Gourmandistan

Improvised umami-mazing oxtail and ramen soup, now that we’re cooking with gas

February 2, 2016 by Steve

A period of unfortunately-timed icy weather last week saw Gourmandistan once again facing an empty heating fuel tank, forcing us to lower our thermostat to a fairly chilly 50° F, to take short showers and to avoid using our gas cooktop. (Steve has already set reminders to check the tank level more frequently next winter.) Thanks to a pan of lasagna made before we knew the house was running on fumes, we did not suffer too greatly. An “emergency” request to our propane […]

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

In Winter’s midst, we make meatballs (and put them in beef and barley soup)

January 24, 2016 by Steve

Gourmandistan was fortunate enough to escape most of the massive snowstorm that engulfed America’s east coast in the past few days. However, several inches of snow and a somewhat ice-clogged creek have reminded us that, as in winters past, we may become stranded at home with no food options but what we have on hand. With an eye towards the ugliness that February might bring, Michelle brought home some beef, veal and pork and spent some time making a batch […]

Categories: Barley, Basics, Cooking, Food, Kale, Meatballs, Recipes, Soups & Stews

Pork, potatoes and kale stage a battle between tacos and pizza

January 16, 2016 by Steve

The principal duelists: simple roast pork carnitas and a pan of sautéed kale and potatoes (both by way of Rick Bayless), a bag of corn tortillas and a ball of pizza dough. Seconds: tomatillo salsa, basic white sauce and some grated habanero Monterey Jack cheese. Winners? Michelle and Steve. We started with the idea of carnitas tacos, as Steve had bought a piece of locally-raised pork shoulder that was a bit too gnarly to simply roast. As potatoes and kale are some of our main […]

Categories: Cooking, Food, Kale, Mexico, Pizza, Pork, Potatoes, Recipes

A strong friendship continues in salt cod gratin

January 9, 2016 by Michelle

Nashville, Fall 1977. Two very different girls meet in a Vanderbilt University dormitory. One is visually-inclined, artistic, soft-spoken and sweet. The other is verbal, irreverent and opinionated. One had experienced private schools, exclusive high-rise Chicago Lakeshore Drive apartments, an artist mother and a stepfather whose family money came from woolen mills in Maine. The other attended public school in a Western Kentucky county where the main interests were coal mining and farming. While different from one another, what brought them together was not being “TVCs,” or “Typical […]

Categories: Cooking, Fish, Food, Friends, Old cookbooks, Potatoes

Bringing out the old to ring in the new with rabbit and some colored-eye soup

December 31, 2015 by Steve

Our version did not use black-eyed peas (instead it used yellow eyes), which we feel is OK because this post is not really about New Year’s. But, if you happen to have some dried beans, rabbit and bacon around when the calendar turns to 2016, we certainly think you’ll enjoy this dish. This “hearty and hospitable” soup was featured in a mid- to late-1980s food magazine, unnamed in the photocopied page contained in Michelle’s old three-ring binder that Steve found while recently cleaning […]

Categories: Beans, Christmas, Cooking, Food, New Year, Old cookbooks, Rabbit, Recipes, Restaurants, Soups & Stews

Kahlúa & coffee give West Coast brownies a kick

December 19, 2015 by Steve

Legendary dessert cookbook author Maida Heatter opined that her “West Coast Brownies” might be “more appreciated by adults than by children.” Whether or not these need to be segregated like the spiked eggnog, we definitely believe they deserve a place on the holiday buffet. Heatter wrote that her recipe was a variation on “Brownie Points,” something made in the late Seventies by a Southern California baker/businessman, Richard Melcombe, who called himself “Richmel” and sold his goods “in leading stores across the country.” “Brownie Points” apparently never made […]

Categories: Baking, Brownies, Christmas, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Old cookbooks, Recipes

King-size apple cake keeps us intrigued, well-buttered

December 8, 2015 by Steve

We have been enjoying this simple, old-fashioned apple cake from Susan Herrmann Loomis’ 1991 Farmhouse Cookbook for several days. Long before she began making everyone jealous with her tales of Rue Tatin in a small Norman town and rural French cooking, Loomis traveled across the U.S., interviewing farm wives and collecting their homey recipes. This “King-Size Apple Cake,” from one Alice Berner of Big Sandy, Montana, is a winner. It may be the seasonally-appropriate mix of cinnamon and allspice bumped up with some nice quality cocoa, but it’s most likely […]

Categories: Apples, Baking, Cake, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Fruit Desserts, Old cookbooks, Recipes

Shrimp and grits pâté part of new Thanksgiving tradition

November 29, 2015 by Steve

Last year’s Gourmandistan Thanksgiving was a lovely gathering where everyone enjoyed themselves, including both Michelle and Steve. One reason, aside from some delightful company, was the decision to limit ourselves to simple, Southern-influenced items, many of which we could make ahead of the actual meal. Centered around country ham and roast chicken and featuring cornbread/biscuit stuffing, broccoli casserole, cranberry sauce and multiple pies, our dinner was such a lovely time we decided to do it again this year—and to share this simple […]

Categories: Appetizers, Family, Food, Holidays & Events, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Shrimp, Thanksgiving

“Vintage” burnt sugar cake with maple cream cheese frosting updated with pecans, salty chocolate

November 23, 2015 by Steve

Michelle recently picked up a copy of Julie Richardson’s Vintage Cakes from a bookstore remainder table. Richardson, a baker in Portland, Oregon, based many of the book’s recipes on a trove she found when taking over the 50-year-old bakery building she now occupies. Others come from old cookbooks and corporate marketing departments. It’s a charming book. This particular burnt sugar cake dates from “before the days of vanilla and almond extracts, gaining its deep flavor from burnt sugar syrup.” Richardson paired the […]

Categories: Baking, Cake, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Nuts, Recipes

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