of those fresh hot rolls tossed to us. I waited patiently, sniffing my roll (OMG I could have that scent in my face all day...soooo good), for the sorghum guy to come around. I gave up, ate my delicious roll, had them throw me another one, and finally got sorghum on that roll. Sorghum is awesome. Like a molasses and honey hybrid. Sweet and rich.


Being the silly person I am, I decided to order something "weird" from the menu. So I chose "Hog Jowls." and item for which there was no description accept that they were sliced. Everyone thought I was crazy, until my plate showed up. It was pretty much a giant plate of BACON! Well, better than bacon...thick sliced and less salty. I got it with white beans (eh) and a baked sweet potato (which was good, but I only managed to take 2 or 3 bites of).


While we waited for our food, the Okra gal came around. Since we didn't have plates yet, we tore off a paper towel from the handy dandy built-in paper towel holder on our table, and she put a big hot pile of the crunchy morsels straight on that.


While i was still staring in awe at my plate of jowls and everyone Else's food, the fried potatoes and onions came around. Even though I really had no room on my plate, I had him slap some in the middle of my plate. Thank goodness I did because they were one of my favorite things of the night! Later, I also got black-eyed peas, which were also good...better than the white beans.




I felt like I ate and ate and ate. We were all so stuffed when we left, and we had leftovers! Even after sharing my jowls and eating as much as I could, I had 2 handfuls left! I also ordered Jack some fried chicken livers to go, since he couldn't make it that night. Holy cow! When you order something to go, they give you your order and the two side dishes, PLUS a container of all the pass-arounds and like 3 rolls! So a $9 chicken liver ended up being a feast for a family of 4. What a deal! And, yes I snuck a few of the livers and they are heaven.

What a fun little road trip! Totally worth it. The food was good, the atmosphere was tons of fun, and the place itself was very interesting. It's touristy, but it a fun laid-back way. My friend kept describing it as "Crackerbarrel on Crack," which is perfect! There are video games and the extremely addicting falling quarters game (you know the one...you drop in a quarter which in turn pushes other quarters over a ledge...how do they not fall?!?!), and great photo opps with all kinds of crazy antiques and signs and statues and such. Some of the decor is decidedly creepy, though...so just don't look up too much:


I'd totally make the drive again (about 2 - 2 1/2 hours from st. louis) for a good time and an over-stuffed belly.

christmas in the Lou...some gift ideas

A bunch of us STL food bloggers are putting together local gift lists. Here's mine. Check out links to the others' lists at the end.

Actual Factual Food-Most of these will be available at your local grocery store. Christmas shopping while grocery shopping? SWEET!

-An assortment of Volpi meats would be nice. You'll find the best selection at Volpi or a grocery store on the Hill, such as Viviano's, but I know that Schnucks carries a bunch, too.

-Candy from Crown Candy Kitchen. May I recommend the Heavenly Hash, the chocolate covered espresso beans and....okay anything chocolate. Their chocolate is scrumptious. As far as I know you can only get the candy at Crown Candy Kitchen, so make sure to enjoy a yummy lunch while you're there!

-The Hill is known for it's Italian fare, and some of that can be recreated with jarred sauces that are available at your local grocery store. Sauces such as A Taste of the Hill line, and Rigazzi's restaurant's sauce.

-Fitz's Root Beer is made here, and you could make a fun little gift by getting an assortment of flavors...they have cream soda, orange, cola...or just the classic root beer!

-St. Louis Beers! No, not AB (sorry loyalists...I just don't like any of it). Schlafly beers are some of my favorites, and are available all over, in many varieties which depend on the season. There are variety 12 packs, which are great. All you need to do is slap a bow onnit! O'Fallon Brewery, a little further out of St. Louis, but still quite local, makes some good stuff too.


St. Louis crafters!

-My good pal mamaphunk sells these adorable tiny pies at her etsy store.

-Destroyed by design has chocolate chip cookie necklaces and some other food pendants.

-STL style makes some hilarious only-a-local-will-get-it tees. This "the Hill" shirt with a toasted ravioli and one of the famous red white and green fire hydrants holding hands is hilarious! They also make gooey butter underwear, which I find hysterical, although most people I've mentioned it too think it's disgusting. Well, whatever tickles your gift-giving pickle.

-This St. Louis crafter makes really cute potholders and sells them on etsy.


St. Louis Food Books

-St. Louis food writers and fellow bloggers Joe and Anne Pollack have written several books on St. Louis food, including Beyond Toasted Ravioli and Beyond Gooey Butter Cake.

-St. Louis Flavors: the Loop will tell you about the history of the loop and has recipes from a bunch of the restaurants located there.

-the Midwest Corn fusion book would be fun for any corn lovers in your life.

-For the Food History buffs on your list, there are several neat options; The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark: Recipes for an Expedition, a book about what those famous adventurers ate while traveling westward. Pull Carts & Stalls: The Soulard Market History Cookbook, a good idea for those who love farmers markets, and Sweetness Preserved: The Story of the Crown Candy Kitchen, to go along with those candies!


Events

-Treat someone to classes at places such as the Wine and Cheese Place or The Wine Merchant. You can find a good list of upcoming wine classes/events here.

-Tickets to the St. Louis Food & Wine show at the Chase. It benefits the St. Louis Repertory Theatre and is a blast! I've been for the past few years. It gets bigger and bigger every year, with tons of vendors sampling wines and food. There are also demos and speakers.


Here are links to the other St. Louis food bloggers who are participating in this list-making blogging event. Check them out for other great STL gift ideas:
Bill Burge - stlbites.com
Anne Cori - Kitchen Conservatory
Ann Lemons - St. Louis Food & Drink
Alanna Kellogg - A Veggie Venture
Stefani - Cupcake Project
Also, STLHops has a list of gifts for St. Louis Beer lovers.

Only in the Lou

This morning there was a blurb on the local news about the anniversary of Hostess Sno-Balls. It seems my good ol' St. Louis eats the most sno-balls per capita of any city. Go STL! Oh, and to add to that victory, there was also a news story that we lead the nation in cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea!! awwww yeah. I don't know if the sno-balls and STDs are related in any way....

I am now inspired to write a post about the foods of St. Louis. This sounded like a good idea this morning...but the more I think about it and read about it and gather links about it....holy crap we have a lot to talk about! Here goes...

Toasted Ravioli. A staple in most restaurants in the area. Bars, too. "Toasted" ravioli is pretty much deep-fried meat-filled ravioli. There seems to be several people who claim responsibility for inventing it. Was it an accident? Was it pure genius? I don't know. I do know that there are some miserable examples out there. In most places, actually, what you get is tough, boring, made-from-frozen fried junk. It's bar food, for the most part. I'm not a big eater of these guys...I don't order them usually, but I have had some wonderful toasted ravioli. They were wonderful because they were made from scratch and you could tell. The pasta was tender and slightly chewy, the filling was moist and flavorful...these do have the potential to be outstanding. Here's the Recipe from Charlie Gittos, one of the restaurants that claims to be the originator. Actually, the yummy ones I was talking about above were from a place in St. Chuck..Fratelli's on Zuhmbel...Yes, Fratelli's, just like the Goonies bad guys :)

Frozen Custard. I'm pretty sure this is not a St. Louis invention, per se, but we certainly are passionate about it. Specifically, St. Louisans are loyal to Ted Drewes Frozen custard, and his famous "concretes." I have to admit I don't venture there all that often. Of course it's delicious. Sadly, Serious Eats doesn't totally agree (let's blame the travel time, shall we?).

Gooey Butter Cake. So St. Louis. All the bakeries here make it. And yes, it is fantastic. Gooey? Good. Butter? Good. Cake? Good. This article has a bit of history, Paula Deen's recipe (not a St. Louisan, but she's so liberal with the butter that you gotta love it.) It's seems pretty simple, using cake mix...)and some variations.

Gus's Pretzels. I know pretzels are not a STL thing. But Gus's is known by everyone here. Do other cities have guys in busy intersections selling pretzel sticks? And if they do, are they popular? Doubt it. But here, they are a tradition for many families. My Uncle and his brothers get a bunch before every trivia night (another St. Louis activity). They even have Salsiccia and Bratwurst INSIDE a pretzel! Brilliant!

Pork Steaks. Pork Butts are more often used for pulled pork sandwiches in this country's BBQing communities. In St. Louis, it is sliced into pork steaks. And simmered in Maul's sauce. Even if you don't agree with the method of smothering and simmering your frilled pork in sauce, you have to agree that the pork steak is a versatile, flavorful cut of pork. Lots of fat=lots of flavor. And it's effing cheap!

The Slinger. Oh, should I be ashamed i have never tried a slinger of any sort? A slinger is a late-night meal usually consisting of eggs, hash browns and hamburger all covered with chili, cheese and onions. So, basically, all the worst things you can do to your heart on one plate! Kinda the perfect food after a few too many, I'd guess. I always crave crap like this the morning after...I'm just usually too lazy to go out and get it. There was an article about the slinger recently, it's history and how several up-scale restaurants here are making their own versions.

Provel ™ cheese. Love it or hate it, Provel is strictly STL. Not many people outside of here have heard of it. Apparently it was created specifically for St. Louis style pizza (discussed next!), to melt quickly and cut cleanly (no stretchy-cheese chin burns!). I used to HATE the stuff (I have never been able to stomach Velveeta or Kraft singles...which are the same kind of consistency), but I have grown to like the pizza it's on...so I won't curse it to heck or anything. Just keep it off my salads and antipasto trays, please.

St. Louis Style Pizza. Thin, unleavened crust, Provel cheese and square slices is what sets out pizza apart from others. Some say it's an aquired taste, but there are so many awesome versions of it around town that you are bound to find one you like. I grew up with Faraci's pizza in Ferguson. And actually, I wasn't too fond of it as a kid, much preferring (blech!) Little Ceasars (Pizza!PIzza!). As a grown up I look forward to getting the opportunity to have Faraci's. Besides bringing back wonderful memories, it is really delicious pizza. Of course, most of the time I just settle for Imo's, the most wide-spread and popular St. Louis pizza chain, because they are always nearby and they deliver. My favorite toppings for Imo's are Bacon, or Anchovies and Red Onions. These entries in Urban Dictionary dot com are pretty hilarious, though I feel the urge to defend my hometown's pie.

St. Paul Sandwich. Around the age of 18-19 I worked at a Chinese restaurant for a couple summers. I could not understand why people would order the St. Paul Sandwich. It's an egg-foo young (egg, bean sprouts and onion, with your choice of meat...often pork..) with pickles, mayo, lettuce and tomato on white bread. They were quite popular. Like the Slinger, I see this as an "I had too much" food. Greasy, quick and satisfying. There must be something right about it, since it appeared in PBS's show "Sandwiches You Will Love." Maybe I'll try it again someday. After a late night out or something.

Brain Sandwich. Does anybody know the best place to get one of these? i know it's a South City thing, right? I really want to try one.

When Alton Brown came to town for his show Feasting on Asphalt, he went to a bunch of family-owned donut places. Until seeing the episode, I was not aware that we were known for our donuts. The show prompted these guys to do a donut bike tour of the city. Awesome! Another reason I need to get a bike.

That's all I got for now. I'd love for my fellow St. Louis food bloggers to chime it. What's your favorite pizza? Where should I get my first brain sandwich? Do you eat Slingers and St. Pauls? Toasted Ravioli...boring? Did I miss anything?

And for your lucky visitors, please keep these food treasures in mind. It's our history and culture, and it's pretty interesting. If you want to start a conversation here, any of these items is sure to spark something (although natives usually start conversations with the question "where did you go to highschool"...that won't work for out-of-towners...)

For more on this lovely Gateway to the West, check out my "local links" section over there in the Right column, and my posts tagged "local."

Go CardsBluesRams!

squeeeeee...ahem, I mean...a night with Ruhlman

Sorry about my lame excuse for a post yesterday. You see, all day I was a bit distracted. Because Last night I was attending a cooking class. At the Viking School. With MICHAEL RUHLMAN!!!

See?

that's me and Ruhlman, for goodness petes sake! And if I kind of look like a spaz, it's because i kind of was acting like one a little. I mean, he's one of my favorite writers. Soul of a Chef opened my eyes to so many things about the world of chefs and is so inspiring. It would be one of the first books I'd recommend to anyone. Also? He's been on 2 Bourdain shows. And you guys know how I love me some Bourdain :)

So anyway, the demo was pretty neat. He's doing these to promote his new book The Elements of Cooking, which is "an opinionated food glossary from a writer and cook who knows better than most what the hell he's talking about."(from Anthony Bourdain's Introduction in the book.)So the demo consisted of a meal made using some basic yet very refined and important techniques. First he went over how to cure your own bacon, which I am totally doing ASAP. He used the bacon for lardons on a salad, which also included discussions on how to boil an egg properly, shallots, and knife skills. He also went over chicken stock, roux, roasting shallots, sauteeing mushrooms, making fresh pasta, chocolate ganache and choux dough. And you know what? I wanna do it all! And? I'm confident I can, now.

Did I mention how handsome Mr. Ruhlman is in person?


(sorry, I may lapse into silly fangirl mode throughout this post)

Anywho, if he's coming to a city near you and you're a fledgling home cook like myself, spring for the class. It's totally cool...informative, informal, intimate and perhaps some other words that begin with "i." If he's not coming to your locale, at least go get the Elements of Cooking. Everyone's doing it! It's getting (deservedly) positive reviews from all over the place. The best place to read all about the book is on Ruhlman's own blog, where he links to reviews, talks about writing the book and gives his promotional schedule. I've read only the first 12 pages or so. They are packed with info, and I'll probably be rereading parts of this book forever. It's a reference book, but a fun-to-read one.


Speaking of awesome Ruhlman reference books, I also purchased a copy of Charcuterie, which Michael co-wrote with a chef he met writing Soul of a chef, Brian Poclyn. A book about curing your own meat and making your own sausage? Who has the time and skill to do that? Actually, reading the book, it's not as intimidating as it seems. Take the bacon. A simple dry cure and a pork belly. Refrigerate, smoke or bake at a low temp...voila. YOU MADE FREAKING BACON! And making pancetta is not many more steps than that. I don't have any sort of meat grinder, but I see that as my next big step in the kitchen...well a kitchen-aid with grinder attachment, at least.


I had him sign Charcuterie for me. I'm so glad he mentioned sausage. Now I have to make some. I feel like it's expected of me.


Elements RAWKS!

So, yeah, I had two books for Ruhlman to sign, plus one for a friend. And I was probably smiling like a crazy person the whole time I talked to him. He didn't seem to mind, though. SUCH a nice guy. Gracious and friendly and genuine.

There were some distractions, so I may have missed stuff, but I'm sure the Elements book will fill me in...there were also a couple of other St. Louis food bloggers there that I got to meet. Mike from STL Hops, a great beer blog, and Bill from STL Bites, a fantastic general food blog. Great guys, and hopefully they will post about the Ruhlman demo soon ;)

One of the distractions was getting to eat the food he was demo-ing. First we had a Lardon salad with spinach and arugula, with hard-boiled egg and shallots. I didn't get a photo of my salad :( The main course was "Blanquette de Poulet with Fresh Noodles, Sauteed Mushrooms, Roasted Shallots, Gremolata." This was a combo of the basic stock, roux, fresh pasta, and roasting. Yum:

Dessert was "Cinnamon-Sugar Choux Doughnuts with Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce," incoprprating ganache-making, choux dough-making and frying:


I'll leave you with some of my notes I took during the class...in other words, things I learned (not that this is everything I learned...just some stuff I had written down):

-After you cure your own bacon (can you tell I'm a bit excited about this?), you need to cut off the skin. Don't waste it, though! you can add it to stocks!!

-When you are making a roux, a good way to tell it's done is that it will smell like a pie crust.

-Take out the "germ" of your garlic cloves (the green middle thingy) if you are using a garlic press or if you are mincing garlic for a recipe ahead of time. There is an enzyme in there that will give your garlic a bitter taste. If you are mincing it with a knife or grating it right before cooking it, you don't have to worry about because the heat will negate this effect.

-When making stock, it should not boil or even simmer. You can bring it up to heat and put it in a low oven for hours until it's done. Also, add the veggies and aromatics towards the end so they don't get mushy/spongy and make the stock cloudy.

-A "Liaison" is a thickener made from eggs and cream. EDIT: Whoops. I've been in formed that "a liaison has minimal thickening powers, what it gives the sauce is an incomparable texture." I knew I was distracted during that part of the demo.

-When rolling pasta, let it rest in between each roll.

-"choux" dough can be used for cream puffs (baked), doughnuts (fried) and even boile in water to make Parisian gnocchi.

So, there you go. I met Michael Ruhlman, and I'm still glowing like a geeky schoolgirl meeting her favorite backstreet boy. Seriously, though? this is a writer ya'll should read. In fact, I better get off this machine and read some more.

ETA: Ian from the RFT's blog gut check has posted about the Ruhlman Viking demo here and here.

ETA more: Bill Burge of STL Bites finally got his recap of the Ruhlman Viking show up! I'm glad he said something about the food we were served. I wasn't gonna complain, but I was underwhelmed by the execution (cold pasta, skin on one of my lardons no cinnamon sugar on the choux donuts...). Still a great experience, and I learned alot, and I know when I make these things at home they will be fab.

Jerk!

The other day I went to get some lunch at a place I've wanted to try for a while. It's a Jamaican restaurant near where I live called Jamaica Irie. A small place tucked away in a strip mall, with Bob Marley posters all over the walls and Reggae pumping over the sound system. I tried to order the Ackee and Saltfish, but the guy said he has trouble getting ackee in anymore. Darn. It would have been fun to try a completely new food. Oh well. So I decided on the Jerk chicken.

I soon got over my ackee disappointment when I saw my lunch. A large portion of chicken, mostly the thigh and leg, bone-in, with a dark, fragrant coating on it, a huge pile of beans and rice, a little salad with some spicy looking dressing on it and a few slices of fried plantain.




The chicken was sooooo good. A good amount of heat with a bit of cinnamon flavor, and very moist (yay for skin-on bone-in cooking!!). The rice was flavorful as well. I thought there could be more beans, but that's probably just because I love beans way too much. The salad had good flavor, but I'm not a fan of iceberg lettuce. Still, it was a nice cool crunch contrast to the chicken. The fried plantains were sweet...a good accompaniment to the savory spicy chicken and rice. It was a comforting meal, yet still unique and new (to me). I'll definitely be visiting again. I'm excited to try the goat curry and the oxtail stew! Meanwhile, here's a good Jamaican recipe site with photos.

Classic St. Louis

For my vacation, since I was not going out of town, I asked around as to where I should visit as a tourist in my own city, St. Louis. Several people told me I had to go to Crown Candy Kitchen and Carl's Drive-In. I've wanted to go to Crown for some time now, but I had never heard of Carl's (although once I got there I realized I had passed by it many many times...for shame!).


I went to Carl's with my mom. Warned that it was crazy busy at lunchtime, we went a little later in the afternoon when it was down time. We saddled up to the small counter and placed our orders. A cheeseburger, fries and small root beer float for my mom and a tamale, onion rings and large float for yours truly. The place is tiny. there's a counter with about 6 stools on one side, and the same on the other, each side only accessible by it's individual door from the outside. In the middle is where the magic happens. The cook prepares your food there right in front of you, while the waitress pours your root beer from the big barrel which is the center of the whole place. Did I mention that they make they're own root beer? Well they do. It's the original IBC recipe, and they make the syrup every morning. Awesome.


Here's my meal at Carl's. My favorite was the root beer float. I could drink that all day. The tamale was good, too. Everything was served on little paper or Styrofoam plates with plastic utensils. I don't think that's very environmentally friendly, but I don't think a place like Carl's worries about it too much.


A close-up of my tamale. Chili, cheese, deliciousness.


my mom's cheeseburger. She let me have a bite. So good. Notice the crispy edges. They really smoosh those patties on the hot griddle. My mom said she should have gotten a double. Next time. She also turned down my offer to get a Curly-Q dog to share. I'll have to get one next time...I asked the cook what exactly a Curly-Q dog is..."Deep-fried hot dog." Whoa.


A couple days later, my aunt, cousin, grandma and I headed to Crown Candy Kitchen. Such a neat place. OLD. With great tin ceilings, dark, well-worn wooden floors, and small uncomfortable booths. I was told I should get the BLT. So I did. It was more like a BBBBBBBLT. So much Bacon! So much yumminess.


Here's my meal at Crown. Seems simple, served with potato chips and a pickle half, but it was really tasty and made me feel warm and fuzzy. Perhaps it was the atmosphere of the old candy/ice cream shop, or the fact that I was enjoying this experience with some of my favorite people.


Or perhaps it was all the BACON!!


For desert I had the Crown Sundae, which has pretty much the best caramel and chocolate sauces you'll ever have. The chocolate, especially was soooo good...really rich and flavorful.

On my way out of Crown, I got some of their famous candy, of course. Chocolate covered espresso beans, chocolate covered raisins and heavenly hash. They make the chocolate there, of course, and man, is it good chocolate. I wish I would have gotten more to last a little longer, but I guess I'll just have to visit more often.

I can't believe I grew up here and had never been to either of these places! They are both like stepping into time-machines. Not cheesy theme-restaurant faked time machines. You can feel, taste and smell the history. And you can get some good eats at the same time. I highly recommend visitors and residents go to both of these places. I also recommend being a tourist in YOUR own city. Every place has somewhere that tells a great story.

Russian to eat

Yesterday I had a vacation day and spent the morning doing fun things with my mom. For lunch I talked her into trying something neither of us had had before, Russian food. There is this Russian buffet I've always wanted to check out called Astoria Russian Bistro. So we went.

We were the only ones in there, but I don't understand why because the food was really good. Hopefully they do better business for dinner service or something. I know I'll be returning. There was an advantage to the slow business day...our waitress walked us through everything on the buffet! Yeah, the service was very friendly and fast.

I felt kind of nerdy doing it, but I took photos of my food. So here's what I had:


I started with a bowl of Borscht, a soup with beets, cabbage and beef, and a couple of cold salads, shredded beets and an extremely tasty tomato and cucumber salad with lots of fresh dill. My mom had a mushroom soup, which I tasted. It was good too. It had some spiciness that I couldn't place, but my anti-spiciness mom ate the whole bowl.


My next plate consisted of a rice pilaf with big hunks of lamb. See the bone in there? That's what I like to see! Also a fish entree that was very flavorful, stuffed cabbage and stuffed grapeleaf. All of it was yummy and homey. My mom had the Beef Stroganoff, which I also snuck a bite of. Delicious!!


My last plate, which I went back for even though I was already stuffed, had a beef and potato stew (pictured), a potato pancake and some sort of pasta/beef roll. The highlight was this stew. It had fresh dill in it, and was chock full of veggies. Extremely flavorful and hearty. I got a suprise when I put a yellow vegetable in my mouth, thinking maybe it was squash or something, and it was a big hunk of stewed lemon! Not entirely unpleasant, but sour and unexpected.

So, I will totally visit again. They have live Russian music on Saturday nights, and the bar has a good selection of Vodkas and international beer, including several Russian beers, of course. Couple links:

Here's where Anthony Bourdain went on his trip to Russia for No Reservations.

Here's a big database of Russian recipes.

tropical grapes?

Today I visited the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I meant to take a closer look at edible plants, but was distracted by all the pretty flowers. I'll have to go back. One tree caught my eye big time. It was in the Climatron, where all the tropical plants dwell. Here's the photos I got of this odd looking fruit tree:






As you can see from the tag in the photo, this is a Myrciaria Cauliflora, otherwise known as Jabuticaba tree. The fruits apparently (you can't taste MOBOT plants, of course) taste similar to grapes, and are indeed used to make jams and wines. I'm tempted to order some wine made from Jabuticaba from Volcano Winery in Hawaii. Or maybe I should take a vacation....Here's a review of the wine. And here's a Food & Wine article about discovering tropical fruits.

zucchini mushroom hominy tacos

Tonight I made some veggie tacos inspired by fellow St. Louis food blog Veggie Venture (please check out her site and others from my new list of St. Louis related links I added to the side bar over there -->). She got the recipe from a Rick Bayless cookbook, and you can't go wrong with Rick Bayless. She added the hominy part, though, which is genius. I love hominy (check out this ancient post where I made a soup with it). The recipe also calls for chipotle, a favorite ingredient in the ironstef household.

I basically followed the recipe as it appeared on Veggie Venture, except I used more zucchini (and a yellow squash) and a 29 oz. can of hominy and more tomatoes (2 14.5 oz. cans diced, no salt added)...so I guess I pretty much doubled the recipe. Anyway, I also added fresh garlic, salt, Mexican oregano and cumin while I was cooking the onions and mushrooms. I also drained most of the liquid from the tomatoes before adding them, and added some sugar. Usually I find I have to add sugar to things I make with canned tomatoes. I forgot to get cilantro (how could I?!?) but I did get some limes, which was a lovely addition squeezed on at the end. Oh, and I used plain old Mexican-aisle corn tortillas instead of the whole wheat ones. It was a great meal. Filling and healthy. I have so many leftovers, which I imagine will taste even better tomorrow.
Here's how they looked:



I had it with beer (a Belgian beer with a French-sounding name with a Mexican meal...brilliant!), but here are some tips to pairing wine with Mexican food.

A+

If you're ever in the Creve Couer area of the STL, go directly to pita+. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. This is one of my favorite places to grab lunch. I would recommend the gyro and the chicken gyro. The pitas there are far superior to any I've ever found at a store. Tender, tasty, fresh. I went last night for dinner and got the Falafel platter. So good. So much food! It came with 5 falafel, a pita, some hummus, tahini and mediterranean salad (tomaotes, cucumbers and kalamata olives.) Gorgeous. See?

Wine-ing and bitching

2 weekends ago I went to the St. Louis food and WIne Experience. It's a wine and food show put on to raise money for the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. This is the third year I've gone, and as usual, it was a blast. Basically, you walk around and taste wine. It's a great way to learn about wine, because reps from the wine companies are usually there to answer questions. It's also a great place to find a bunch of wines that are new to you. Most booths have little take away cards so you can remember which wines you liked. I went through our pilke of cards last night, so here's a list of some of our favorite wines we tried that day:

Sterling Vitner’s Collection Zinfandel


Red Guitar Wine


Dynamite Zinfandel


Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin


Taltarni Vineyards 2002 Shiraz (I think this was our favorite find of the whole day. I remember we both took a card so we'd be sure to remember this one)


Crane Lake Petit Sirah


Clos Du Val 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon


Shoo Fly 2004 Shiraz


337 Wine


Shingleback Shiraz 2003

I also came away with a nice informative brochure detailing all of the Missouri Wineries. I haven't been to any besides 4 of them in St. Genevieve. And I didn't realize that there were so darn many!

And in other local wine news, the St. Louis Post Dispatch ran this article about wines with naughty names a couple weeks ago. I love Fat Bastard Wines. I'd like to try some of these other wines with funny names. I know it's more of a gimmick, but darn it, you're gonna resist a wine called "Bitch"?

more than just bubble tea

today I took a long walk with one destination in mind. St. Louis Bubble Tea. See, I was really jonesin' for their coconut green bean slush with boba. For those of you not in-the-know, bubble tea comes in a plethora of flavors and temperatures. The thing that makes it bubble tea are the boba, which are tapioca like balls, which are bigger than a pea and smaller than a marble. They have the texture of a gummy bear almost. You have to use a special straw to drink it, and yes, you chew your drink.

Anyway, this place has food, too, and I've always been curious to try a menu item called "Soy Sauce Chicken." So today, I did. And boy was it good. It consisted of a chicken leg quarter, very tender and dark with soy sauce. Some white rice, which had that distinctive slight smoky flavor that I never get when I make rice at home, a big hunk of bok choy and a brownish peeled hard boiled egg. I think the egg might have been a tea egg? or something similar. Whatever it was, it was awesome. Kind of sweet and salty. mmmmm. Anyway, I had my camera with me, and the lighting was good at my sunny corner table, and the food looked do pretty and delicious, I snapped some photos: