Spot-On: Ratio - A Review

Have you noticed how the more succinct a book's title is the longer the sub-title is? An example is Michael Ruhlman's new book on cooking titled Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking. The ratio is 1-to-9. I'm sure this title to sub-title ratio is more a publisher's call than the author's, but it was the first thing that struck me on receiving the book.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Fighting What You Eat — The Diet Cong

Think of your body as a machine and adapt your energy input to your energy output. This is basic science, verified over 100s of years. But the current funky diet "theory" isn't even "theory" in the scientific sense - it's a guess based on hopeful correlations, if that. Matching caloric input to output always works and it's generally healthy if you're careful to eat a balanced diet. But it requires discipline.

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Spot-On: DIY - Making Lard That Lasts

My stomach is rumbling. Well, not really rumbling so much as gurgling, burbling, growling, and I could swear it just made a barking kind of noise. (Frankly, the barking has me a bit worried.) You see, my house is innundated with the smell of porcine protein and fat - and has been since 9:00 this morning, five hours ago. It's got about two hours to go.

I'm rendering lard.

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Spot-On:The Rain in Spain

About this time ten years ago I had little stickers all over my house giving the Spanish word for various things such as lamps, tables, and the toilet. By far, though, the preponderance of stickers were in the kitchen labeling such things as pasta, canned tomatoes, pork chops, and shrimp. Each evening I'd spend some time reading travel books and making notes on places to see. I was going to be in Spain for two weeks, celebrating my parent's 50th anniversary, and I planned to absorb every ounce of the experience - and the food.

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Spot-On: The Myth of Sustainability

When foodies use the word "sustainable" they typically mean a system that doesn't require outside inputs - no chemical fertilizer or herbicides, no purchased feed for livestock, and only water that falls from the sky or flows on the surface. In other words everything needed to produce vegetables, fruit, and meat over the long term is either already available (water, for instance) or can be produced (manure fertilizer) on location.

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Spot-On: Seriously Goodand Simple Food

I recently spent some time in the hospital. I'd forgotten just how bad food can be. Among other things I was served scrambled eggs with the texture of soggy cardboard and flavor of feathers, pork loin cooked until it was barely suitable for making shoes, and frozen vegetables seasoned only with water. I lost ten pounds and if I hadn't persuaded a visitor to smuggle in some salt I would have lost even more.

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Spot-On: For Appearances' Sake

Because the catering I do is for small special events, there's more room to stretch and experiment in the menus, which I like. Also, I get to be on hand when the meals are eaten and so get to observe the reactions to the food. It's hard to beat standing in the kitchen and listen to "oohs" and "ahs" from the dining room. But perhaps most enjoyable is that when I cater an anniversary or birthday party I get to do "plating."

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Spot-On: Cheap Eats

I made fondue a few weeks back. The gruyere and emmentaler cheeses cost $9.00 and $6.00 respectively for a half pound of each. I used a California Sauvignon Blanc at $13.00 a bottle. The bread (a good artisan French loaf from a local bakery) was $4.00. Kirschwasser (cherry brandy) was $8.00 but I only used a bit - call it $2.00. Assorted pickles, olives, and sliced sausages on the side - $5.00. So altogether I spent $39.00 on dinner for a dinner for two. There was a bit of fondue and bread leftover, so let's assume it was more like $35.00 for two. Not so cheap, but cheaper than the $70.00 the Melting Pot charges - and probably better tasting.

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Spot-On: St. Valentine Prep- Aphrodisia

Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me. ~ Sarah Bernhardt

It's nearly St. Valentine's Day when a young chef's thoughts turn fondly to foods that will spike the libido. In fact, Valentine's Day is one of the two biggest days of the year for restaurants (the other being Mothers' Day). If you're planning on going out to dinner next Saturday and haven't made reservations yet, it may be too late. Personally I prefer the intimacy of preparing (or sharing preparation) with my loved one. Then pile the dishes in the sink, toss a towel over them, and settle in for an evening for two.

You can read the complete aricle at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Eating Dirt and Staying Healthy

Last summer I spent a week in the hospital after developing a severe staph infection on my lower belly. I drove myself to the emergency room one Sunday evening after having reached the conclusion there was something seriously wrong - this wasn't just a heat rash. The doctor's reaction on examining me was ("Holey Moley!!").

Perhaps I have a sensitivity to staph. I've had three staph infections in my life (although this was by far the worse), but I don't have much sensitivity to anything else infectious - or autoimmune either.

You can read the complete article on Spot-On.

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Spot-On: The Troublewith Truffles

Editor Chris Nolan recently sent me a link to a contest being conducted by MarxFoods, a gourmet mail-order company specializing in fresh foods. They're giving away 1/4 pound of fresh truffles - worth about $250. Nolan's subject heading on the email was, "...while Rome burns?"

As it happens, I was arranging a visit to a truffle farm. Was I fiddling while Rome burned? Nolan's snark aside, I don't think so.

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Spot-On: Politics as Usual?

It appears that former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack will be our next Secretary of Agriculture. By all accounts, the choice is as carefully considered, intelligent, and unimaginative as President Barack Obama's other cabinet appointments. When naming him Obama said, "As governor of one of our most abundant farm states, he led with vision promoting biotech to strengthen our farmers in fostering an agricultural economy of the future that not only grows the food we eat, but the energy that we use." The food community has responded with thunderous, "meh," - "big f-ing deal."

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Resolved - To Eat, Cook, Enjoy With Care

I don't make New Year's resolutions, for most of us they're empty promises just waiting to be broken by the second or third week of January. That's because resolutions are usually negative - especially the food-related resolutions:

I will lose 20 pounds (eat less)
I will cut down on diet Cokes (deny myself that pleasure)
I will eat more healthily (avoid the foods I like best)

Bah! In modern American culture food is an enemy, it's something we loath ourselves for enjoying and under a mistakenly puritanical impulse attempt to deny ourselves to somehow become more pure and deserving. I'm not saying we should overdue the ice cream before bed or eat a bag of pork rinds every day. But denying yourself is just begging for failure.

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Spot-On: Milk - The Raw Deal

A few days ago I received an offer to purchase unpasteurized milk for my pets from a local organic farm. For $103 I'd receive a gallon of raw milk once a week for 12 weeks. I'll save you the trouble of doing the math: that's $8.58 a gallon. I'm really fond of my cat, but not $8.58-a-week fond. Which is why I'm pretty sure this offer is an end-run around Tennessee's laws preventing the sale of raw milk for human consumption.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

Technorati: Food | essay | kevin d weeks | seriously good | raw milk

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Spot-On: Review - Domestic Caviar

I don't know how old I was when I first tasted "caviar", perhaps 9 or 10 - and it wasn't real caviar. It wasn't Beluga, Sevruga or even Osetra from the Caspian Sea. It was lumpfish roe, dyed black and salted. I don't recall if I liked it, but my guess is not. Nevertheless, this ersatz caviar became a regular canapé (on a cracker with cream cheese and a thin slice of lemon) at our family's holiday gatherings - along with the California sparkling wine.

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Spot-On: Yo! Nick! - A Cook's Christmas List

Polls are indicating that people are eating out less, and when they do it tends to be at fast food joints. For example, Applebees sales are reportedly down about 15 percent while McDonalds are up by eight. But people are also doing more of their own cooking in order to economize. So this Christmas, I thought I might offer some suggestions for practical gifts to make home cooking more economical, easier, or both.

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Spot-On: Review Spanish Road Trip

I first fell in love with Spanish food while attending a programming trade show in Washington, DC. Some friends and I had dinner At Jaleo's, a tapas bar. Prior to that I'd had Americanized paella, which my mother occasionally made when I was growing up, but that was the extent of my experience with Spanish food. Then in 1997 two weeks with my family in a villa on the Costa del Sol confirmed my passion for this simple cuisine.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Girl's Night Out

By the time I got to Sonoma it was dark and drizzling rain - a really unpleasant December evening. I had printed out a map and directions to my bed and breakfast from MapQuest but for the first (and only) time Map Quest had it wrong and for the life of me I couldn't find the place and no one I stopped and asked for directions recognized the street. Finally I spotted a UPS truck, followed him to his next stop, and then asked the driver for help. He knew the place and I arrived there about 7:00 PM, two hours late.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Politics on Wry

As a sandwich-lover from way back, I always celebrate the Earl of Sandwich's birthday with a carefully planned sandwich, but this year I thought it might be fun to consider what sort of sandwich the presidential candidates might choose. The easy one and first to occur to me was Sarah Palin, the "real" American.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Eating Oil

On October 12 Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food took over the New York Times Magazine for his polemic, "Farmer in Chief" framed as an open letter to the next president. Pollan writes: "what's needed is a change of culture in America's thinking about food ... focusing the light of public attention on the issue and communicating a simple set of values that can guide Americans toward sun-based foods and away from eating oil."

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Selling Obesity

Most of us think we're immune to the blandishments of marketing droids. And perhaps - when we notice we're being blandished - we are. But marketing messages are such a pervasive part of our culture that noticing every "buy" message would occupy our attention full time; we wouldn't even have time to think about sex (except, of course, when sex is selling hamburgers) or our jobs.

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Spot-On: Review - The Science of Good Food

The publisher, Robert Rose, recently released a book named The Science of Good Food by David Joachim and Andrew Scloss. At 600 pages it's a massive compendium of facts about food and cooking starting with acid and ending with wine. Among the topics covered are carcinogens, frying, types of game meat (the book reports raccoon tastes like pork), and the anatomy of a bivalve.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Something Cool

This past Tuesday (October 1) we finally saw something good for consumers come out of the federal government: Country Of Origin Labeling (COOL) for food. Grocery stores have six months to comply and then most meat and produce and some nut producers must specify the origin of their products (exceptions include roasted nuts, mixed vegetables, and a few other items).

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Spot-On: A Fortunate Man

I eagerly anticipate the arrival of the Fall season every year. It marks a new, warmer phase of my cooking. Tired of the light, quick meals of summer, I want the deeper, darker, more savory flavors of stews, braises, and soups. I crave the edgy flavors of winter greens like kale and chard and the heartiness of Brussels sprouts and broccoli.

This year's first genuinely fall-like day - also my birthday - called for a celebratory feast.

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Spot-On: Reading Periodically

I just renewed my subscription to Cook's Illustrated, my favorite cooking magazine. For years and years before the World Wide Web and before cookbooks had become one of the largest categories in book stores I subscribed to Gourmet and Bon Appetit, because those magazines were the best bets for a varied collection of recipes. In those days the first step I took in planning a dinner party was to sit in the middle of the living room floor with all my back issues and a note pad and go through every issue - often multiple times - putting together a menu.

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Your Government Makes You Fat!

Sounds like a headline from the tabloids, eh? But in fact it's to some degree accurate - although it's not a deliberate act - to say your government makes you fat. It's another one of a case of unintended consequences that so bedevil our increasingly complicated world. But in this case we know who to blame: former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz.

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Spot-On: An Extra Pound or 50

More people die in America of too much food than too little. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith, economist

Myriad factors contribute to the increasing obesity of Americans - too much sugar, too little exercise, too many fries and too few Brussels sprouts. Even the company you keep influences your weight, which means obesity (and leanness) is to some degree communicable. But Galbraith cuts to the core problem: We eat too much.

Read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Kitchen Spirits

I came home the other day with a bottle of grappa. If you're unfamiliar with it, grappa is a sort of clear Italian brandy made from the grape skins and pulp left over after making wine. Until recently it was thought of as a peasant drink, but it was "discovered" by someone - probably a marketer - and rapidly went upscale. I had my first taste on an Air Italia flight to Rome and quickly acquired a liking. It tends to be harsh, but the better grappas offer subtle complexities. I've found I like it better than brandy.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Review - King Corn

I've been wanting to see King Corn since it was released last year, but there wasn't a chance it would appear in a theatre here in Knoxville and I missed the PBS broadcast here so I had to wait for the DVD release of this documentary about the current state of the American agricultural business. This past week I finally had my chance to view it and my reaction was, "Not bad, pretty good in fact."

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Necessary & Essential

In a blog entry one of my favorite writers and the author of The Elements of Cooking, Michael Ruhlman, raised the issue of favorite kitchen gadgets. It's a great question, particularly for those of us in love with gadgets.

Ruhlman writes, "I'm not the first to suggest that a tool that has only a single use is just as useful in the garbage as it is in your drawer. A mango slicer, please. An egg separater — Jesus, an egg separator! We are born with the perfect egg separators, right at the end of our arms! Why would anyone be moved to invent one?" And he's mostly right, Alton Brown has been lecturing for years on avoiding specialty tools, what he calls, "single-use gadgets."

Read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: It Ain't Hard

Among my many jobs, one is as a food columnist for a social networking site named Gather.com where I publish article/recipes under the title "Paisano" focused on what I call "peasant" food. Essentially it's about family cooking from around the world. One column may cover pot roast and the next fondue which has a gourmet tinge in this country but in its original incarnation as bread dipped in melted cheese, fondue was what Swiss cowherds ate.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Inefficiencies of Scale

I came home from the farmers' market last Tuesday with a couple of pounds of tomatoes. To some folks, that makes me a brave or foolish man.

So far more than 1,000 people have officially been sickened by the latest salmonella outbreak. But, health care professionals say that in such estimates, for every reported case of sickness, more than 30 go unreported. This means something close to 40,000 people have been sickened to some degree.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Addiction

Some folks have a prediliction to addiction and others don't. Those of us who are somewhat obsessive/ compulsive have a particular problem with addiction, let this be a warning to you cooks about letting the genie of kitchen gadgets out of the bottle.

I've moved seven times in the past ten years chasing jobs - four times across the width of the country. And with each move I reduced the amount of stuff I moved. Early in the process I got rid of easy stuff, sheets and towels I hadn't used in years, a futon that was simply taking up space, 20-year-old collections of bills and tax records. And a few cheap pots in the back of my kitchen cabinets...

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: The SummerTriptych's Centerpiece

Summers are marked, in my mind, by a triptych of grills. The first panel is centered on Memorial Day, the official opening of grilling season. This panel offers scenes of earlier efforts, when a planned late-April meal of grilled rack of lamb might turn into a cold, blustery, and miserable afternoon on the patio before admitting defeat and retreating to finish the lamb in the oven. But it also includes such treats as salads made with the spring's first lettuce, grilled asparagus, and strawberries.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Attack of theNot-So-Killer Tomatoes

I'm almost as fed up (pun intended) with writing about food recalls as I am learning about them. Some good news on the food front would really be nice, but I'm afraid that with 238 people reportedly sickened with salmonella from contaminated tomatoes there is none this week.

That 238 doesn't sound like very many but using the Center for Disease Control estimates - only one in 30 cases of salmonella poisoning is reported - you can figure over 7,000 people got sick.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Special Occasions,Special Rewards

A couple of days ago I catered a small dinner party. I had just served the appetizers when a thunderstorm took the power out. But my clients just laughed and opened another bottle of wine. And because the cooking was forced on hold, I ended up joining them and we sat around chatting until the house lit up again.

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Spot-On: Literary Tapas

When I started writing about food I immediately started reading what other people wrote about food - primarily as a way to learn how to write about food myself. One of the first books I picked up was Best Food Writing 2001 and I was amazed at how many different ways there are to write about food, how many different ways there are to think about food, and how food can be such an easily conveyed metaphor for thinking about the rest of our lives. I've been studying the masters ever since.

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Spot-On: Sustainability Redefined

Sustainability: of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged. - Meriam-Webster Online.

The definition above isn't wrong, but, it seems to me, it is incomplete, at least when it comes to food (and probably everything else) since it's too focused on micro-effects as opposed to macro-effects.

Read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: The Cost of Eating

You may not have noticed, but food prices actually started going up over two years ago. I was acutely aware of the trend because I was watching the average food costs for my clients climb from 30 percent to 40 percent by the end of last summer. Because I charge a flat rate for food and service I was also watching my income decline. So last August I bumped my prices up. I'm already almost back to a 40 percent food cost. (Note: I buy from grocery stores just like you do.)

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: A Food Face

Best I can figure is that I have a food face. I was in the market the other day, looking for a good bunch of asparagus when the woman next to me asked, "How do you cook asparagus?" She went on to say, "My husband doesn't like it so I've never cooked it, but I really like it and I decided to just buy some and make it for me."

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Spot-On: More Insanity from the U.S.D.A.

Most bureaucracies are famed for their lack of imagination, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture manages to consistently confound that dismal notion by finding new ways to control what we eat and who we buy it from. How the U.S.D.A. plans to regulate the farmers from whom I buy locally-raised meats is a good example of this ineptitude

Read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Urban Farming

What makes someone tear up his front yard and plant vegetables? Why do people want to grow vegetables a mile from the White House or raise chickens in Brooklyn? I mean, it's gotta be ugly during the winter and early spring, and I can tell you from experience that a vegetable garden is an order of magnitude more work than a lawn.

You can read the complate article at Spot-On.

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Fat, Fabulous Fat

Like most (all?) humans, I love fat. And there's good reason at the root of that love. Fats are essential to our metabolic process. They're the way plants and animals store energy for future use. Because we can readily and quickly convert fat to serve immediate energy needs, it appeals very strongly to us.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Book Review - Bananas

Many years ago, as a teenager, I ate lunch in an Indonesian household on most Fridays. The meal always featured a huge platter of what I thought at the time were fried potatoes. They were highly spiced and slightly sweet and I adored them. But as a callow youth I didn't think to ask anything more about them. Some 20 years later I was reading an article on plantains and realized that's what I had been eating. I ran out to the grocery store, bought a plantain, sliced it into rounds, doused them with curry powder and a touch of sugar, and fried them. Yep, that was it.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Culinary Winter

I don't know about you, but as far as I'm concerned March is the dead of winter culinarily. I hate it. It's that time of year when there's "nothing to cook" and my kitchen seems as barren as the trees outside. How can I say that? The cooking magazines are filled with spring dishes while the grocery is still filled with winter ingredients. And all too often, old and tired winter ingredients.

Read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Name that Thing

The other night I participated in a call-in radio program, Dinner with Chefsline, with a fellow who owns a butcher/wine/cheese shop in Charleston, S.C. I was introduced as a chef, but I prefer to be called a professional cook. Chef means "chief" and it refers to the individual's position in managing the kitchen crew in a professional kitchen. Chef is a management job and I'm seldom a chef. Ninety-nine times out of a 100 I'm simply the cook - paid or not.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Review — the Art of Eating

Although I seldom buy cookbooks anymore, I do subscribe to food magazines. The magazines offer loads of ideas even if I don't follow a specific recipe. That's also why I publish recipes on this blog. It isn't that I expect a reader to follow the recipe explicitly — in fact I post a disclaimer warning against doing so (look in the right-hand sidebar) — but I hope someone may find my use of cornmeal in pancakes or the addition of juniper berries to beef stew worthwhile.

You can read the complete article on Spot-On.

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Spot-On: No Prevention, No Cure

The Hallmark beef recall has become big news in the two weeks since the Humane Society video was released, which is great, but as I've read and listened to the coverage I've been angry about one thing: The news agencies keep calling it a "USDA recall," which is flat wrong and is misleading the public.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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Spot-On: Class Foodfare

When I lived in Eugene, Oregon Saturday mornings were my shopping day. It wasn't unusual for me to begin at 9:00 with a trip to the farmers' market in downtown Eugene, where, during the summer months, I could find those luscious leeks, ravishing radishes, baby beets, and even wild mushrooms on occasion — all picked early Friday evening or Saturday morning.

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Spot-On: Science and Fries

I've been reading Hervé This' book, Molecular Gastronomy. If you're not familiar with the term "molecular gastronomy," it refers to the application of science to cooking and is typified by the creations of Ferran Adrià at elBulli and Grant Achatz at Alinea. These chefs apply cutting edge, often high-tech techniques (many of which they invent themselves) to food.

You can read the complete article at Spot-On.

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