Steve

Spuma spurs slight civil unrest in Gourmandistan.

February 26, 2013 by Steve

Mutterings of dissent can still be heard every time the refrigerator opens and the speckled, pinkly pale jar of spuma is spied. Its funky, fatty taste did not please Michelle’s palate at all. Despite Steve’s insistence that ceviche, salami and sun-dried tomatoes prove the world agrees that “cured means cooked,” Michelle could not get past the idea she was eating “raw bacon.” Steve’s admission that he’d happily sampled “raw” bacon as a child further sickened Michelle, who had already decided […]

Categories: Appetizers, Cheese, Cooking, Cured meats, Food, Recipes

The Future Is Now: Fried Taro Puffs

February 19, 2013 by Steve

Despite certain appearances to the contrary (Slow Food-ishness, Southern accents, surrounding areas stuffed with gun-toting reactionaries), Gourmandistan is a place that embraces Progress. While we’ve seen that bitterly clinging to the past certainly brings its share of disappointments to some, we know anticipating the future can be dicey as well. (Steve, for one, still remembers 1997 as the year he didn’t get his atom-powered convertible chariot.) Recently, at the Roger Smith Cookbook Conference that Steve attended in New York City, several panels bravely tried to […]

Categories: China, Cooking, Dim sum, Food, Pork, Recipes, Shrimp

Betraying Bubbeleh (again) with brown lard bialys

February 16, 2013 by Steve

It is unclear whether Steve’s Jewish grandmother, who died several years before he was born, would have been disappointed in him. (Though if Jon Stewart and legions of other Jewish comedians are any guide, she quite possibly could not have helped herself.) But as someone who reportedly kept a kosher home, she would definitely be shocked by these bialys, which feature some of Steve’s home-rendered brown lard. Steve first met bialys as a boy in New York, where they appeared […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Recipes, Yeast breads

Bunny Bundt: Early Spring Marmalade Carrot Cake

February 13, 2013 by Steve

Not satisfied with making enough jam to slake Steve’s appetite for fruit-laced yogurt, last winter Michelle decided to also make Seville orange marmalade. After peeling, juicing, slicing and boiling, she’d produced several batches—exactly none of which met her stringent standards. Some seemed too thick with slabs of peel, others too runny and light. Steve thought they were all fine, especially the “blended” jars that Goldilocks-edly straddled the thick-thin divide. Unfortunately, Steve does not eat that much marmalade. He finds its […]

Categories: Cake, Carrots, Cooking, Food, Fruit Desserts, Jams & Preserves, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Grappling the Bear’s Paw with Fuchsia Dunlop (and Stir-Fried Green Soy Beans)

February 7, 2013 by Steve

While we wait for the magical time Gourmandistan can plant its flag (and food-eating faces) somewhere in Asia, we at least have Fuchsia Dunlop. Her cookbooks have been a main gateway to Gourmandistan’s greater understanding of Chinese food and culture. We find Dunlop’s recipes so useful we months ago rush-ordered her new cookbook, Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking, from the UK, not content to wait for its recent release in the USA. Every Grain of Rice focuses on dishes […]

Categories: China, Cooking, Food, Recipes, Soy Beans, Tofu, Vegetarian

Well Shao Mai Mouth!

February 3, 2013 by Steve

We do declare, we never saw dim sum developing in Gourmandistan. But then, we didn’t foresee Pavel burying us in brassica, either. Gourmandistan’s dive into dim sum started with turnip cakes, because Steve wanted to whittle down our winter oversupply of daikon radishes. Kimchi wasn’t going to cut it, as (especially after it’s gone really pungent) a little goes a long way. Seeking another Asian avenue, Steve researched turnip cakes, and found the dish was simply a batter of rice […]

Categories: China, Cooking, Dim sum, Food, Pork, Recipes, Shrimp

Winter blues, lamb stew, with these turnips what to do?

January 26, 2013 by Steve

Gourmandistan has roasted, mashed, souped and snacked up seemingly a ton of turnips and rutabagas. Yet each Friday at our weekly winter farm share, Pavel continues to proffer more. The weather has turned ugly, forcing Steve into our old truck each morning for an icebreaking session in the creek. The chickens are miserable, and we miss fresh greens and fruit. Worst of all, it isn’t even February. Enough whining about winter, though—we understand others have winter much worse, without even […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Lamb, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Turnips

Rocking the winter CSA with pan-roasted Hakurei turnips

January 22, 2013 by Steve

A native son of Perm, Gourmandistan’s CSA czar, Pavel, is unafraid of winter—especially now that he has a greenhouse. We’ve enjoyed week after week of fresh produce from our cold weather farm share this year. Somewhat understandably, it’s been a bit heavy on the root vegetables. Fortunately, many of them have been creamy, crispy Hakurei turnips, a lovely variety that’s especially delightful when small. Steve thinks they’re wonderful raw, sliced thin and sprinkled with a bit of sea salt, but […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Recipes, Turnips, Vegetarian

Ravioli, Tortelli, Mezzalune, a Marriage

January 14, 2013 by Steve

It’s an unseasonably warm mid-January afternoon in 1988. Michelle is stomping around Louisville’s downtown, where we lived at the time, in a wedding outfit. People are driving by, honking their horns and hooting congratulations. Michelle is angry. She is angry with Steve, who has both sets of keys. Steve took Michelle’s keys when he drove back to the apartment from the wedding site to get the marriage license, which he had forgotten. He then forgot he already had his keys […]

Categories: Beef, Cooking, Food, Italy, Old cookbooks, Pasta, Potatoes, Recipes