Soups & Stews | Gourmandistan

Matzo ball soup made better with brownness

September 25, 2014 by Steve

In her charming 1989 book, Cooking with Memories, Lora Brody had a chapter called “Gourmet Chicken Soup,” which related her dismay at a Passover Seder where she was forced to endure a “highfalutin’ chicken soup” that lacked matzo balls. She wrote that her mother made the comment, “Escoffier would be proud”—a sly insult because the promulgator of haute cuisine “wasn’t Jewish and neither … [was] this soup.” Brody continued the chapter by offering her own chicken soup recipe, which includes cubes of chicken bouillon […]

Categories: Cooking, Family, Food, Holidays & Events, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Soups & Stews

Design vs. function found in blanquette of pork

June 1, 2014 by Michelle

Phaidon Editorial Director Emilia Terragni was recently described as “Queen of Cookbooks” on the strength of the publishing house’s marvelous-looking books from such luminaries as Ferran Adrià and René Redzepi. Terragni first became known through the English language publication of The Silver Spoon, an Italian cookbook first published by the design and architecture magazine Domus. Gourmandistan owns this admittedly gorgeously-designed cookbook. It serves as a stand for Steve’s computer monitor. Phaidon’s beautiful books have often seduced us. But, while pretty, several painfully useless purchases have prevented […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, France, Pork, Recipes, Soups & Stews

Is it odd to aid a carbonnade with marmalade?

February 23, 2014 by Michelle

If you’re Daniel Boulud, the answer to the question is, apparently not. And while we weren’t previously familiar with the practice, we’re pretty sure it will reappear in Gourmandistan. Looking around for something stew-ish, we once again turned to the overlooked Braise: A Journey Through International Cuisine for inspiration. We found a recipe for “Carbonnade à la Flamande,” which called for an entire beef shoulder roast marinated overnight in crème fraîche, then braised with crumbled gingersnaps and marmalade. While we did […]

Categories: Beef, Cooking, Food, Recipes, Soups & Stews

Moroccan Harira Makes Merguez Meatballs Mandatory

February 3, 2014 by Michelle

We really enjoyed this chickpea- and lentil-laden North African soup, whose “sophistication” (per Daniel Boulud) can be found in its “haunting taste and rich textures.” We were also happy to find an alternative way to use merguez beyond grilling the sausage and stuffing it into some sort of bread. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Boulud’s version of harira uses merguez mini-meatballs, which not only gave us a deliciously different way to use them but also gave Steve a frisson […]

Categories: Beans, Cooking, Food, Lamb, Meatballs, Morocco, Recipes, Soups & Stews

Oxtail Ragout with Olives (and additional cooking time)

January 17, 2014 by Michelle

Gourmandistan is a big supporter of grass-fed beef, so much we sometimes wave at the cows grazing the fields of nearby Foxhollow Farm, knowing we’ll likely see some of them on our dinner plates one day. All that ruminating and roaming keeps “our” cows in shape—something we’ve learned to adjust for in cooking dishes like this delicious Oxtail Ragout with Olives. We debone the tails before serving, as it both makes the dish easier to enjoy and spares Michelle the […]

Categories: Beef, Cooking, Food, Meats, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Restaurants, Soups & Stews

Garbure ≠ garbage + ordure; or you are what you etymologize

May 16, 2013 by Steve

The next time you’re eating “brunch” with a “spork,” you should stop for a moment and thank Lewis Carroll. (Perhaps you should then explore the idea of no longer brunching, especially if you frequent places providing sporks as utensils.) Carroll, one of Steve’s personal literary lions, introduced the idea of such “portmanteau words” in Through the Looking Glass, his sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Portmanteaus are everywhere these days, from “Brangelina” to “breathalyzer” to “bromance.” (While we’re not particularly […]

Categories: Beans, Cabbage, Cooking, Duck, Food, France, Recipes, Soups & Stews

Rotating Shrimp Balls (and coconut milk) in Hot & Sour Thai Broth

March 1, 2013 by Steve

This amazing mix-and-match shrimp event started as many things in Gourmandistan do, with dim sum. Our successful shao mai, semi-successful har gow and further representations of our growing repertoire created quite a pile of shrimp shells. Steve, taking inspiration from Conor Bofin, decided he would maximize the value of the wild-caught, non-frozen shrimp and make shrimp stock. (Stunning revelation on checking Conor’s post: Steve forgot to add bay leaf. The stock turned out OK anyway.) Michelle, seeing Steve’s proposal as […]

Categories: Coconut, Cooking, Food, Recipes, Shrimp, Soups & Stews, Thailand

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

An early taste of good fortune with Pork & Black-eyed Pea Chili

December 31, 2012 by Steve

We’ve chronicled our betwixt-and-betweenness with that Southern New Year’s staple, black-eyed peas, here and here. But once again we faced the turn of another calendar year (way to let everyone down, Mayan Apocalypse!) and the tradition of turning the boring little buggers into something edible. Michelle was determined to do even better than last year’s outing, and stumbled across a Michael Symon recipe for black-eyed pea chili that sounded good to her. It sounded good to Steve as well, though it pained […]

Categories: Beans, Cooking, Food, New Year, Pork, Recipes, Soups & Stews