Beef | Gourmandistan

Italy, it’s not.

October 14, 2011 by Steve

This meal sort of started with finding some beautiful (and local) Grateful Greens watercress at Whole Foods. But it also began during our failed attempts to find decent Asian food in Italy. In France, her slew of South Asian colonials-turned-citizens generously offering porc au caramel, riz nature and nems, we’ve found many lovely Asian dishes. In the Veneto we couldn’t find anything better than bland Cantonese fare lamely Italian-izing itself with menu columns featuring “Antipasti,” “Primi” and “Secondi.” In addition […]

Categories: Beef, Cooking, Food, Japan, Nuts, Recipes, Watercress

Comfort; food.

May 24, 2011 by Michelle

We would prefer that Gourmandistan be a place of lightness and pleasure, where “tragedy” and “sorrow” are simply overly dramatic ways to describe ingredients wasted or a recipe gone awry. Unfortunately, real tragedy and sorrow recently breached our little domain, when Michelle lost her beloved younger brother. We found ourselves in a maelstrom of anguish, confusion and sadness—away from home, and with a broken oven. Gourmandistan seemed very, very far away. Neighbors and friends, showing the best of a small, […]

Categories: Beef, Cooking, Family, Food, Pork, Recipes, Sandwiches

Dry-fried beef slivers defeat linguini with clams

April 2, 2011 by Michelle

Linguini with clam sauce was once Gourmandistan’s “can’t screw it up” champion. Other than (duh) clams and clam juice, the basic ingredients (garlic, olive oil, white wine, onions, black pepper, parsley) could be added in just about any proportion and the sauce would still taste great on any pasta (linguini or whatever) we had around. It was something that could be thrown together in (well, for Gourmandistan) a short amount of time, and didn’t make (again, at least from our […]

Categories: Beef, Celery, China, Cooking, Food, Recipes

The almost-perfect Reuben

July 30, 2010 by Steve

From the first time Michelle picked up a jar of Geier sauerkraut from the Foxhollow Farm store, Steve started thinking about corning his own beef. He was a little dubious about using Michael Ruhlman’s recipe due to an unfortunate experience with short-rib “pastrami”—but the Charcuterie recipe seemed pretty straightforward, and so a brine was made where a Foxhollow brisket sat for five days, before a several-hour simmer made what Michelle declared was the best corned beef she ever ate. And […]

Categories: Beef, Cooking, Cured meats, Food, Recipes, Sandwiches