The Kitchen Chronicles

A Day in Flagstaff (Part 3): Criollo

2011-09-26T23:02:00.001-07:00

After getting my Sam's Club big-box shopping done, and barely fitting it all into the truck (I can't believe how many times I have said "I need a bigger truck" since upgrading to my current 1-ton, crew-cab, Chevy dually) I headed over to meet with Chef Dave at Criollo.

Dave and I have been doing business for years, since he started at Criollo's sister restaurant Brix. He and some of his crew have visited us at the Ranch but I had never had the chance to visit Criollo until today.

Dave had informed me that, based on reservations and the previous night's numbers, that tonight was shaping up to be their busiest night of the whole season so, even thought it was still pretty early, it was with some trepidation and guilt that I entered the restaurant and asked if Dave was available. Within seconds he emerged from the kitchen and after a firm handshake and greeting asked if I'd like a tour.

Of course I did but certainly didn't want to impose on such a big night.

"Bah". he said "Let me show you around".

The kitchen was humming with activity. Every station was manned and every person was busy working on the various tasks at hand. The pace of the room was frenetic but organized and focused. Nobody was running around. Nobody was yelling. People were moving with great speed and efficiency but there was no sign that the coming deluge of orders would be met with anything less than professionalism and expertise.

And it smelled great in there!

As we passed through the main line area and into the back, we moved carefully. Nearly every flat surface was covered with plates and pans and trays of prep and mise-en-place. This crew was ready to rock.

Dave showed me the bakery/prep area and we ducked into their big walk-in cooler (as much to get out of the kitchen's bustle as anything, I think) and he pointed out where they had actually joined together what had been one walk-in refrigerator and one walk-in freezer to make one very big fridge. Being a restaurant that makes everything from scratch and primarily from fresh local ingredients, they had no use for the big freezer, and had desperate need for more cooler space. Even so, it was still stocked from floor to ceiling with shelf after shelf of absolutely gorgeous produce, meat, fish and dairy products.

Dave was living a chef's dream by obtaining all of these exceptionally fine raw materials to work with. I spotted several 4 lb tubs of our BMR Fresh Goat Cheese on a shelf and couldn't help but smile at the good company they were keeping.

Tour over, Dave asked if I could stay and have a bite to eat.

"Seriously? What about the busy night ahead"? I asked

"We've still got a little time before the rush hits" he allowed, "Just sit at the bar and we'll fix you up".

And fix me up they did.

The bartender asked me what I wanted to drink. Automatically (and rather foolishly as it turned out) I asked what he had in a good Pinot Noir by the glass. [Note to self: When trying out a new restaurant for the first time at least take a look at the wine list before ordering].

Criollo, while having a very nice, well considered and constructed wine list, does not have a single pinot noir to offer. As a matter of fact, there were none of the come-to-be-expected wines one typically finds. No wines from France, Italy or even California. This is a "Latin inspired, hand-crafted, local food" restaurant so, quite rightly, the wines are primarily from Spain.

Knowing virtually nothing about Spanish wines I put myself at the bartender's mercy. "Well, you know the type of wine I'm thinking about. What do you recommend?"

Without hesitation he pulled up a bottle and poured a healthy glassful. "Here. Try this".

Zowee! Not a pinot noir at all, and yet similar in many regards, it was perfect. To my shame I did not note the vineyard, grape, or year of it. I'll chalk that up to it being the end of a long day. I ended up drinking two glasses of it and now have a piqued interest and new appreciation for wines from Spain. I will definitely be trying more of them as the opportunity presents itself.

Soon after settling in with my first glass of wine, a server brought me a delicious plate of food. It was their Pork Belly Tacos. While the menus changes almost constantly, there are a few things that have earned a regular place there. The Pork Belly Taco plate is one.

It is described on the menu as "slow roasted Heritage Foods pork belly, cabbage, house pickles, mild salsa, jalapeno glaze" and is served with the crispy pieces of pork nestled in freshly-made tortillas. The house pickle slices were not overly vinegary and provided a sweet, cooling counterpoint to the spicier components on the plate. Definitely finger-food I built up each soft taco using a little bit of everything offered on the plate, saving a thick dab of the house-made salsa for the top.

Oh my! Good eating! Everything melded together and yet it was easy to pick out each part as it contributed to the whole.

The salsa was a real surprise. I was delighted to find that it was much warmer on the tongue than I had expected from the "mild" description on the menu and yet sweet with an amazing depth of flavor. I poured a bit more on the taco, and then a bit more. Completely addictive. Realizing that I had almost used my entire allotment and was only half way trough my dinner, I embarrassedly asked it it would be possible to get another small bowl of it. Of course it was! I later learned from Dave that, among other ingredients it included fresh habañero chiles and that raisins provided that alluring touch of dark sweetness.

Nearly done with my dinner, Dave returned with a friend and introduced me to Steve, the chef de cuisine at Brix restaurant. We've been selling cheese to Brix since they opened over 6 years ago. The owners Paul and Laura visited the Ranch even before they opened while exploring possible ingredient sources for their first menu. Anyway, I've worked with Steve for years, trading emails and phone calls, but had never met. Unfortunately, we were only able to chat briefly as he was just passing through on an "anchovy run" and on his way quickly back to Brix, where they were also expecting a record-breaking night.

After that wonderful plate of tacos and that great wine, I was certain that I didn't need anything else but when the bartender asked If I wanted dessert, I had to ask. "What do you recommend?"

"Banana Rum Bread Pudding". Not even a beat of hesitation.

"That good"?

"That good".

<sigh>

"OK, I guess I'll have to try it then".

And he was right. Again. Served hot with Vanilla Whipped Cream and a very tasty Caramel Rum Sauce it was just right. Moist without being gummy; sweet without being cloying and with a punch of fresh banana that said that the cook who made it actually knew the difference between a black-ripe banana, and a black-rotted one. A fine line many cooks do not understand.

With the day gone and a long drive back to the ranch still ahead of me I reluctantly asked for my check. I could have settled in at Criollo, very comfortably for the rest of the night.

I am often offered discounts at the restaurants where we do business. It's a perk of doing business with good people. At Criollo they wouldn't take any of my money at all so I tipped shamelessly and, after waving a heart-felt good-bye to Dave (who was starting to get a bit busy by then), left and headed home to unpack the day's purchases and eventually to sleep.

A Day in Flagstaff (Part 2): New Frontiers

2011-08-28T16:03:00.002-07:00

Next stop on the Flagstaff trip was my big debut at the fancy natural foods grocery store New Frontiers.

I'd never done a table at one of their events, despite having been a supplier for years. This was an "Arizona Day" event, where the store had invited about 14 small, farmstead and local suppliers from across the state to do a meet-and-greet with their customers and supply samples for them to try.

It was about 11:45 when I arrived for the noon event, hoping I wasn't going to be late, but in wandering through the store on my way back to the cheese department, I saw at least 5 or 6 empty tables in different departments, waiting for their producers to arrive. I guess this was a "laid back and casual" noon starting time.

In the dairy department I quickly found a small table with a "Black Mesa Ranch" sign on it. There were two other tables awaiting producers near mine. One was for a local bread baking company and the other, was for Fossil Creek Creamery, another goat dairy located in Strawberry AZ. We'd gotten to know the Fossil Creek proprietors, the Bintners a little over the years and they had visited our ranch and dairy as they were making their plans to start their own. I was looking forward to seeing John again and see how his products had improved since our last meeting over a year ago.

I had plenty of time to set up my table. I'd brought a 4 lb tub of or Fresh Goat Cheese and another tub with cubes of our Feta Marinated in Sundried Tomatoes and Basil. As soon as the lids were off, I had eager customers waiting for samples and I stayed busy like that for several hours.

Sales throughout the day were brisk for Black Mesa Ranch cheeses. The poor guys in the dairy department were working double-time to keep the case stocked and they almost ran out of fresh cheese. Fortunately, I had brought along an extra tub to sell them in case of just such a situation.

It was a pretty intense day (I was hoarse from talking so much by 3pm) but it was nice to see how well recognized our cheeses were among many of the New Frontier customers and then have the chance to introduce our products to so many more.

The folks from Fossil Creek never did show up (the kid behind the dairy counter kidded that my being there probably scared them off) but the couple representing the bread company at the table just down from mine came over several times for cheese to go with their wares and it was nice chatting with them for a bit.

By 4pm things were definitely slowing down and I still had some big-box shopping to do and hopefully see a couple of my chef/customers before I could head back to the Ranch so I packed it up, said good bye to the guys in the dairy department (leaving them with my few remaining samples to give out) and headed off to my next stop.

A Day in Flagstaff (Part 1): Diablo Burger

2011-08-22T16:37:00.002-07:00

My recent trip to CT not withstanding, neither of us gets off the Ranch much. It is my personal curse to have to go into town (Snowflake, AZ) once a week to pick up mail at the P.O. (we don't get any mail delivery out here) and buy supplies. Kathryn only leaves the Ranch when absolutely necessary. As a matter of fact, she's only been off the Ranch 5 times since January (8 months), and this is a bit more frequent than is her norm. A trip into the "big city" of Show Low (pop. 12,500), about 30 miles/1 hour drive, to go to Home Depot or Walmart, is a major outing!

Anyway, I had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to go to Flagstaff AZ (pop 66,000, 130 miles/2.25 hours driving time) to participate in and "Arizona Days" promotion at the New Frontiers Natural Foods Market there. On AZ Days, the store invites small, farmstead and local suppliers from across the state to come, set up tables and sample-out their wares. New Frontiers has been a good customer of both our cheeses and seasonal candies for many years and I'd never been able to attend one of these events and was happy to be able to this time.

When I need/have/want to get off the Ranch like this I always try to cram in as much stuff as possible, in addition to the main event. My big chore this time was a stop at the Sam's club in Flagstaff to stock up on various big-box items we keep in inventory for the dairy. I'd also hoped to be able to stop in and visit with one or two of the many area chefs whose restaurants we supply. The New Frontiers event was scheduled from noon to 4pm. I got on the road soon after AM milking and got into Flag a little too early to set-up at the store so I took the opportunity to swing by Diablo Burger.

Diablo Burger

Diablo Burger is located right on vibrant Heritage Square in Flagstaff AZ and specializes in (surprize!) burgers. Whoopee, right? Well, actually... whoopee indeed! These are really, really special burgers.

The burgers themselves are made 100% from local, open range-raised, antibiotic-free and growth-hormone-free beef from the Diablo Trust ranches (more on the Trust and their ranches in a minute). The super-thick patties are char-broiled & served on a branded (that's right, branded - just like a steer) English muffin.

Each burger (and they have about 10 on-menu burgers plus build-your own and blackboard specials) comes with, with seasonal greens, tomato, pickle, and their signature Belgian-style Fries. I thought that the prices were pretty reasonable, all things considered, running from $8.75 for a plain burger (the "Monk") to about $12 for a specialty burger, loaded.

After chatting for a while with the boss Derrick, with whom I'd exchanged numerous emails and phone calls but had not met in person until today, I ordered the "Marilyn" - their cheese burger ($9.25), with Black Mesa Ranch Chèvre ($.50 extra). Here's a link to their full menu

I generally cook my burgers at home "black and blue" (charred on the outside, still cold on the inside). Our ranch burgers are made exclusively from steers who are conceived, birthed, range-raised, grain-finished and butchered all on our own ranch so I am completely comfortable eating this beef raw and I really enjoy the full flavor of our excellent beef best this way.

Because their beef is about 95% lean (typical of whole-animal, grass-fed beef burgers), Diablo Burger recommends that their burgers be cooked medium-rare. I figure they know their beef better than anybody so I deferred to their expertise.

The burger and accoutrements arrived after a short wait. Trays of condiments graced all the tables - indoors and out, as well as the counter seating area, where I was perched. It was very nice to see that, despite their being extremely proud of their meat and their sometimes elaborately concocted specialty burgers, the folks at Diablo Burger are not above letting their customers pour on a little ketchup, if they wish.

I opted to eat mine just as it came out of the kitchen and I'm glad I did. It was delicious; hot, moist, perfectly cooked and with truly wonderful meat flavor. I told Derrick that his burger was as good as the ones we made at home but I saw in his face that he didn't know me well enough to realize what a huge compliment I was giving him. Only after my explaining to him that we raised and butchered our own beef did he "get it" and allow a big smile to cross his face. "That's the kind of compliment we like to hear!", he replied.

I'm sorry to say that the Black Mesa Ranch Fresh Goat Cheese - the cheese I had made earlier that week with my own hands, got a little lost on the burger. Too many full flavors competing for my mouth's attentions, I guess. The fresh cheese certainly added an nice smooth and creamy textural element to the whole that I found interesting and pleasing, but without much discernable flavor, which surprised me.

I wish I could have sat there enjoying that burger all day but, unfortunately, I was already running late for the big shin-dig at New Frontiers and I was not able to stay long. Probably just as well for the Diablo folks because by 11:30 they were filling up fast and already had a line of customers out the door. They surely didn't need me taking up a prime seat, so I scurried off but not before Derrick comped my lunch! I will definitely be going back to Diablo Burger the next time I'm any where in the Flagstaff area and am proud to count them as one of our very good customers.

Here's a little bit about The Diablo Trust and the Diablo Trust Ranches...

Diablo Trust is a collaboration of ranchers, environmentalists, federal and state land managers, scientists, recreationists, and other volunteers, with a common vision of the American West — a place of grandeur and diversity, filled with wildlife, prehistory, and pioneers.

The team is working together on more than 400,000 acres of private and public lands to achieve a variety of shared goals, including...

Sustaining open space
Living in balance with biodiversity
Producing high quality food
Restoring watersheds
Creating stable, living soils
Achieving community

There are two Diablo Trust Ranches, the Flying M and the Bar T Bar and all of the beef for the Diablo Burgers comes exclusively from one or the other.

These are both big, serious working ranches in addition to the educational and research commitment that comes with their association with the Trust. How big and serious? The Bar-T-Bar alone, at any given time runs about 800 commercial cows, 800 replacement heifers, and 400 registered cows.

The Bar T Bar Ranch infrastructure includes:

587 miles of fence
41 miles of buried pipeline
73 steel and concrete drinking tubs
47 miles of canals and ditches
286 earthen reservoirs and stock ponds
19 working corrals and shipping facilities
5 line camps
68 pastures, 3 cell-grazing systems with 34 paddocks
15 holding traps
19 deep wells (450–1,000 feet)

The Dog Days of Connecticut - Hot-Doggin' it, day 3 (part 7)

2011-08-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

July 30 2011, Day three (and four)of "The Great 2011 CT Hot Dog Tour" continued...
(go back to part 6)

Salem Valley Ice Cream

Having eaten up (so to speak) much of our extra time before needing to head up to Beltane Farm by the unscheduled clam shack stop, and in light of the growing traffic situation along the scenic coast road we had planned to take, we re-evaluated the situation. Cynthia found the perfect solution... another near-by food stop!

Salem Valley Ice Cream is often described as one of Connecticut's very best but their location (in Salem of all places) had never been convenient to our travels. Fortunately us, Cynthia discovered that they also have an outlet right in Niantic, just a few blocks from where we were.

So we navigated our way to the Gumdrops and Lollipops Ice Cream and Candy Shoppe

We eventually located the little ice cream window off to one side of the main building.

After studying the menu, and confirming that they, indeed sold only Salem Valley Ice Cream (for some reason that fact was not promoted or otherwise to be found anywhere there), we ordered.

Cynthia was overjoyed to have finally found a place that served Orange Pineapple ice cream and ordered a small cone. I couldn't make up my mind and so enlisted the help over the phone of Kathryn way back in AZ. Despite it being just 9am for her there (still a bit before ice-cream time), she was very helpful and we eventually decided on a small cone of Ginger ice cream for me.

My indecision and conference calling time turned out to be strategically positive events because after Cynthia got her cone the designated scooper-girl inside apparently changed. Mine cone was almost twice the size of hers! At least C&J were good sports helping me finish it

My Rating: 8 out of 10. My ginger cone was really quite good with a nice peppery ginger punch. C was less than thrilled with hers (part I'm sure because it was so scrimpy) and none of us thought it was as good as the ice cream we'd had yesterday at Wentworth's.

Beltane Farm

Having now completely used up our extra time, we hit the road, traveling via the most direct route we could find. to Beltane Farm.

The navigating was superb and we pulled into the farm driveway with 2 minutes to spare before our appointment. As it turned out, we needn't have hurried.

This farm, like all the others we had visited, was absolutely gorgeous. Lush green pastures, picturesque barns, majestic trees, bucolic animals.

After some exploring around and a lot of hollering, I finally located a young man working in one of the barns. I introduced myself and told him I had a 1pm appointment with Paul. He said Paul had gone to the dump but should be back soon. Paul had not mentioned our visit to him but he did not seem surprised at that or the fact that he was not here.

So we wandered around for a while, checking out the cute little tasting house, visiting with some of the animals, eventually just sitting the shade to wait. We noticed that there were a lot of nice little sitting areas, and hammocks and such and I wondered if they were there for visitors. I can remember the last time I kicked back in a hammock - the dairy business just isn't very conducive to lazy afternoon naps.

Paul arrived about 30 minutes later and seemed, at first, puzzled by our presence. I jogged his memory a bit and he quickly turned quite gracious and invited us to sit at a shady table and chat for a while. We exchanged general descriptions of our operations but then he had to take off for a few minutes to help a worker get ready for a farmers market he was he heading to. We played with the cat.

Soon Paul returned and we talked more about his set-up. He is currently milking 12 goats. Apparently it is his partner-farm, Oak Leaf Dairy, about 9miles up the road, that is the more intense commercial operation milking about 100 does. Never the less, Paul says he keeps very busy, despite having about 6 other workers at this location.

Paul then offered the tour and off we all went. We started with the tasting house and then did a short walking tour of some of the grounds as he moved a few cows to a different pasture.

Most of the time Paul was the very picture of the laid-back farmer (I could easily imagine a blade of grass languidly rolling around his mouth as he talked). He would pull at his bare chest hairs absent-mindedly as he spoke, and pause to slowly scratch an itch as he considered an answer to a question.

Then there was the other Paul. Every once in a while there would be a spark as he told a story or discussed a common situation (especially when talking about regulators and the like). A twinkle would come to his eyes and he would become animated for a few minutes before the mood would subside again. He switched quickly and often between topics over the course of the tour, from cheese to goats, from milk to markets, from regulators to pricing, from history to future plans.

We then moved inside and toured some of the cheese-making facilities including the milking parlor, milk room, cheese room, aging "cave", and finished product storage areas.

He then took us outside again and back to see some of the goats. They looked very contented and relaxed (kind of like Paul, come to think of it).

A well-weather man drove up in an old truck while we were speaking to Paul and began pumping liquid from a large plastic tank next to the dairy barn into another one in his truck. Paul introduced us to his "pig man" who carts off his whey in exchange for some pork form time to time. I'm embarrassed that I didn't catch his name or that of his farm, but he was a fascinating character.

His current project is the development, through breeding, of a very specific type of hog that would be used in the production of an all-American Spanish-style dry-cured ham. This ham, he said, brings upwards of $200 a lb in Spain and he is hoping, within about 5 years, to have perfected the animals and partnered with a company to do the processing. Look for it soon in a specialty foods store near you!

As we wrapped up our visit with Paul I asked if he had some cheeses we could buy. I told him that Kathryn would never forgive me if I came home from a goat cheese diary empty-handed (and bringing home a goat was out of the question!). He took me in the back, handed me several pieces and refused when I reached for my wallet. Thanks Paul!

Paul's operation and his approach to his dairy and his animals is quite different from ours back home at the Ranch and it was very interesting to see things from a different perspective. It was a very interesting and worthwhile visit and we are all glad we made the trip.

Essex Steam Train

For Jim, no vacation would be worthy of the name without including some form of train watching or riding and the Essex Steam Train depot was only minutes off our planned route. Coincidentally, we also needed to get fuel for the rental car so I dropped C & J off to see the train and check out the gift shop while I got gas.

The timing was about perfect because just minutes after as I got back to pick them up the big steam train pulled out of the station and Cynthia was able to record a video of its departure on her I-Phone. Preserved for posterity, again.

Johnny Ad's

Just 15 minutes from the train station we found our next food stop - Johnny Ad's in Saybrook

Johnny Ad's bills itself as "An Original American Drive-In" restaurant and it's exactly that and while the menu offers all the great drive-in specialties including hot dogs, we are here today for the clams.

"Big-Belly" whole fried clams are desperately needed as it has been nearly four hours since our last meal. We order a "small" to spilt plus a few beverages and go wait in the indoor seating area until our order number is called.

Once again, the clams are gorgeous. Served still sizzling with a good-sized side container of tartar sauce and a wedge of lemon we dig in...

...and polish of the platter in an amazingly sort period of time.

My score: 9 out of 10. Why not ten? I don't know. I still feel that to get a perfect 10 something needs to be extra special. Besides, I'm mad at them for not being interested in opening a location in Snowflake Arizona.

The Clam Castle

While the clams at Johnny Ad's were excellent, how do know that the next place won't be even better? Of course we won't unless we try them. Less than 30 minutes down the road we come to The Clam Castle in Madison and yes, believe it or not, we're ready for more.

We follow two large groups in from the parking lot and find that there is already a fairly significant line crowded into the ordering area. This could take a while.

Or not. We notice that everybody (and there has to be at least 25 people in there) is staring at the rather complex and detailed menu board and talking amongst themselves. Nobody is actually ordering from either of the waiting cashiers.

"Is ANYBODY ready to order!?" hollers out one of the sweaty and frazzled-looking young women over the din.

Well, hells bells, WE ARE so I stepped right up and ordered our small basket of whole fried clams etc, paid, and got our number all within a few seconds. We were comfortably settled into one of the booths across from the order window, sipping our drinks well before the next people in line had figured out what they wanted. Amateurs!

Here come the clams! And AGAIN they are exquisite! Huge moist bellies, tender "rubberband" (mantle) parts, golden brown, crispy, hot and wonderful. How can every place we go to have clams be so good when we've been having such a hard time finding even a decent hot dog? How hard can that be? The clam shacks of Connecticut are restoring my faith in road food again.

Served in the typical paper tray with the ubiquitous cup of tartar sauce and a wedge of lemon this basket could have been served at any of the previous stops we've made. But wait, there IS something...

I don't catch what it is right off the bat but I am aware that this platter is definitely different. I like it, but what the heck is it? Then it hits me. It's the tartar sauce.

All of the previous sauces we've had have been pretty much the same. Basically mayonnaise, pickle relish, lemon juice, and maybe a touch of parsley. If any of them have had capers (actually more typical in "remoulade sauce" than tartar but he difference is often obscure), they were used in such judicious amounts as to be undetectable. This sauce was very similar with one small but important change. All of the others had used sweet pickle relish in the recipe while this one had used dill pickle relish. Who knew such a small change could make such a big difference? It was an epiphanic moment.

My rating: 10 out of 10. A perfect pile of clams in a classic fry-house atmosphere, bumped up a notch by the surprisingly good tartar sauce. I was tempted to knock off a point for not being right on the water but heck, I'm the guy who wants to have a clam shack in his little town in AZ so I can get my regular fix. Besides, water-front property is so expensive I'm not sure I could afford these same clams served there.

Goat Wine

Having accomplished what we wanted to along the shoreline we begin to make our way back in the general direction of our motel. We come across a lovely little town (completely missed the name of it, however) having something of a festival. Lots of booths and tables on the sidewalks, strolling entertainers here and there, lots of people. There is supposed to be a good chocolate shop somewhere along there and Cynthia say's she needs a little "walk". This is code fordoing a little shopping so we find a place to park and go strolling.

Jim ducks into a book store while C and I continue on to the chocolate shop. It turns out to be more of a gift shop that happens to have a small case of assorted chocolates on display - it is certainly not a chocolate shop. Oh well, were here so we work on putting together a little box of assorted pieces.

I notice that most of the pieces on one tray of dipped chocolates in the display case are badly "bloomed" (damaged by heat or humidity with a very unappealing grey pallor to them), and point this out to the girl working the counter.

"Oh, I know. They're really funky looking, aren't they? Don't worry I won't put any of those in your box".

No she certainly was not going to put any of them into our box, but I explained that I brought it up because I thought she might consider removing them from the display.

"No, they're fine. They won't hurt anything" she replied.

Alrighty sweet pea, whatever you say. They're not going to hurt anything but sales, and it's none of my business.

Back on the street we meet up with Jim again and notice a wine shop having a major inventory blow-out sale (I assume they are going out of business) with everything at least 25% off and several racks and bins at 40% or more off. We all spot some amazing deals and lament that our travel plans do not let us take advantage. One bin catches my eye and I can't resist taking a snapshot to send Kathryn back home...

Having shopped sufficiently, we head back to the car to resume our journey

Blackies

It's about 7pm and we're back in Cheshire, where our motel is, but there is one more hot dog place we all really wanted to try. Blackies in Cheshire isn't open on Fridays at all. It has something to do with Catholics formerly not being allowed to eat meat on Fridays and the tradition being continued here despite the church's change of policy. So anyway, Saturday (today) was our one shot at getting to this iconic dog joint.

After getting some help with directions we head out of town on Waterbury Road and eventually come Blackies.

Ordering at Blackies couldn't be easier. Just tell them how many you want. We ordered two.

The dogs at Blackies are Hummel Bros hot dogs, a local CT brand. They are deep fried until they burst. One of Blackies main claims to fame is their special "house secret" pepper relish so, naturally I slathered mine with plenty of that plus a little mustard.

I was impressed. That was one very tasty dog! The deep-frying really crisped up the dog and despite having burst it seams, it still had a good snap. It was darned hot too. The relish really was something special and unlike so many "secret sauces" etc, it was actually a positive addition to the dog. A unique combination of sweet and spice, it was good enough to eat plain and I found myself putting on more the one would for just another hot dog condiment.

Blackies was pretty busy and it was fun watching the regular locals come in and listening to the good natured banter running around the room . Recognizing them, the counter man would simply ask "5 or 6 tonight?" as they approached the counter.

My score: 10 out of 10. Being a bit punchy and bloated from the previous two days' (over)indulgences I'm pretty sure I would not have scored Blackies so highly as we walked out their doors. I don't think I even finished my one dog, but it was through no fault of theirs. In retrospect, there is no question that it was a great dog. I suppose the most telling fact is that sitting here 2000 miles and more than a week away from my Blackies visit, the remembrance of that pepper relish is still making me salivate, just a little.

YellowFin's

It's 8:30 PM and we've finally gotten back at our motel. We're pretty much wrung-out from our excursions and SO not looking forward to that 4:45am wake-up call we would be getting in order to get me to the airport in time for my morning flight back to AZ.

On the other hand, it IS Saturday night and our last night of vacation. Maybe we should go out to a nice dinner, get a bottle of wine...? Oh, what the hell, let's do it!

We had noticed what looked to be a nice but casual seafood restaurant just down the street from the motel so we put our shoes back on and walked the couple of blocks down to YellowFin's Seafood Grille.

The restaurant was not crowded so we were immediately seated in a nice booth. We ordered a bottle of dry white wine (can't remember what it was) and a plate of fried calamari as a starter.

The calamari was served with a light marinara sauce and was sprinkled with crumbled blue cheese - a fairly bold and different approach to this classic appetizer but it really worked. It was very good blue cheese and I found myself eating way more than was my share.

For entrees I ordered a Lobster pasta dish, Cynthia ordered Swordfish, and I'm not sure what Jim ordered. Somewhere right around this point in the meal my blogging/reporting skills completely turned off. Maybe it was the wine or fatigue or a combination but the rest of the meal is a blur.

I know that my pasta dish was very tasty and remember picking all of the lobster out to eat but leaving most of the angel hair and cream sauce untouched. I think Cynthia did a pretty good job on her swordfish but was unable to eat even one of the beautiful asparagus spears that accompanied it (fortunately Jim helped out there). Having finished all we cared to the waitress, looking at our unfinished plates, asked how many doggie-bags we wanted and when told that we were traveling and could not take anything, whisked the pates away without making us feel any more disappointed then we already were.

We were most of the way back to the motel before we realized that none of us had taken a single picture, or made a single note after the appetizer had appeared. The vacation was definitely over.

My Score: "I'd go back". In fairness to YellowFin's, that's the best I can offer. Maybe someday I really will have the opportunity to go back and do it right!

One More Dog

Sunday 7/31/2011

It was a long day of traveling that started very early but the travel Gods were smiling, TSA was efficient (but definitely NOT smiling), the weather was good, and everything went smoothly. After one plane change in Chicago I arrived in Phoenix around 1PM local time. With several hours to kill before my puddle-jumper commuter flight up to Show Low and stomach that thought two bags of peanuts and a few Oreo cookies was not enough for 12 hours of being awake, I found myself sitting in the sports bar restaurant in Terminal 2.

What's on the menu? Among other things a bratwurst sandwich with roasted peppers and you know what? That sounds pretty good, so I ordered it.

Sorry, no pictures, but it wasn't bad for airport food and it definitely beat the heck out of some of the other dogs I had consumed on this trip.

My Rating: 6 out of 10. About the worst ambiance I can imagine and priced high for because of the captive audience factor, it was still a pretty good sandwich.

The Dog Days of Connecticut - Hot-Doggin' it, day 3 (part 6)

2011-08-07T13:52:00.004-07:00

July 30 2011, Day three of "The Great 2011 CT Hot Dog Tour" continued... (back to part 5)

Athenian II Diner

No need to get up at the crack of dawn this morning as our first scheduled stop (a sheep's milk cheese dairy) doesn't open until 10am, so we get up when we feel like it and head to North Haven to the Athenian II Diner for a leisurely breakfast.

I'm kind of a stodgy traditionalist as far as "diners" are concerned, I guess. To me diners are basically supposed to look like old art deco railroad dining cars. The Athenian II looked to me pretty much like your ordinary, every-day run of the mill, site-built, brick-and-mortar modern family restaurant - outside and in.

I said as much to Jim and he immediately told me I was a complete idiot. Of course he didn't come right out and say it - he is WAY too nice a guy to be so brutally honest (besides, I was doing the driving and had the rental car keys in my pocket and he probably didn't want to get left there).

What he actually did was educate me, reading from a guide book all about the company who manufactured it, how the modular pieces were constructed, transported and assembled, concluding with a full architectural review of the style in which it was built. OK, OK! I give up! It's a real DINER!

Having settled the building's pedigree, we moved on to the business at hand: breakfast. The menu offered pretty standard faire with a bit of eclectic ethnicity here and there but (for a place called the "Athenian") no real Greek influence I could discern. I ordered Challa Bread French Toast, Cynthia had a griddled cheese Danish with a side of sausage, and Jim asked for 2 eggs scrambled, toast and home fries.

The food came out fast and looked good, if a bit sanitized. I don't know what I was expecting but it all seemed very plain and boring.

Perhaps the problem stemmed from the inevitable comparisons to yesterday's outstanding breakfast at O'Rourke's Diner in Middletown. Definitely no soft-shelled crab on this breakfast menu!

Regardless, we tucked into it hoping for the best. Cynthia was the first to comment. She said that her Danish was "weird". It looked pretty good - nicely browned but she was right, it tasted flat. We came to the conclusion that we had expected it to be sweet and it wasn't. Not even a little bit. How very strange. Her sausages were the skinless type. OK flavor but they had been cooked a while ago and I thought held too long.

I was also disappointed with my French toast. I found it undercooked. Here my dining companions again disagreed with me completely. Both C&J thought it was very good French toast and, in fact, ended up eating most of it off my plate. I don't like well-done, dry French toast either but this was just plain snotty to me. What I called "snotty" they called "custardy". Different strokes for different folks.

I was also seriously off-put by the fake butter that accompanied my breakfast (GROSS!!) and the little packets of Smucker's "breakfast syrup" on the plate. I admit that I am a total Maple syrup snob. I grew up watching my grandfather make the real stuff and nothing else ever appeared on our tables at home. While I can fully appreciate that most restaurants can't just put jugs of real maple syrup on their tables without going out of business within a week, there is no reason why it can not be offered as a paid upgrade option for those of us who care. This affront seems more egregious when one has traveled thousands of miles to a region that makes some of the best maple syrup in the world.

Jim said his breakfast was "fine" but most of the pasty home fries were still on his plate when we left.

My Score: 5 out of 10. I would (kind of ) like to go back and give them another shot, but not enough to do anything about it. Too many other fish in the ocean.

Sankow's Beaver Brook Farm

Mark, the cheese maker at Cato Farm where we had visited yesterday, suggested that we try and make it to Sankow's farm in Lyme if at all possible. Officially known as Beaver Brook Farm, the Sankows, who have kept the 175 acres in the family since 1917, have developed it into a multi-faceted agricultural enterprise. Largely a sheep operation now, they are known for their sheep and cow's milk cheeses as well as wool products and meat.

It was a gorgeous back-road drive to the farm through cute hamlets and breath-taking New England scenery. The amount of greenery and vegetation was all but overwhelming to this desert rat and I admit to making some uncalled-for comments about deer ticks and Lyme disease. Give rattlesnakes, tarantulas and scorpions any day!

Upon our arrival at the farm we were greeted by a classic Connecticut farmstead scene: White clapboard house, red barns, big trees, rolling grass lands etc.

And sheep. We were greeted by two very curious young sheep.

Knowing it was a long shot (it was Saturday morning after all and we didn't have an appointment) I proceeded to the cheese shop in hopes of meeting one of the owners or cheese makers. Unfortunately I was out of luck. Everybody was at the various farmers markets they work and the only one left on the farm was a very nice, if somewhat clueless, intern who had been working there just 2 weeks.

She said for us to feel free to wander around but could not give me permission to go into the cheese-making rooms (completely understandable). I did get a couple of photos of the cheese room through a window.

We also checked out the milking parlor and the wool store.

With nothing much more for us to do there, I bought some cheese from the store and we headed to our next destination.

Bobby's Place

We were running a little ahead of schedule (not that we actually had a firm schedule) and got to Bobby's Place in Niantic about 30 minutes before it opened at 11am. Cynthia immediately spotted some "shopportunities" and ducked into one of the nearby gee-gaw shops while Jim and I parked ourselves at the sidewalk umbrella table of a little café-bakery. It was already getting quite warm and soon Jim went in and bought a donut from the bakery. I'm not sure if he did this to get cool, because he felt guilty about taking up their table space (not that it was needed) or if he was still needing more breakfast.

With a good view of Bobbies, we waited and watched a woman working inside and then come out to open the umbrellas on their picnic tables. Eventually we saw a couple approach the order window and leave with some food so we headed on over.

Bobby's Place is a real hot dog STAND in the truest sense. This is because the single, solitary person squeezed into the tiny kitchen has to STAND all the time. There is barely room to turn around, let alone sit down. Bobby's is located in a converted drive-through Photo Mat kiosk.

Cute as a button, Bobby's is a testament to Yankee ingenuity and logistical planning. I've worked in some small kitchens before but this is amazing. This is obviously not a place were a lot of from-scratch cooking is done but it looks like a perfect adaptation for a hot dog joint.

The menu is pretty standard for the area but we don't really need to look any way.

Cynthia and Jim split a plain dog, I order a kraut one and we settled in at one of the tables provided. It's a lovely morning and we're less than a block from Long Island Sound, with a good view of the water. Most excellent ambiance!

The dogs came up and we head around to the side of the little building to the condiment bar (mustard, relish,ketchup and paper napkins) to load up.

C&J's dog looks good but mine is scary. The dog itself looks alright but the sauerkraut is nasty looking. It's kind of a dark grey color and very unappetizing.

It almost looks like it was made from purple cabbage - but it wasn't. I take a sniff... nothing. No characteristic sour/salty/fermented aroma. I'm not sure if this is bad or good. At least it didn't smell rotted. I go to take a small taste. Cynthia: "Are you NUTS?" Me: "I just want to try it". Cynthia: "It looks gross!" Me: "I don't want to waste it". Cynthia: "Its a $3 hot dog...THROW IT AWAY!"

Well, she was right and I did chuck it but not before eating most of the meat(which was pretty good) and taking another small sample of the kraut. It was as tasteless as it was scent-less. I'm not even sure how one could get sauerkraut to taste like shredded paper, let alone achieve such an unnatural color. My best guess was that kraut dogs must not be very popular here and this kraut had been around a very, very long time.

Just couldn't eat it. Yuck.

My score: 4 out of 10. Cute only gets you so far. Despite the outstanding ambiance, it was only an OK bun, OK dog. The disgusting kraut was a deal killer.

Skippers

Our next scheduled stop was at Beltane Farm, a goat cheese dairy in Lebanon CT at 1pm. With an hour and a half left to make the 45 minute drive, we selected a scenic route that would take us a ways along the coast and then up along the west side of the Connecticut River.

Ahh, the best laid plans... We left Bobby's, drove a block down to the water, made a left turn and there, staring us in the faces, was our first official clam shack of the trip. I immediately pulled in without asking the others, feeling the need to put something in my mouth to make up for that kraut.

We'd arrived at Skippers.

Skippers was right across the street from the water with plentiful seating, about half outside and half in. Brightly lit and sparkling clean it sported an extensive and colorful menu board featuring primarily fried seafood.

Without hesitation I ordered the Fresh Whole Clam Roll. Cynthia and Jim got drinks only.

I took my number and we went outside to enjoy the view. Traffic along the coastal road was picking up steadily, sometimes moving at only a crawl. Not unexpected for a mid-summer Saturday morning. Soon my number was called and I picked up my plate at the window.

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! The over-abundance of calms spilling out of the bun were accompanied by a little cup of tartar sauce and some potato chips. Grabbing a clam off the plate, a quick pass at the sauce and into my mouth. Mmmmm ouch, Ouch, OUCH! OK, I maybe should have waited for it to cool a little but oh my, what a delicious clam. By the time I had gotten to the third or fourth one they stopped burning my mouth but it was hard to slow down. Sweet, salty with a perfect breading crunch. All-around excellent. Even Cynthia, who has never been a big whole-clam eater, tried a few and thought them very good.

I always think of the bun on a clam roll as being superfluous. Ordering a roll is an easy way of getting a small order of clams, but I had to laugh outloud in this case. The bun was the flat-sided, New England-style kind and it had been perfectly griddled in a little butter. At last, I'd found the exact hot dog bun I'd been looking for and there wasn't a hotdog in sight!

The tartar sauce was tasty and it was a relief not to have been given those awful little portion packets that so many places have taken to using. Even the chips were good - thick waffle cut and crispy.

My Score: 9 out of 10. Skippers put on no airs of pretension and did exactly what a clam shack was supposed to do. Provide great food at reasonable prices with a casual shore line atmosphere.

(To be continued)

The Dog Days of Connecticut - Hot-Doggin' it, day 2 (part 5)

2011-08-05T23:47:00.001-07:00

July 29 2011, Day two of "The Great 2011 CT Hot Dog Tour" continued... (back to part 4)

Louis Lunch

It's about 4PM and, ready for a change of pace, we're at Louis Lunch in New Haven.

Housed in an historic and, quite honestly, one of the cutest little buildings you can imagine, Louis serves burgers and only burgers. As a matter of fact, they bill themselves as "The Birthplace of the Hamburger Sandwich". Established in 1895, the story goes that in 1900 the proprietor Louis Lassen, whipped one up out of steak trimmings for a customer on the run and history was made. Today the shop is run by Louis's great grand son Jeff Lassen and Jeff has kept the menu simple.

The menu offers: Burgers or cheese burgers with or without onions and tomatoes. Period. (And don't even think of asking for ketchup or mustard).

OK, they do also offer potato salad and little bags of chips as sides and coffee or pie for dessert.

In addition to their great location, adorable building, irresistible story and their rich history, their unique method of cooking the hamburgers is another of their draws. The burgers are arranged on squeeze racks and cooked vertically in special antique gas cookers.

Oh. And the burgers aren't served on buns, but between two slices of white bread (NO you can not have whole wheat!), run through a conveyor toaster.

Well,for having arrived far off any peak meal period, the place was still jumping. We were fortunate to find three stools at the counter where we could observe the ordering/cooking process. "Ritual" might be a better word.

Our orders were taken by the counter man who takes payment and sets up the paper plates necessary . Amid much banter and back-talk he relays the order to the burger man who works the burger cookers, and assembles the sandwiches. The burgers are portioned ahead into large balls and stacked in a pan. The burger man flattens the balls, fixes them to the racks, and cooks them to order, so you can expect it to take a little while to fill an order (burgers are always cooked medium rare unless you tell them you want it cooked more in which case it takes a little longer). He also slices the tomatoes and onions to order for each sandwich and puts it all together on the toast that the two of them have somehow managed to keep flowing out of the conveyor.

Once assembled the sandwiches are popped onto the waiting paper plates with a paper napkin tossed on top and presented to the customer.

I got a burger with "the works"...

...and accompanied it with another New England favorite, birch beer (a carbonated soft drink made from the bark of the black birch tree, and tastes a bit like root beer). This one was made by Foxon Park just down the road in East Haven CT. Foxon Park distinguishes itself by using only sugar in making its beverages instead of the more commonly found high fructose corn syrup.

So. How was the burger? I was in the minority of the three of us when I later described it as "just OK". Once the weekend was over and we did a review, Jim went as far as to rate it as the best food product of the whole trip. I didn't get that at all.

I found the meat to be nicely cooked and juicy but under-seasoned (if seasoned at all). The white bread toast was less than forgettable, I thought it detracted from the whole, and the house policy of not providing/allowing condiments an unnecessary conceit.

I know that the "My way or the Highway", "no substitutions", "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude has become more prevalent in recent years among chefs and at many top-end restaurants, and while I don't think anybody really believed that the "The customer is always right", the opposite attitude that "we know better than you" bothers me. It more often than not comes across as "We don't really care what you want and don't need your business that badly". Jeez guys, it's just a hamburger, hows about a little ketchup?

On the up side of things, the ambiance of the place was off the charts. I felt like a regular customer settling into my favorite seat, surrounded by friends. The atmosphere was cozy, warm and inviting with the business's storied history practically oozing out of the walls. The lightening fast, back-and-worth patter of the countermen, with their distinctive CT/New England accents was the perfect sound track for the meal.

My rating: 8 out of 10. Everybody should make the pilgrimage to Louis at least once. If you like it, great! Go back often. If not... well, they really don't need your business anyway!

Wentworth's

5 PM. Heading back toward our motel we go via Hamden so we can stop in at Wentworth's for some Homemade Ice Cream

Wentworth's ice cream parlor is located in beautifully cared for classical-styled New England clapboard house right on the main road.

They offered dozens of flavors with a bevy of young women flying around scooping and saucing and whip-creaming and putting cherries on top. Everyone was friendly and efficient.

I ordered a small dish of Butter Pecan and C got Butter Brickle (pieces of crushed butterscotch candy in buttercream ice cream).

Oh my, this was some heavenly ice cream! By far the best I'd had in a long time. Unfortunately we were both a bit too full from all the day's activities to finish our dishes. The good news? Our motel rooms included small refrigerator/freezers! To Go Please!

My rating: 9 out of 10. The only negative thing I can think of is that the over-all cleanliness wasn't that great. Granted, it was the end of a hot summer's day and they had, no doubt, been busy from the time they opened, but...(can't give it a 10). Never the less, I would not hesitate to go back in a second, should the opportunity present itself. As a matter of fact, I regret that we did not have the chance to go back again on this trip.

The Hot Dog Case

Almost back to the motel, we popped into a grocery store, just down the street for a few beers for tonight and beverages for tomorrow.

Back at the beginning of the entries for this trip I made a reference to CT as being a "hot dog mecca". I thought it was just that there were a lot of good and well-known hot dog joints and restaurants in the state but apparently the wiener vein runs much deeper than that. Take a look at this large, free-standing refrigerator case we came across (conveniently at the end of the beer aisle) completely filled with hot dogs!...

This is not a huge grocery store but there must be thousands of hot dogs here and certainly dozens of makers, styles and varieties. We're definitely in the right place. 'Nuff said.

Planning Department

I would hate to have you think that we just happened to stumble across all of these diverse and interesting places just by luck. The truth is that we (mostly Cynthia) have been planning this trip for weeks. By the time we had all gathered here, she had prepared a detailed itinerary including maps, coordinates, reference pages marked in various travel and foodie books and guides. Hours were spent doing online research. Cynthia even managed to personally contact a well-respected CT food blogger to get her most recent and updated advice for our travels across the state.

But plans change and evolve. We found out today from Mark at Cato Dairy that there was a sheep dairy in the area that we should really try to go see. We'd also already hit a couple of the places on tomorrow's schedule so we took a little time this evening to re-plan the best route for tomorrow.

Where would we be without in-room WiFi and lap-top computers?!

(Continued Here)

The Dog Days of Connecticut - Hot-Doggin' it, day 2 (part 4)

2011-08-04T01:02:00.003-07:00

July 29 2011, Day two of "The Great 2011 CT Hot Dog Tour" continued...
(back to part 3)

Capitol Lunch

Getting hungry by now (just kidding), we headed to New Britain to visit Capitol Lunch.

Capitol is not a lunch cart or true hotdog stand as were all the other hot dog places we'd visited so far, but a real bricks-and-mortar restaurant with indoor seating. Not a fine dining room by any stretch of the imagination it is actually several steps down from most fast food chains' dining areas - but we're not here for the decor.

We're here for the dogs. This is one of those places of legendary reputation. Founded in 1929 it has a loyal local following. As we approached the ordering window, we didn't have to ask what type of dog they were famous for. It was right on their main sign outside and prominently displayed all over their menu board. "Hot Dogs with the Famous Sauce".

According to the folks at Capitol, their Famous Sauce (always reverently capitalized) is "Made the same way Grandpa Art made it years ago, not hot, no beans; just meat and spices". They even sell it on the side, by the pint.

Anyway, this made ordering easy. We got a couple "with the works" and the obligatory extra kraut dog/mustard/relish as a control, and a side of onion rings just to see how they were. Within seconds of ordering, up they popped at the pick-up station.

[Sigh] doesn't anybody in New England use New England-style buns anymore? Well, not here, that's for sure, and they didn't toast them here either so I was prepared for another messy disaster. To my delight, the dogs each held up well as I lifted them from the styrofoam plate (these are the equivalent to fine china at a hot dog joint). Somebody had been paying attention in the kitchen and had actually drained the sauerkraut! Be still my beating heart!

And the sauce (I mean the Famous Sauce), is apparently a bit thicker than what we'd been seeing so far as it had not soaked all into the bun. It was, however an amazing color. Most of the sauces we'd ween had been shades of red this one was brown, Very brown. Dark brown to the point of almost being black.

Time for the first bite, I went for the house dog at the same time as Cynthia bit into hers. In lieu of a lengthy description, here's a picture.

It was awful. Like eating mud. Weird, clove and cinnamon-scented mud. The upside? Well, it didn't need salt! To our credit we stuck with it and ate a few more bites before giving in to the fact that we all hated this Famous Sauce. We cleaned up our table and left in a hurry.

My score: 2 out of 10. In all honesty, I don't even remember what the dog tasted like. I couldn't taste it under the sauce at all and I can't remember how it was under the kraut. My best clue is that there was still some on my plate when I was done. The onion rings were fried from frozen, the ambiance was non-existent, and their house specialty was disgusting. In talking to a friend about it, Cynthia quoted her as saying "You know, Capitol Lunch was kind of a big deal when I was in college there but that sauce is kind of scary to me now". Amen.

By the way, for those of you who who are Capitol fans and think I'm being too harsh, I'm going to throw you a bone. It's a big bone. I have discovered the secret to the Famous Sauce. It's right there on their web site and I'm going to share it with you now...

" The beginnings of Capitol Lunch didn't start with hot dogs oddly enough. The location was originally a little shoe shine shop that began to sell hot dogs to attract customers. "

Got too much shoe polish and too few customers? Invent a Famous Sauce for hot dogs!

The Glenwood

OK, So the whole hot dog tour isn't going all that well. For whatever reason, we seem to be hitting all the low spots instead of the highs but nobody is talking about quitting. Ever the eternal optimists, we soldier on to our next destination: The Glenwood Drive-in in Hamden.

The signs outside give us a boost of optimism by promising "char-broiled" dogs, something we have not yet encountered in our samples so far. Similar to Capitol Lunch, The Glenwood is not a true hot dog stand with a walk-up window but, instead, has a dining area indoors. This is probably a good thing because it has started to rain.

The order counter is tidy and efficiently run and we place our orders almost without thinking about it. Me: 2 dogs - one kraut, one with chili. C&J: split a dog, kraut on 1/2 of it (yes, I'm rolling my eyes, just a bit).

Another encouraging sign is the condiment bar adjacent to the pick-up window. It featured half a dozen, or more, assorted mustards, relishes, ketchup etc.

Our orders are soon ready, we make a stop for condiments and head off to a table to eat.

The dogs are "foot-long" dogs, grilled over an open flame until a little brown and almost bursting. They fit the buns well and SURPRISE!!! the buns are actually New England-style AND toasted! The Glenwood is really racking up the points today! Now for the taste testing...

Now, is that a face that could sell hot dogs, or what? Oh yes, happy campers all around here. The dogs are delicious. Plump, juicy with a very nice grill flavor. These are, by far the best dogs we've had on this trip. Even my chili dog was good - the meat sauce mildly spicy with a nice dose of cumin and even a few kidney beans thrown in for interest. My only regret is that I had wasted prime stomach space on some of those previous dogs and just didn't have room to finish these. They were that good.

My Rating: 9 out of 10. Glenwood lost a point from my ideal only because of its "ambiance". If it had been an open -air stand (never mind the rain) I think it would have been a 10.

Kelly's Kone Konection

Conveniently located adjacent to The Glenwood (actually in the same building), Kelly's Kone Konnection is, pretty obviously, an ice cream parlor. While not on the official itinerary for the trip, we couldn't resist.

Kelly's (and yes there really is a "Kelly" at Kelly's) had about 20 flavors but I already knew what I was in the mood for.

A small hot fudge sundae (a sign said they make their own fudge sauce right here) with mint-chocolate chip ice cream. C&J split a small dish of caramel swirl.

They were both good, but nothing earth-shakingly outstanding.

My score: 7 out of 10

(Continued Here)

The Dog Days of Connecticut - Hot-Doggin' it, day 2 (part 3)

2011-08-03T03:07:00.003-07:00

(back to part 2)

July 29 2011, Day two of "The Great 2011 CT Hot Dog Tour" continued...

Harry's Place

It's about 11:45am, nearly 30 hours since I left the Ranch. and we have finally made it to our first hot dog stand of the trip. We've arrived at Harry's Place in Colchester.

We wandered over to the menu board to initiate our attack.

In discussing the plan previously, we had decided that we want to give each place it's fair shot at impressing us. Pre-trip research has revealed that most of the dog stands have a specialty of the house, and that most of these specialties feature a dog that includes some kind of "meat sauce" on them. I've never been that big of a fan of meat sauces, chilis etc on my hot dogs but maybe that's because I've never had a great one.

My personal standard for the perfect hot dog goes something like this: natural skin dog (any length), cooked so the dog has a nice "snap". This pretty much eliminates steamed and boiled dogs but leaves the field wide open for grilling, griddling, frying etc. The dog should be presented in an appropriate-to-dog-sized New England-style bun (2 flat sides with a slit down the middle for the dog), that has been nicely toasted in a little butter. Condiments of choice: spicy brown mustard, pickle relish, and sauerkraut.

I've decided that the only reasonable thing to do is to order two dogs at each place. One "house special" , and one "David-style".

Looking at Harry's menu I find myself curiously uninspired. It's been nearly 5 hours since that amazing breakfast at O'Rourke's but only about 20 minutes since we finished a generous tasting about 8 different cheeses at Cato Farm. Nothing to do but "Man-Up" (a phrase that would come up repeatedly over the next 2 days), and order.

At the window we could see a platoon of hotdogs lined up for inspection on the grill inside, lookin' good, but not quite good enough to make me truly hungry yet.

Fortunately for me, when asked what was the house special dog, the counterman said "Well, pretty much anything you like. They're all good." Off the hook on my first outing, I ordered just one David-style dog.

I picked up the dog at the next window when my order was announced, as did Cynthia and Jim who would be splitting a single plain dog (light-weights!), and we all proceeded over to one of conveniently-located picnic tables out front near the road. There were also several tables on the side of the building in a very pretty grassy area but we decided to stay and watch the action at the counter.

Well, it wasn't a NE-style bun and it wasn't toasted. Too bad because the dog inside was pretty good. Well-browned on the griddle, it had a nice moderate "snap" to the casing. Harry's also got some bonus points because they put on a brown mustard automatically, with out my having to asked specifically for it. Unfortunately that wasn't enough to counter the problem with the kraut. While flavorful, it had not been drained sufficiently and by the time we'd gotten to our seats, the juice had already sogged it's way through the bun and was pooling in the paper tray.

A hot dog is supposed to be hand-held food but every attempt to pick this dog up was fruitless. The kraut juice soaked bun wouldn't hold its shape, the dog slipped out onto the paper tray as the rest disintegrated into a less-than-appetizing pile with a resounding "plop" . This is one of the problems with typical steamed buns. Sure, they're soft and fluffy, but they are so saturated with moisture coming out the that there isn't any absorbency left to them.

Cynthia and Jim faired better. Without any added wetness, their minimalist dog was much easier to eat.

My score: 6 out of 10. Great ambiance (for a hot dog stand, of course), and a pretty good dog but regardless how good the underlying meat is, if it's impossible to eat the whole as intended, how can it possibly score well overall?

I'm sure I will be subjected to the wrath of Harry's fans for "dissing" their joint. Hot dog fans are fiercely loyal and notoriously outspoken about their favorite stands.

My druthers would be to go back to all of these places a couple more times to get a better feel for if the dogs I'm eating there are typical or aberrations of some sort. On the other hand, it's HOT DOGS, not rocket science and if they can't get it right each and every time then do they really deserve repeat business? There are literally dozens of these stands just a short drive from every other one so, I guess, my answer would be "No", they don't.

Scotties

A short drive up the road from Harry's was our next stop: Scotties Frozen Custard, Colchester.

Made on-premise, Scotties offers three flavors of custard (Vanilla, Chocolate, and flavor of the day) and an impressive list of Sundaes, Special Sundaes, and toppings as well as shakes malts and floats.

C&J went for a "small" vanilla cone and I had a chocolate. Small was certainly relative in this case because the cones were huge.

After a few bites (we hadn't even left the porch yet), the owner ("Scottie", I assume) stuck his head out and asked Cynthia, "So, that's good, You like that? I just made it fresh this morning!"

It was good and so was my chocolate. We wandered out back to he picnic tables where Cynthia got friendly with another Scottie.

My score: 9 out of 10. I don't really have a solid reason to not to give it a 10. There was not a single thing wrong with Scotties but I figure while very good in all respects, a 10 deserves something more, something exceptional. Jim gave it a slightly lesser score. He had apparently had the gold standard of frozen custards many (MANY) years ago and has been trying to recapture that magic moment ever since. Cynthia suggested that perhaps his memory was a bit idealized but he stuck to his guns, giving it an 8.

Top Dog

So, back on the road again (I feel a Willie Nelson song coming on). Next stop: Top Dog in Portland. Top Dog is one of those places that EVERYBODY says you HAVE to go to, but nobody says "because they have the best hot dogs".

This is Top Dog...

Yup, that's a custom-converted food trailer in the shape of big ol' wienie and bun, complete with cheese, mustard (yellow), relish and onions. It gets towed around by and old Checker cab that includes several sportily-clad mannequins waving out the windows.

I have a "thing" for Checker cabs so this is quite cool to me. My very first car, back in the 1970's was an old retired NYC Checker cab. The thing had 80 gazillion miles on it and had even been th star of a kid's movie (Santiago's America, if you're interested), but it only cost $200 and was the perfect vehicle for a teenage boy with a brand new driver's licence. The thing was a tank and you could run into almost anything with out hurting it our yourself, and I did exactly that for about 4 years through high school and on into college until it finally gave up on me. I was heart broken.

Back to Top Dog. I approached the window the lone woman who was squeezed into the small space with all the cooking equipment, food and piles of paper plates etc greeted me. "What can I get you?"

"What's your best dog?"

"Hmmmm, depend on what you like". I was not going to give up quite so easily this time.

"What's your personal favorite dog?"

"I like them all". She was not going to make this easy on me, was she?.

"OK, If I were the food critic from the New York Times, what dog would you want me to eat"?

Realizing that I wasn't going to order without some kind of answer she said "The Cajun Dog, I guess. That's what were best known for". Finally. Was that so hard?

"I'll take one of those and one kraut dog with mustard and relish".

"You want that Cajun Dog real spicy?"

"Absolutely!"

The Cajun dog was described as a hot dog, a slice of Pepper Jack cheese, some special Cajun sweet-hot relish, topped with a grind meat chili sauce.

Within a couple of moments, my order was ready.

The dogs again sat in boring steamed standard (non New England-style) buns so, it was no big surprise when both dogs experienced catastrophic failure upon trying to be lifted from the paper tray on which they were served.

What was surprising was the dog itself. I managed to get one end of the kraut dog sandwich to my mouth and even get a small get a bite before it totally collapsed. That dog was GOOD! It appeared to be steamed but, in addition to being plump and juicy, the skin was nice and taught with a surprising snap. I might have to re-think my steamed dog prejudices. The meat itself was well seasoned, standing up well to all the accoutrements pied on it.

Unfortunately, that was the only whole bite I got. The kraut had, again not been drained turning the rest of the bun into mush in a few seconds. The "Cajun dog" was even worse. Not only did all the moisture from the meat sauce disintegrate the bun but it did something weird to the gluten in the bread, making it (for lack of a better descriptor) "snotty". It was definitely not the cheese as it had never melted (see pic above) and I'd pulled it out of the dog pile by this point anyway. I could actually grab a piece of the bun and pull it out several inches. I've never seen anything quite like it.

Stranger yet was that the Cajun Dog, as a whole, was under seasoned. Yes it had a little spice to it but it was lacking in... salt?! I thought that maybe my taste buds had gone on strike at the sight of that bun muck so I asked both C & J to try it. Both got puzzled looks on their faces and Cynthia said, "You know there is something very wrong when a hotdog needs more salt".

One other note: the mustard was some tasteless yellow kind, no brown mustard offered.

My score: 4 out of 10. Despite being completely disgusted by what was left on my plate when I was done, the wieners themselves were very good and the ambiance was excellent, saving Top Dog from being what would have otherwise been an even lower score.

(Continued Here)

The Dog Days of Connecticut - Hot-Doggin' it, day 2 (part 2)

2011-07-31T15:58:00.000-07:00

(back to part 1)

July 29 2011, Day two of "The Great 2011 CT Hot Dog Tour" continued...

Following our superb breakfast at O'Rourke's Diner in Middletown CT we hurried off to Colchester for an appointment I had made to visit, and talk shop with fellow artisan cheese maker Mark Gilman, of Cato Corner Farms and to see his operation.

The farm was humming. This is one of Mark's busiest weekends of the year. They are coordinating the packaging and other preparations for two very large, once-a-year, special festival events, on top of getting ready for the numerous regional farmers' markets they attend and supply as well as servicing their regular weekly wholesale accounts.

It was a logistical nightmare (at least it would have been for me) but Mark, while obviously keeping very busy, seemed to have a good handle on everything. He multi-tasked well, directing a small, swarming cadre of workers efficiently and effectively. To their credit, they all seemed sharp, caring, motivated and well-versed at the wide variety of disparate jobs going on simultaneously.

That he had been willing to have us come here now, during our very limited time in the area, despite all these extra demands on his time give you a glimpse of what a gracious man he is.

Outfitting us in the requisite disposable over-booties, making sure we had appropriate hair restraints and slipping into his own clean-room boots he began the tour in what had once been his aging "cave". Basically a walk-in cooler with humidity controls it was now use for storing ready-to sell stock. Today it was packed floor-to-ceiling and front to back with dozens of large plastic RubberMaid containers, all neatly labeled with the name of the market or festival, or customer it had been packed for. Amazing.

We moved through the sanitizing footbaths into the cheese making room. A wall of warm, humid air hit us especially hard, coming from the cheese-holding cooler and my eye glasses fogged up immediately. Here, Mark introduced us to two of his hard-working helpers. They were cleaning up and scrubbing the room down having just fininshed their cheese-making activities for the morning. At this point Mark got called away to sort out a order-filling question and we had the chance to chat for a while with the guys. They were funny, knowledgeable, and really seemed to enjoy their cheese-making duties at the farm. Thanks guys.

Upon his return, Mark took us down to his current aging room - a true cellar. Oh, if I could only bottle that aroma...! In the dairy's large basement Mark has set up a near-ideal cheese aging environment. Naturally temperature-buffered from being underground and having lots of therrmal mass in its masonry floors, walls and ceilings, the environment need only to be occasionally tweaked to adjust for seasonal swings .

In this long room, Mark has set up lots (and LOTS) of simple block-and-board shelves, with just enough room between to ensure good airflow in and around his cheeses and barely enough for he and his workers to get in and do the regular periodic turning and aging, brushing and washing (IE affinage) that the hundreds of cheese require.

We spent a lot of time in the cellar. Mark seemed very comfortable here, away from the hustle and demands of the organized chaos going on above us and I finally got to ask him some in-depth questions about his operation. In addition to being extremely knowledgeable about his cheeses and cheese-making in general, he was endearingly open, thoughtful and honest about the some of the difficulties the farm has and does face as a business.

We talked about regulators and competitors, the economy, bankers and insurance headaches, feed supply and overhead costs, "high maintenance customers", and market share. Poor Cynthia and Jim must have been about bored to tears but I'm sure it was a bit cathartic for both Mark and me.

I really didn't want to leave the solace of the aging room but Mark said the one thing that could have motivated me best, "Want to sample some of my cheeses?" OH YES, PLEASE! So back up the slick wooden steps we trudged, back up into their wrapping/packing/sampling area.

This room too was jam-packed with in-progress preparations for the weekend. Stacks of legal-for trade market scales competed for space with piles of hotel pans, rolls of labels and more partially-filled bins of product, ready for distribution. A steady stream of busy-bee employees came through, each focused on their task at hand, non phased in the least by a request from Mark or another worker "Oh, and can could you also make sure that... gets done"? "Sure, No problem" came the answers, and off they went.

Mark helped Patrick get a few more orders ready to go so that there was room on the table for our tasting, and asked another worker for a list of wheels form the cellar he wanted to cut into.

Soon a section of space was open enough on which to work and Mark began. He started, naturally, with his gentlest cheeses, talking about each - their provenance and development, giving us small pieces to try as he spoke.

He worked his way slowly through to some slightly stronger cheeses. We got to try an exceptional and rare cheddar and then moved on to the blues and finally to his "stinky cheese". At one point during the tasting he was interrupted for a few minutes when one of his retailers arrived for his weekly order. It was interesting listening to their respectful and productive discourse where it was clear that they each understood how mutually beneficial their relationship was - so different than the typical, almost adversarial, relationship between many wholesalers and their retailer counterparts.

We enjoyed all of Mark's cheeses and put together a large list of ones to buy that he and a helper quickly cut, wrapped, and bagged for us. I was more than happy to pay full retail price to help support this incredible farm (not to mention help assuage my guilt for co-opting so much of his precious time this morning), but Mark still gave us a generous discount.

Not wanting to take any more of his time, but also wanting to at least see "the girls" We asked if we could just wander around a bit on our own. "Of course", he said.

Mark, the proud (and deservingly so) cheese maker

So we mosied out past the milking barn to visit briefly the The Girls, a gorgeous herd of lovely brown Gurnseys, looking very at home on their lush, very green and beautiful rolling hills. A few even came up to bid us good-bye to us. If I'm ever reincarnated as a cow, can I live here...please?

to be continued...

The Dog Days of Connecticut - Hot-Doggin' it, day 2 (part 1)

2011-07-30T00:53:00.003-07:00

The wake-up call came WAY too early, despite the clock saying it was 7am, exactly the correct time. That might have something to do with the fact that I stayed up until almost 4am local time (just not sleepy, writing yesterday's blog entry) or, perhaps that my Arizona-tuned body still thought it was 3-hours earlier than the clocks here think it is. Regardless, I groggily got up but was soon ready for Day Two of the "The Great 2011 CT Hot Dog Tour".

Before I get to that, a couple of words about our motel. The Red Carpet Inn in Cheshire is a gem.

I mean look at their sign...

Look CLOSER...

Now that's not something you see everyday on a motel sign in Connecticut, or most other places in the USA either. The owners of this crisp, clean and freshly-renovated motel are a couple from India. We met the wife when we checked in late last night. This morning I was hanging around outside waiting for Cynthia and Jim to emerge when a dark-skinned man came out from the office. He, very politely (and with a lovely lilted eastern accent) asked if there was anything he could help me with.

Despite his cordiality, I could tell he was a little suspicious of me. He said that a guest had called him to report a man in the parking lot taking pictures (Huh? Me? Ummm, I'm a tourist - so sue me!). I told him I was a guest and that I was just appreciating the Inn's beautiful landscaping (good GRIEF it's green here!). I also commented on the unusual signage and asked about it. He explained that it was their way of showing respect. Respect to their neighbors, respect to their guests, respect to people just passing by. "In my country we say Namaste.", he said, putting his hands together just like on the sign, and bowing ever so slightly.

Namaste indeed, my friend.

C&J soon popped out of their room, looking ready to take on the day and we hit the road. First stop today: O'Rourke's Diner in Middletown CT for breakfast.

Cynthia and Jim are kind of diner groupies and have been trying to get to O'Rourke's for about 100 years (or so it sounds listening to them). It's a tale of woe. A true saga. An epic story of near misses, ships passing in the night, love lost, tragic circumstances and seemingly insurmountable challenges of Olympic proportion. But today, the Gods were smiling.

We easily navigated to Middletown and quickly found a parking spot just a few feet from O'Rourke's front door. O'Rourke's, according to Jim, was once a classic Mountain View Diner based on the 1920-30's art deco designs of actual railroad dining cars but it had suffered a tragic fire at some point and was no longer authentic.

I don't know. To a completely untrained eye, it still looked pretty much like a diner to me (very cool stainless steel and aluminum everywhere, big sections of glass block, lots of tile and funky period lighting etc).

Besides, WHO CARES when there are such great smells coming out the door. Let's eat!

The inside of the small space was crowded and lively. All of the counter stools and most of the other seating was occupied but we were immediately directed to a window booth where a sample plate of assorted Irish breads and three large menus instantly appeared.

I used the word "eclectic" to describe the menu at the Olympic Diner where we had dinner last night and it was tempting to repeat that description again here. I mean the O'Rourke's menu features a huge selection of a wide range of types of foods spanning the three typical meals a day, plus plenty of entries and offerings not quite so easily pigeon-holed or categorized (and a bunch of borderline- avant garde off-menu specials too). That's eclectic right? Well... Sort-of.

The thing about O'Rourke's is that there is a solid under-pinning knitting all these wildly diverse menu parts together and keeping them from being that jumbled, playfully dysfunctional disarray that the term "eclectic" implies. At first I thought that the undercurrent was the Irish theme which certainly runs strongly throughout but while the theme is strong, it is not universal. The one thing that is universal at O'Rourke's is "The Brian Factor".

Brian O'Rourke is the chef at O'Rourke's. "Chef" is not a term that I throw around carelessly or casually and I can say, for a fact, that I have never used it to describe another cook at a diner, irrespective of their training or talents. Chef Brian is the heart of O'Rourke's and his presence permeates every crack and crevice of the operation, like a real heart supplying oxygen to every cell in a body. He is also the soul of O'Rourke's, the canvass on which it is painted and the nurturing protective blanket that keeps it thriving even on the most wicked New England winter night.

That's enough about Brian, for now.

This is our waitress Tina.

Tina was in all ways pleasant, efficient, accurate and easygoing despite being obviously busy. In short, she was a perfect server. It is the bane of all restaurants that there is such a high turnover in the ranks of the service staff and even more acutely so at the diner/family restaurant level where seldom are the servers career professionals but usually college kids, wannbe actors etc, biding their time until something better comes along. Whenever I get a great server like Tina I can't help but lament the fact that she will probably not be there for very long.

The good news for O'Rourke's (and especially for O'Rourke's customers) is that Tina is not "just" a server. Later in the meal, after we'd chatted for a bit and I'd explained that I was taking all the pictures for my food blog, she gave me her business card. Tina is also O'Rourke's "Marketing Coordinator" - and I bet she's great at that too!

After a few minutes with the menus, Tina stopped by to present the morning's specials. I wish I could remember them all and do justice to their collective inspired creativity, but I think my brain cells were only half firing from near-starvation. It had been almost 10 hours since I'd eaten! I do recall her describing a number of fritata's, including one with duck and and then what she called a "Soft Shell Crab and poached egg" special. Well, my mind latched onto that one and wouldn't let it go. The rest of her spiel was background noise as, fully on alert now, my head and my stomach discussed back-and-forth this unexpected breakfast pairing.

Maybe it's because I'm an old New England boy too long in the desert but I have a very hard time passing up the prospect of good seafood, shellfish in particular, whenever it is offered to me. I love soft shelled crabs and felt incredibly lucky to be near water again during it's short season. I've had, and enjoyed, soft shelled crab Benedict, to which this sounded similar. It should have been a no-brainer to order this special but something was holding me back. I was hesitant. In thinking back about it I'm pretty sure my head was asking my stomach "Are you seriously thinking about ordering soft shelled crab, at a DINER"?

Stomach won out and the whole of me, in unison, took a leap of faith and ordered it. Cynthia ordered Irish Soda bread and bangers with home fries, Jim ordered a single buckwheat pancake and we got an order of lamb sausage for the table.

C and I worked on our pot of coffee and Jim on his hot tea as we discussed our rather ambitious plan for the day and waited for our food, but the chat soon dissolved into silence as we began to more fully appreciate what a great people-watching opportunity O'Rourke's presented. Lots of colorful characters from all walks of life, elbow-to-elbow. Overlapping snippets of conversation on every possible subject competed with the hum of big fans and the chatter of plates, glasses and silverware. The amazing thing was that, despite its immediacy and disparity, the noise level wasn't really very high overall.

My breakfast was the first to arrive, followed quickly by the rest of the food. Calling it "Soft Shell Crab with Poached Egg" was like calling Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignonne "beef stew" or saying that traditional Pollo Mole Poblano is "Mexican Chicken Sauce". Masters of the understatement, the crew at O'Rourke's had caught me completely off guard. My plate consisted of... a large soft shelled crab that had been pan fried in a coarse breading until crisp and perfect. Distributed around three side of the crab were a set of five or six small fritters or croquettes. Towering above the crab, in a margarita-style footed glass, 2 poached eggs, and a little Hollandaise sauce rested on top of another croquet or fish-cake . Sprinkled and arranged elsewhere on the plated was a baby beet, a baby carrot, a couple of green beans, and a confetti of other vegetables and a couple of kiwi fruit slices..

Holy smokes! What a fabulous treat! For my initial taste I went right for the soft-shell crab and it was sublime. Within a few moments of my first bite a big man in a black chef's toque approached the table. This was Brian. Hovering just a bit, and working to subdue a bit of well-deserved pride, he asked what I thought of my breakfast."That's a crab cake there under those eggs, you know", he said, "and those are scallop fritters".

Chef Brian describes the food

At this point I made a grievous tactical error. Being severely allergic to many white fishes and having had more then my share of close calls with things like crab cakes made or extended with "surimi" (fake crab meat), I asked him, "Is there any fish or fake crab in these"?

After a brief pause he replied "Is there what?". I repeated the question. Brian, bending down now: "Is-there-what??" So I, being somewhat extra-dense at this hour of the day, repeated it one more time. Brian (this time leaning very close to my face, and raising his voice a bit more): "Is there WHAT????" At which point I finalized realized that he was not hard of hearing , but toying with me, insulted that I might think he would have used such a lame culinary short-cut in such a beautiful dish.

I apologized quickly and briefly explained my allergy. This seemed to mollify his concerns and he relaxed a bit quipping, as he rushed of to his next task, "Well I may have an epi-pen somewhere in the back, and it's better if you don't die in my dining room". And he was gone.

At last alone again with my meal I was able to further explore it's intricacies and play in the playground of its many flavors. The crab cake initially seemed a little dense but deliciously "crabby" util I broke the poached egg onto it at which point it melted together into a perfect new taste and ideal consistency. The little scallop fritters were amazing. Popping on into my mouth produced a mini explosion of sweet scallop flavor. Everything worked together perfectly but was also excellent as stand-alone items. I grudgingly shared small amounts with Cynthia and Jim, but I'm afraid I was not as generous as politeness might have dictated. Tough luck!

Both Cynthia's and Jim's meals were also quite good but how much can one write about a buckwheat pancake?

"Lamb Sausage"

Cynthia's breakfast at O'Rourke's

After a leisurely finish to our meal, we purchased an O'Rourke's coffee mug souvenir and headed off to our next destination.

Rating: 10 out of 10 points. The few minor disappointments (the lamb "sausage" patty, for example, was way under-seasoned to our palates and tasted like plain ground lamb) and little foibles during the meal were so over-shadowed by excellent service, overall creativity of the menu and superb execution by the kitchen that I was temped to give it 11 out of 10 possible points Great work guys!.

(Continued Here)

Hot-Doggin' It in Connecticut

2011-07-28T23:10:00.124-07:00

Today I am winging off the to the other side of the country to begin a short east coast tour of artisan cheese dairies to do extensive local cheese tastings, and meet and discuss farmstead cheese making with other like-minded dairy professionals.

IRS representatives , please stop reading here.

Between these 100% business-related dairy stops, [ahem, cough] this trip, more commonly (and perhaps more accurately) referred to as "The Great 2011 CT Hot Dog Tour" by my sister, will be a food-centric journey across the state aimed at visiting as many of the highly regarded wiener joints of CT as possible with an additional healthy (??) smattering of clam shacks, ice cream parlors and diners thrown in for "balance".

It all started when I sent my sister Cynthia and Jim the DVD "A Connecticut Hot Dog Tour"

They liked the video so much that they bought and sent ME a copy to watch. C and I grew up in CT but never really knew what a mecca it was for weiner afficianados. Anyway, what started out as a "We should really get together sometime and see how many of these places we can hit in a weekend" quip evolved into a pipe dream, then into an authentic idea and eventually, into a plan. We were really going to do this someday... and today is the day!

My day started at 4:30am with hitching a ride with a friend to our regional airport for a puddle-jummper flight down to Phoenix, connecting (after eating part of a really bad Einstein bagel at one of the terminals) to a SW Air flight to Hartford CT via Baltimore.

The honey peanuts and the (new to me and very strange) "Golden Oreo" cookies on the first leg of the flight were not quite enough to keep me going but fortunately I had about an hour between flights so could grab a bite at Baltimore-Washington International.

Not expecting anything better than a bad sandwich I was stunned upon seeing a sign at BWI that they were home to Obrycki's, one of the Frommer's-rated 10 best airport restaurants in the country! Not only that, but it was located just 2 gates down from the one where I had arrived, and from which I would subsequently depart. The stars were aligned!

Obrycki's not only had regional Maryland specialties on their menu but also a couple of house beers on tap. Just what the doctor ordered.

I ordered their "famous since 1944" crab cakes and an Obrycki pale ale. The service was efficient, almost brisk (as is to be expected and appreciated in an airport setting) and pleasant.

The crab cake was one of the best I've had. Chock-full of lump crab, no fillers or fake stuff. It was barely held together by a light binder, lightly breaded and pan-fried. I suspect that they must make these up a few ahead of time, before needed, as mine was out so fast and was not quite as hot or crisp as I might would expect for hot-off-the pan, but it was still very excellent. It was served with a nicely fiesty cocktail sauce having just the right zip of horseradish and lemon juice and accompanied by some pretty decent french fries and coleslaw. The beer was also very good.

Rating: 9 out of 10. I wish the crab cake had been just-made, it would have been perfect. I understand and appreciate the thinking behind not doing it, but I gotta dock the point anyway.

The next leg of the flight took just 50 minutes in the air (with more peanuts, thank-you-very-much!), and landed at Hartford's Bradley International at just about 6pm local time. C&J's train from Philly had been delayed but they showed up about 30 minutes after I did and we met up easily and as planned.

Our timing was perfect, wallking out the arrivals door just in time to see the big yellow Hertz car rental shuttle van pulling up. In seconds we were on our way to the rental center. Unfortunately that's where our luck ran out. Short-staffed, inefficient and often down-right rude, the car rental process was interminable (despite Jim having pre-booked the car well in advance). It took us longer to rent the car than my whole flight from Baltimore to Hartford took. We eventually got through, got the car (Toyota Rav4) and were off on our adventure.

First stop? Dinner at a diner. We chose the Olympia diner in Newington. A classic O'Mahoney diner resplendent with plenty of roomy booths, lots of neon and polished stainless steel, table-top juke boxes and other deco touches.

The menu was extensive and eclectic. Breakfast "served all day", a seafood section, an Italian section, a Greek section, lots of sandwiches including a whole column of "grinders" (CT's version of the sub/hoagie/hero etc), a list of "from the grill", and many diner staples like Liver and Onions, Meatloaf, breaded pork chops etc.

C ordered a tuna melt, fries and a vanilla shake. Jim had 2 eggs scrambled, sausage, homefries and toast, I had a Genoa Salami Grinder and a side of onion rings.

The food was, almost without exception, very good - with a few stand-outs. To the plus side,Cynthia pronounced the Vanilla Milkshake as "exceptional" and we all thought that the breakfast sausage that Jim got was some of the best we'd ever had. On the downside, the battered onion rings, while obviously freshly hand made in the kitchen, were quite hard as opposed to being crisp, as expected.

The waitress told us that they made all their own desserts on-site so how could I refuse? "Hot Apple Pie, a la mode with vanilla ice cream, please. And could I have another side of those delicious sausage??" Not as strange a combination as it might seem at first (doesn't everybody like the pairing of pork and apples?), but unfortunately the pie was just another Mrs Smith's (or comparable) frozen pie that had been baked in the back. Somebody really needs to tell the wait staff (everywhere, not just here at the Olympia) that that honestly doesn't count as "made on-premise". The ice cream was nothing special but, again, the sausages were perfect.

The service was friendly and quite perky, if a bit sloppy (finished plates remained stacked on the table for far too long, a couple of items ordered were out of sinc with the rest of the meal etc), and the place, on-whole, was brightly lit, well-kept, and fairly clean (the floor was a bit sticky). Minor peeve: the table-top jukebox gleefully sucked $1 of our money and played our 7 songs but at such a low volume that we had to strain to tell if it was even working. I understand them being set as not to disturb other diners but, even in the nearly empty room in which we ate, it was way too low. I can't imagine hearing it at all with a few more tables filled, let alone during a rush.

Overall rating: 7.5 out of 10. A few dazzling bright spots amid general mediocrity, but we could have done much, much worse for our first outing.

Pretty much knackered from a long and eventful day for all, we headed to our motel (Red Carpet Inn, Cheshire CT) and crashed for the night after leaving a 7am wake-up calls. Big day with much to do tomorrow!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

2011-07-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

It was Kathryn and my wedding anniversary yesterday (29 years!) and, like any good husband, I'd asked her where she wanted to go for a nice dinner. Like any cook's wife, she responded "The place I like to eat best is home, with your cooking". (ain't that sweet?)

So, of course the next question was "So, what would you like me to make?". Without a moment's hesitation she said "Chicken Cordon Bleu".

I can almost hear your incredulous grunts and see your eyes roll. "What? That hackneyed old diner stand-by?" Well, yes AND no.

Chicken Cordon Bleu, while French-sounding by design("cordon bleu" means "blue ribbon" in French), is a dish of breaded chicken breasts with ham and cheese that originated in the1960s in the United States. It was quite popular on restaurant menus through the end of the 20th century and the basic flavor combination retains a following as is evidenced by the Chicken Cordon Bleu sandwiches etc that still pop up on fast food restaurant menus from time to time. The U.S. even "celebrates" a National Chicken Cordon Bleu Day (it was on April 4th this year and now MY eyes are rolling).

The Chicken Cordon Bleu that Kathryn was requesting was one I'd made for her in the past and while classic in style and presentation, it is made exceptional by being able to use all ranch made and grown ingredients in its preparation.

Another of what we like to call our "meals that are years in the making" I made this one with chicken breasts from birds we'd raised and butchered ourselves. The ham isn't wasn't just "ham" but Capocola, a rich and spicy ham we cure and smoke right here from hogs that we've grown-out primarily on cheese whey and butchered here on property. I'd made the Swiss cheese for the dish last winter from our own goat's milk. The veloutè sauce was made from the chicken stock I'd made and frozen when we butchered and processed the meat chickens last fall, I'd baked the bread I processed into bread crumbs for the coating, and even churned the goat's milk butter that the Cordon Bleu's were sautéed in. It just doesn't get any more "home-made" than that!

Here's my process for making Chicken Cordon Bleu...

Sandwich each chicken breast between sheets of plastic wrap.
Gently flatten each chicken breast to 1/4" thick, or a little thinner

Like this

Remove the top piece of plastic wrap.
Lay pieces of thinly-sliced ham on the breast.
I used about 3 oz per breast

Make a cylinder out of 2-3 oz of grated Swiss cheese.

Fold about a third of the breast over the fillings.
Use the bottom plastic wrap to help you work.

Fold the ends up.

Continue rolling until the breast meat completely encases the fillings.
Repeat with remaining breasts

Wrap individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate to firm up

Basic Breading Procedure
Dredge each Cordon Bleu in well seasoned flour, then...

Thoroughly coat each Cordon Bleu in beaten eggs, then...

Coat each Cordon Bleu well with fresh bread crumbs.

Chill thoroughly.

Saute each Cordon Bleu in butter over medium heat to set the crust
and brown nicely on all sides.
Do not overcrowd the pan.

The Cordon Bleus will still be quite under-cooked at this point.
Refrigerate until about 40 minutes before serving or move directly to the next step.

Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven (350 degree convection oven)
until properly cooked all the way through and the cheese is melted
(about 145F chicken temp, 120F cheese center temp)
This took about 30 minutes in my oven.
Let sit at room temperature for a couple of minutes before plating.

Slice the Cordon Bleus into about 1/2" sections and arrange on plates
with accompaniments (in this case Saffron Rice and Zucchini Provencale)
Nape with a little chicken veloute sauce
(lightly thickened blond chicken stock)

"Colony-Style" Rabbit Keeping

2011-07-07T16:38:00.002-07:00

I mentioned in a previous post on Butchering Rabbits that we had raised rabbits for meat in a "colony-style" setting. That is not, apparently a management style that is very well know or widely discussed as I have have had numerous contacts for more information about it.

Here is a re-print of some information on the subject we published on an ancient iteration of our Ranch Website.

This pretty much sums up my total knowledge about raising rabbits in the colony style. The information is almost a decade old so you might want to do more research elsewhere if you're seriously interested in the subject.......

In early December of 2001 we gave up on the traditional, standard cage approach to breeding. Nothing we tried had worked and we had not gotten a single live litter in 8 months of working with our fancy, pedigreed Satins.

Typical caged approach to raising rabbits (how we started out):

In desperation we converted, to a "Colony-Style" living arrangement for them, figuring that, if nothing else, the rabbits would be happier. We also, over time, got rid of all those fancy rabbits and went with generic "white meat rabbits" from our local feed store for breeding stock - another excellent decision. We now generally keep 4 to 6 breeding does and 1 or 2 bucks on hand at any given time, plus their litters. The management changes have proved to be a great success for us.

"Colony-Style" Rabbit Keeping:

Colony-style rabbit raising is a meat rabbit management method that, at its most basic, is simply putting a group of doe rabbits and a buck or two in an escape-proof area and allowing them to do as nature intended. We let ours share the space with our chickens in their large fenced pen and house. The buns have a series of tunnels, runs, brambles and nest boxes in which to live and play. Exactly 31 days (a rabbit's gestation period) from our conversion to this style we were presented with 3 fine nests of baby bunnies from our does. The rabbits never looked back from there!

There are definite up- and down-sides to this style of keeping rabbits.

To the upside, the amount of work for the keeper is efficiently minimized - keeping the communal feeders and waters filled is about it; also, the rabbits live a much more normal life - running all over the place, hunting for food, interacting with others of their kind etc. Another plus is that production of offspring can be maximized (see downsides). The rabbits' overall health is greatly improved - allowing them lots of exercise, sunlight and space away from wire-floored cages, closed conditions and forced proximity to possible pathogens, they are much less likely to fall to the common diseases and ailments of traditional rabbitries.

On to the downside:

First, colony-style settings can be very rough on the does. They are capable of getting pregnant again the day they give birth and in a pure colony situation they often do. With no breaks, their bodies are under a tremendous amount of strain. This fast cycling will yield the highest number of kits per doe per year (a goal the species certainly strives for in the wild), but you will also have to expect to replace your breeding stock much more frequently than with other management methods.

Two does relax in their colony-style setting

Second, there is no opportunity for micro managing your herd: forget about breeding calendars, special matings and such. It is impossible to monitor or adjust the individual rabbits' feed consumption and harder to monitor their health. Also, there are, generally, no opportunities for playing with the babies - at butchering time (at about 8 weeks of age) there are some essentially wild rabbits to contend with.

This method is assuredly not for raising cuddly pet or show bunnies.

With all that said, we actually practice a MODIFIED colony style of management. We cycle our buck (or bucks) through the colony on a periodic basis but keep them in their own, separate (but adjacent) colony the rest of the time. This dramatically cuts down on the wear and tear on the does. It also allows us to regulate the number of litters and frequency of butcher days we need to have. To be honest, with just 4 does and one buck we were harvesting 25 to 40 rabbits once a month and that was more than we could come close to keeping up with consuming!

We also, from time-to-time, will take a just-weaned batch of kits (about 4 weeks of age), bring them in the house in a mini colony set-up and work on socializing them for the pet market. Mostly in the spring, especially around Easter, it is well worth the effort for us to hand feed and spend time with a dozen or two baby bunnies so they can be sold tame as pets.

Here are some pictures of our rabbits and babies in their habitat...

August 2005 Update

As of this time we have dispersed our little rabbit herd to other breeders in the area but may get back into them again sometime in the future. With enough rabbit in the freezer to keep us happy for a while, it didn't make much sense to keep the last 4 does just hanging around.

Snoots

2011-07-04T00:13:00.001-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks we have had several big meat processing days here on the Ranch with a couple of goats, a number of duck drakes and 4 plump mature rabbits slaughtered, butchered, processed for the freezer. We try not to waste anything from these animals and enjoy many of the "nasty bits" (tongues, hearts, livers, kidneys etc) from many species.

Planning for the use of these special "bits" reminded me of an unusual BBQ restaurant we encountered during a cross-country road trip 18 years ago where I finally ran into a nose-toe-tail menu that was more than I could handle.

ON THE FOOD ROUTE

Summer, 1993

"SNOOTS"

WARNING: The following account is a true story. While it did take place in the real world, the participants were highly trained and experienced foodies in exceptional good health with extensive health insurance policies. Please do not try this on your own without proper training and supervision.

The building we’d been directed to had definitely seen better days. It looked like the kind of ramshackle waterfront shack one might glimpse through the dank mist on a dimly-lit night in an old mystery movie (in black and white, of course) - the kind of place where dark figures lurked in the shadows and serious trouble is thick in the air. Except that there was no waterfront here. It was mid-day in St. Louis; no one was lurking in the shadows and the only thing in the air was the smell of serious bar-be-que.

This particular culinary adventure began for us, as they often do, with the most innocent of circumstances. We’d been forced by family obligations into making a long road trip from Arizona to Connecticut. We’d done this trip before and had found that by pushing it, and taking the most “direct route”, we could make the 2500 mile journey in less than 3 days. We’d also made the trip taking the “scenic route”, eschewing the interstate highway system, making lots of stops at “points of interest”, taking lots of pictures, and doing our leisure best to act like real tourists. This time we had a new plan for plotting our itinerary. We would develop “The Food Route”

Armed with the classic book “Road Food” by Michael and Jane Stern, food writers and restaurant reviewers of some repute, we planned a convoluted and circuitous route with the goal of eating at as many of their noteworthy regional food joints as we could manage. We went as far as to plan out where we should try to spend the nights so that we could, theoretically, have dinner at classic crab shack, sleep a few hours, then be back on the road early enough to make it for breakfast to a diner in the next state which, they professed, served the best grits in the country. The plan was shear, inspired, gluttonous, madness.

During this epic journey, Kathryn, me and our two dogs, hit more than 12 rood food establishments featured in the book including a café in Hatch NM for their green chile breakfast, 2 back road dives in rural Kentucky for authentic burgoo, several rib shacks in Texas, an historic diner in Oklahoma City for their enormous “Biscuit Debris” breakfast, a BBQ/steak house in Kansas City MO - famous for their “Burnt Ends” and a gourmet ice cream parlor in southern CT for their renowned “Sweet Cream Ice Cream”. We ate and drove, and ate and drove some more, stopping at nearly every interesting looking hash joint, diner and BBQ hovel we came to – not just ones from the book. We were on a mission. Some of our meals were just plain bad, many were quite good, but one meal out of all the ones we had on the trip stood out as truly unforgettable.

The meal was at a place in St Louis called “C&K”. The book described C&K as an authentic soul-food barbecue and suggested trying something called “Snoots” - an interesting-sounding BBQ’d dish featuring the nose of a hog. I’ve always been pretty adventuresome with my eating habits and pork is pretty much pork right? So, as soon as it was clear that our route would bring us close to “The Gateway City” at about lunch time, we knew we’d have to hunt down C&K and give it a try.

After several wrong turns we found our target looking very much as described in the first paragraph above. Not much more than a roadside stand left to wither in the foreboding ambiance of a quasi-industrial area and, most definitely, appearing to be on the "wrong side of the tracks". The physical presence of C&K might have been daunting to some, but it didn’t really do much discourage us. In previous years of scouring the country for good-eats, we had come to realize that the best and most authentic regional foods you can find are often well off the beaten touristy track, and are usually situated in the otherwise marginal areas of town.

We arrived solidly at lunch time and were pleased to see the large number of older cars and trucks packed in around the place. The door in was blocked by a huge black man’s back and as we peered around him as best as we could, we could see another two or three sets of black men’s shoulders ahead of him. Just past all of them we could just make out the service counter. Apparently this was a take-out-only establishment. More bodies packed in behind us and the line out the door lengthened. It was the lunch rush.

The place was really humming. Everybody else seemed to know each other and cheerful greetings were loudly tossed back and forth above the cacophonous background din. As the line inched slowly ahead I strained to here what the locals were ordering and, to my relief, heard “Snoots” called out several times. I guessed we must be at the right place, and indeed it seemed to be a popular item.

Finally it was our turn at the counter. Glancing at the menu painted on a board over the over-worked looking woman’s head we saw listings for “Snoots”, “Tripe” and “Pig Ear Sandwich” in addition to the more typical "Ribs", Chicken", etc, along with a few of side dishes and beverages.

The counter woman looked at us rather curiously but having just re-read the paragraph in the book about the place and after having listened to the previous customer order I confidently called for “an order of Snoots and a Rib Sandwich” (Kathryn not being quite as adventuresome as I). The woman’s curiosity seemingly turned to mirth as she crookedly smiled and she hollered our order back to the kitchen where we could see a flurry of black hands in motion building meals on thick paper plates. We paid and within a few moments we had our two large, foil-wrapped packages, a couple of sodas and were elbowing our way out the door we'd just come in.

We’d already been driving way too much that day to consider eating in the truck so we picked out a bit of an embankment off the parking lot overlooking C&K, brought the dogs out to run a bit and settled down to explore our lunches.

I’ve mentioned that I’m pretty adventuresome about food. With that comes a real effort to not have any pre-conceived notions about any new foods I’m about to try but I have to tell you I was not prepared for what I saw upon opening that package. My surprise at the sight before me may have unfairly tainted my impression of the overall experience and biased my judgment against the meal as a whole. Be that as it may, shock might be close to what I was feeling when I peeled off the foil from my already-sagging paper plate, lifted off the top piece of soft white bread (for apparently Snoots was served as a sandwich) and saw the better part of a pig’s face, still very recognizable beneath the thick red sauce, staring back up at me from the plate.

I kid you not, there were nose nostrils, chubby little cheeks and, I SWEAR I saw hair on his "chinny-chin-chin" .

OK, I told myself, it can’t really be that bad... look again.

Well I looked at it and, sure enough, it looked back at me.

I'm sure that it is moments like these that are responsible for more than a few conversions to vegetarianism but despite now knowing what really happened to that "little-piggy-who-went-to-market"; despite seeing his face in comfortably repose in a bed of potato salad, pillowed on a slice of fluffy white bread, I was still determined to try it. I mean, there were lots of other people ordering this very same menu item so there must be something truly special going for it (and it certainly wasn’t the presentation or esthetics).

So, I closed the top slice of bread back over the sandwich, trying to ignore the image of a doctor covering a deceased patient with a sheet that flashed through my mind, and using both hands, I raised the massive, drippy mound to my mouth and took a big bite.

It was a doomed effort from the start. As my teeth sank into the sandwich I felt the thick, crisp meat parts sliding away from my mouth. The entire package disintegrated in my hands, falling back onto the paper plate with a great “thunk”, leaving me with a small mushy mouthful of Wonder bread, potato salad and a little sauce.

About this time I began to wonder if this wasn’t all some great trick on us out-of-town white folks by the people in the restaurant. Yes, paranoia was truly setting in. Were all those seemingly nice people, even now, all clustered around the cracked and streaked windows, watching, pointing and laughing at us up on the hill? Were they taking photographs for their secret back-wall rogues gallery? Was this culinary monstrosity, now splattered in my lap, actually representative of the “Snoots” that the regulars got when they ordered it?

Well, I tried my best with the meal. Having given up on the sandwich idea I picked at the meaty portions that looked the least offensive to me. In describing it I would call it a cross between chicherones (fried pork rinds) and tripe. There was an interesting richness to the very dark meat, especially in the cheeks, that had some appeal. On the other hand, I did not care for the crunch of the cartilage behind the nostrils and the over-all greasiness was a turn-off, as was the hair. Having had animals around most of my life I know all about getting hair in my food and it doesn't really bother me. Having hair growing out of my food is something else altogether.

Speaking of animals... after a while, having eaten all I cared to and having given up caring if the whole neighborhood was watching my reaction to the food, I started throwing pieces of snoot meat to our dogs (a big yellow lab and a black lab mutt), who had been patiently sitting and watching us eat. Normally not allowed access to “people food” I expected them to jump at the opportunity and devour the offerings with the same gusto with which they demolish the roasted pig ear treats we would buy for them at pet stores from time to time. To our surprise, they wouldn’t even touch the morsels, only licking off some of the potato salad from the pieces I'd tossed them.

Accepting their judgment as the final straw, I wrapped up the rest ,tossed it in the trash, and off we went... back on the road toward our next culinary adventure.

In the years since and with the advent of the internet I have since checked in on C&K from time to time. They still serve up a full BBQ menu (including snoots) to rave reviews. To this day I don’t know if those were the best snoots on the planet, but just not to my taste, or something considerably less.

My sister has a theory about food and eating that goes something like "If you've had the herring in Denmark and didn't like it, face the fact that you just don't like herring". I guess I'm going to have to say that I just don't like snoots.

Butchering Rabbits

2011-06-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

We used to raise rabbits for meat here on the ranch. Once we overcame our initial start-up difficulties and converted to a "colony-style" system of raising them we ended up being so successful with them that we soon got overwhelmed. The expression "breeding like rabbits" is more than just a cute saying. We were butchering out 20-30 rabbits a month from just 4 breeding does and one buck. It was crazy. How much rabbit can 2 people eat? A lot, it turns out (especially once you run out of freezer space!).

Doomed by success, we soon got weary of the whole thing and sold off the breeding stock, getting out of rabbits all together. That was almost 10 years ago.

It took a few years but we eventually came to miss fresh rabbit meat. Not long ago we made friends with a very nice couple who live a few miles from us who raised rabbits to sell so, from time to time, we again had the opportunity to eat rabbit. A few weeks ago they told us they too were getting out of the rabbit business and asked if we wanted a few of their older breeding does to butcher. We worked out a trade: four rabbits for a couple of goat wethers and a duck drake.

The does were beautifully healthy, well-kept and quite large. We put them in an enclosed area of the chicken coop we usually use for chick brooding for a few days until we could make time for a butchering day. Butchering rabbits is a little different than poultry and quite different than butchering larger animals so here's a brief, fairly complete (ie graphic) photo essay on the subject. Kathryn and I work as a team on this. We are very efficient and and it goes very fast.

Fetch the Rabbit

Stun/Kill the rabbit with a quick, decisive blow to the back of the head

Remove head and allow the rabbit to bleed out fully

Skinning #1

Skinning #2

Skinning #3

Skinning #4

Gutting (do not puncture the innards!)

The Good Stuff (heart, kidneys, liver (bile duct still needs to be removed)

Cut up into sections: 2 leg/thighs, 2 front "quarters", 1 loin per rabbit

Pan o' rabbit parts, ready for frying/stewing etc.

Fresh Tomato-Herb Soup

2011-06-25T12:20:00.001-07:00

One morning's harvest

It's only mid June and we are, already, experiencing an over-abundance of tomatoes... and these babies aren't even from the garden but from the few plants still going in the greenhouse!

Despite some recent strong opinions to the contrary on one culinary chat site (here: Acceptable uses of home grown tomatoes) I'd rather use my tomatoes by any means while they are fresh and at their peak rather than hang on to them in hopes that I will somehow be able to eat all of them, simply sprinkled with a little sea salt, before they go bad. A fresh tomato-herb soup is as a good a utilizer as I know.

I usually start by cooking a bunch of tomatoes in a little butter until the juices have reduced by about 1/2. As a variation I will sometimes first roast the tomatoes until the skins are black for a deeper color and different flavor to the end product. Once well-reduced, I puree the tomatoes in a food processor and strain out the seeds and skin, pressing well on the pulp to extract every drop possible.

This goes into a sauce pan and is thinned with milk (goat's milk in this case) to get the flavor concentration I am looking for. I bring this to a boil and thicken slightly with a blond roux, adjust the seasonings (mostly salt and lots of ground pepper), and add some chopped fresh herbs. Basil is an obvious choice but chives, thyme and/or summer savory are all fine additions.

We like our Fresh Tomato-Herb soup served with a few toasted bread croutons tossed in for a contrasting/complementing texture.

Chicken Pot Pie

2011-05-29T22:14:00.001-07:00

Tonight's dinner was Chicken Pot Pie and it really was "as easy as pie".

A couple of days ago I thawed a package of 4 each skinless chicken legs and thighs (from our own ranch-raised and butchered Cornish-Rock cross birds) and poached them until tender in a well-seasoned chicken stock. When done, I took them out of the stock to cool, strained the stock and got it chilled. When the meat was cool enough to work with I carefully separated it from the bones, cartilage and sinew and chilled it too.

Today I peeled and cut up about 6 carrots, an onion, 5 celery ribs and a dozen medium- large mushrooms and poached them all in the reserved chicken stock until almost tender. While they cooked I picked over the chicken meat once more and cut it into small bite-sized pieces.

When done, I removed the vegetables from the stock then thickened the stock with a blonde roux, adding a little chopped parsley, leaf thyme, ground black pepper and adjusting the salt. When thickened sufficiently I added back in the veggies and chicken and brought, once more, to a light boil then removed it from the stove.

While the veggies and stock were cooking I made a rich lard pie dough. My recipe is:

Rich Lard Pie Dough

4 cups flour

2 tsp salt

12 oz cool, firm lard (home rendered as in my case is best)

4 oz water

1 egg

1 TBS red wine vinegar

Method

1. Combine the flour and salt well.

2. Cut in the lard lightly (I used the paddle on a tabletop mixer with a VERY light touch).

3. Combine the water, egg and vinegar well then add all at once to the flour mixture and combine just until the mixture holds together.

4. Turn out of the bowl and mix lightly with your finger tips to moisten any dry bits, wrap and let rest for at least 15 minutes. Can be refrigerated at this point but I prefer to work with it at room temperature.

.....................................................................

One of the people I was cooking for has bad food allergies to legumes so I ended up making two pot pies. I removed about 1/3 of the chicken mix to an 8"x2" cake pan then added frozen peas to the remainder, heated it through again, and then moved it into a 10'x2" cake pan.

I then rolled out the dough for lids for the two pies (make them a bit bigger then necessary so you have enough dough to make a nice fluted edge), put them on and cut a few steam vents. I had some left-over dough so I also rolled out and cut a few decorative pieces for the pies (leaves and such), applied them and washed the whole tops with an egg yolk wash.

Just before dinner I baked the pot pies in a 375F convection oven for about 35 minutes until they were bubbling well and the crusts were done and nicely browned.

New Beef

2011-05-29T21:26:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since my last entry. Over a month, in fact (as has been pointed out to me by several followers - thank-you very much!).

First our satellite internet service went down and we were without service for almost 2 weeks waiting for the repair guy to come out. Our service is with WildBlue and I'm not shy about saying that their customer service sucks. That said, they are the best of a bunch of bad options for anything above dial-up internet in our extreme rural area. When we learned how long we were going to be without service we immediately called WildBlue's biggest competitor in the area; Hughes Satellite. They told us they could be out in 2 to 5 days so we signed up. We've got a business we're trying to run here and email and web site work is an integral part of it. Well, their customer service is even worse than WildBlue's and, despite numerous calls to them and their designated installation company it was several days AFTER we finally got WildBlue service back that they finally called to set up an appointment to eventually come out. Arrgh.

I also had several trips off-ranch, including one to Phoenix to ship and pick up a couple of goat kids and a trip to Kingman AZ ( 5 hours each way) to pick up a small goat herd that was being disbursed. Some of the goats and almost all of the genetics came from our herd so we were happy to welcome them back to the Ranch.

Then my sister and her husband arrived for a visit from Philadelphia. We've been having a great time with lots of food-related tales I'll review here soon. They leave tomorrow.

But TODAY we had a new arrival on the Ranch that I didn't have to go anywhere to get. A brand-new calf was born to our Belted Galloway cow Bertie. This calf will be our beef for 2013 (talk about advanced meal planning). At least we're hoping it will be our 2013 beef. We have yet to determine the sex of the little cutie but we have our fingers crossed that it's a bull we can castrate to a steer. If it's a girl (heifer), we'll probably have to sell her as we are not set up to keep her from getting bred too early, and by her father before it is time to butcher.

Calf gets a drink

Bertie and new calf (LGD Donna stands watch)

Bertie (mom), new calf, and Boone (dad)

Anyway, Bertie calved with no problems at some point during the day despite it being very windy(sustained winds in the 20-30 mph range all day with gusts over 55 mph). This is Bertie's 6th calf for us in as many years. You gotta love those heritage breed animals: tough, thrifty, great mothers and fathers and all-around easy to manage. Oh yeah, and very, very tasty!

Ham and Beans

2011-04-25T10:18:00.002-07:00

I finally had the chance last week to use one of the ham shanks I'd cured and smoked a few months ago.

We were entering a very busy stretch as we approached the grand finale of this year's kidding season with 10 does expected to kid within 5 days. This was, of course, on top of our regular milking, cheese-making and other ranch duties. It was more than the two of us could handle well so we asked some people Kathryn had met while giving a talk to a 4-H group if they wanted to help out.

Both the mother and daughter wanted to help over the course of the week but each had various schedule conflicts during that time so it worked out that one would come for a few days, then the other would come for a few days then the other would come back again for the big finish. They would be staying in our Bunkhouse overnight (as there is no telling at what time of day a goat is going to kid) and we'd be supplying meals etc.

We expected to be ridiculously busy even with their help so I wanted to have a number of easy, heat and eat meals ready to go. One of the meals would be based on a big pot of Ham and Beans that I could make up a few days in advance and then just re-heat to serve. This use is perfect as Ham and Beans improves with a day or so of letting the flavors marry and meld after it is first made.

The way I make Ham and Beans it can either be eaten like a thick stew or thinned down a bit for a soup. I personally prefer the stew but either way it is a full and satisfying meal, especially accompanied by something like a pan of cornbread hot out of the oven.

Ham and Beans

1. Rinse, clean and soak 1 lb of dried small white beans in triple their volume (or more) of cold, clear water for at least 12 hours.

2. Drain and rinse the beans in fresh water then put in a pot and cover with about three times their volume of clear water. Cover, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook several hours until the beans are just tender but not soft or falling apart.

3. While the beans cook prepare about 4 cups of mirepoix, roughly equal parts of 1/4" diced carrots, onion, and celery.

4. When the beans are at the tender stage, add a smoked ham shank or two (depending on how meaty they are). Add more water to almost cover the shank if necessary.

5. Simmer until the meat begins to loosen from the shank bones. Add the mirepoix and continue cooking until the meat falls off the bones and the veggies are tender. Remove from heat.

6. Remove the shanks and meat from the stew.

When cool enough to work with remove all of the meat from the bones. Pick through it carefully, removing all sinew, veins, cartilage etc, then cut the meat into 1/2" pieces.

7. Skim any fat that has risen to the top of the stew. Add the meat back to the stew and re-heat to eat or chill for later use.

Asparagus

2011-04-24T10:06:00.008-07:00

'tis spring, 'tis spring

Da boyds is on da wing.

My woyd!

How absoyd!

I thought da wings was on da boyds!

(an old family rhyme, origin unknown)

It's spring on the Ranch. This year, as usual, the arrival of spring ushered in our annual windy season. Wicked winds, gusty winds, sustained winds, sandstorm winds. Very unpleasant indeed. It makes outside work much more difficult and wreaks havoc in the gardens.

Not only do the wind storms make starting vegetable seeds and plants outside risky to the point of being a reckless gamble, the winds move so much sand around that even well-established perennial plants can have a rough time of it. It is not unusual for me to have to take our tractor bucket loader and remove 24-30 inch-high "blow sand" dunes from the garden several times between March and June.

Other than the wind, the official arrival of spring (at least in my mind) is heralded by the almost-miraculous appearance of the first stalks of asparagus. They are miraculous from the usual point of view that it's like magic to see those beautiful sprouts pushing up through the cold, hard soil every year but also that they can further withstand the relentless assault of wind and sand and be so productive.

One year I was not able to get into the garden for weeks after a bad sand storm. Eventually I got to the asparagus bed and started digging it out, using a flat-bladed shovel. To my surprise, my first shovelful not only removed a bunch of sand but it also cleanly cut and exposed about a dozen gorgeous white asparagus stalks! This, of course, is how this great culinary delicacy is intentionally grown... as the first shoots of asparagus begin to show through the ground they are covered up with a few inches of soil. This is repeated every time the shoots begin to show until they are large enough for harvest. Preventing exposure to sunlight keeps the chlorophyll from greening-up the plants and limited exposure to air keeps them very tender. Anyway, that year we had a nice harvest of a truly special accidental vegetable crop.

Despite some wild winds this year, the asparagus bed has somehow remained pretty clear of sand. Maybe my wind screens (both vegetative and manmade obstacles) are finally starting to work. For whatever reason, the asparagus are doing great! Since our first harvest a few days ago we have had daily yields of from 12 to 30 beautiful, thick and tall spears and they have been on our plates for every dinner.

Today's asparagus harvest
(and some tomatoes from the greenhouse)

Our asparagus usually goes from the garden directly to dinner prep but if I need to store them for a short while I'll give them a quick rinse in very cold water, wrap a moist paper towel around the base end of the bundle then wrap the whole bundle lightly in plastic wrap, leaving the top end open for ventilation. The asparagus will last in the fridge veggie drawer this way for a couple of days with very little loss of quality.

Pan-Roast Asparagus

My favorite way to prepare asparagus is a very simple pan-roast.

First I wash them really well. Even though the sands are not piling up on them it is certainly blowing around a lot and they - especially the convoluted little heads - need lots of running water to prevent gritty food.

After washing I'll trim the bottom ends just enough to remove where the skin is a bit tough. If the skin seems to be tough up more than an inch I will sometimes peel the bases. I'll then wash the spears one more time.

Next I heat a little butter in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. When it is hot I put in the spears (trying to keep them all oriented the same direction for ease of cooking and subsequent serving) and give them a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Shake the pan fairly frequently to make sure that all the the individual spears get even pan-contact time. If there is a lot of disparity in spear sizes - not an unusual occurrence for home harvests, I may withhold the smaller ones and add them part way through cooking the larger spears.

Cooking only takes a few minutes and I like them best if a few get a tiny bit of pan browning started. Avoid too much browning or risk them tasting bitter.

Pan-Roasted Asparagus

This is one of the easiest, fastest and best vegetables there is, made especially good with freshly home-harvested spears. I could eat pan-roast asparagus at every meal, year 'round but the season is short so I'll just enjoy it while I can.

Mac & Cheese

2011-04-23T12:45:00.001-07:00

I have a confession to make. I have a few blue boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in my pantry, and worse... there used to be more of them.

Yes, it's true. Despite the fact that we grow almost all our own food right here on the Ranch - from vegetables to beef, pork, chicken, duck etc; despite the fact that we are a certified goat cheese dairy, and make our own cheddar, Gouda, jack, Swiss, Havarti etc cheeses; and despite the fact that I am a highly-trained and experienced former professional chef... Kathryn and I do, every great once in a while, make and eat boxed macaroni and cheese.

In our defense, it's always some sort of "special situation" that warrants breaking out a blue box. It's usually one of those days when I'm working on a project that I can't get away from all morning that drags on way past lunch time and there's nothing in the fridge that Kathryn can easily heat up. Barn cleaning day is a classic mac & cheese day as I'm stuck on the tractor all day. K gets out the blue box and whips out lunch (usually with the addition of some of our homemade smoked sausages) and calls me in for a quick break when it's ready.

Personally, I've attempted to make blue box mac and cheese just once. It was about 4 years ago, and it was a total disaster. I missed the part of the directions where you add the milk and stirred the dry powder directly into the cooked macaroni. Oh-Lordy what a mess! The whole thing seized up in about 10 seconds to the point I thought I was going to have to throw it all away - pot, spoon and all. Completely inedible. Since then mac-in-a-box duties have fallen solely to Kathryn.

What can I say? It's not a very good product, but at least it's a lot faster and easier than from scratch.

Or is it?

A few days ago I made a big batch of Baked Macaroni and Cheese and knocked it out in such short order (while doing a whole bunch of other things at the same time including helping birth-out a couple of goat babies) that I've come to the conclusion that the real deal is just as good a deal to make.

To start with, my recipe is drop-dead simple:

B M R Baked Mac & Cheese

Yield: 1, 4" Hotel Pan

Ingredients

2 Pounds Elbow Macaroni

1 Gallon Milk

4 Pounds Cheese Blend , Shredded (see note)

Seasonings To Taste: Granulated Garlic, Granulated Onion, Salt

As Needed: Blond Roux (see note)

3 Pounds Seasoned Fresh Bread Crumbs (see note)

Method

1. Boil the macaroni in plenty water until very tender. Drain well.

2. Combine the milk and shredded cheese and heat on medium, stirring regularly to avoid sticking, until very hot and cheese is melted

3. Season to taste with garlic, onion and salt

4. Add the roux and bring to a simmer, stir almost constantly until thick, adding more roux as necessary . Cook on very low heat for a few minutes.

5. Toss the macaroni in the sauce and pour into a lightly greased 4" hotel pan

6. Top with seasoned crumbs and bake, uncovered at 350F (325F convection oven) for about 45 minutes until bubbly all over and crumbs have browned nicely.

NOTES :

1. Cheese blend: cheddar, jack, havarti, and/or gouda etc your choice.

2. Blond Roux: equal parts by weight butter and flour, cooked over very low heat for 1-15 minutes without browning at all. Rule of thumb: add cold (room temperature) roux to hot liquids or hot roux to cold liquids. Do ahead. Always keep some on-hand.

3. Seasoned Fresh Bread Crumbs: Fresh bread pulsed in a food processor with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, granulated onion, parsley and a little olive oil to a medium-fine crumb. Can be done ahead. Can be frozen for future uses.

Of course, my elbow macs didn't take any longer to cook than the ones that come in the blue boxes nor were they any more difficult so that's a wash.

I always keep a container of roux at-the-ready so the sauce only took about 15 minutes: While the pasta was cooking I started heating the milk. While the milk heated I grated the cheese (took about 2 minutes to cut into chunks and chip fine in the food processor) then added it to the milk.

Once the cheese was out of the food processor bowl it was only another couple of minutes to make the fresh bread crumbs in the same bowl - no need to wash between.

By that point the sauce was ready for thickening.

While the sauce simmered I drained the elbows. When the sauce was ready I tossed in the elbows.

At this point you have something akin to the boxed product (but infinitely better) in about 20 minutes - but I wanted Baked Mac & Cheese.

I poured the macaroni and cheese sauce into the hotel pan, topped it with the crumbs and put the pan into the pre-heated oven. About 45 minutes later it was perfectly done. Time to eat.

This was some real top-notch Mac & Cheese and it wasn't a whole lot more time or work than from the box. And an added bonus... this recipe makes a LOT! Even after a couple of meals featuring Baked Mac & Cheese, I was able to freeze 8, 2-person portions so future meals are as easy as popping them into the microwave or oven to heat. Faster AND easier than the blue box stuff!

Job Description for a Cook

2011-04-11T01:01:00.003-07:00

I was recently reading an online discussion about various culinary job positions and I couldn't help notice the wide discrepancy between the public's romanticized impression of what a cook or chef does for a living and reality. This got me thinking about a time, early in my food service career, when I was asked to describe exactly what a cook's job is...

As part of my job as a Food & Beverage Director (F&B) with Holiday Inns (this was in the early 80’s) I was tasked with writing job descriptions for all the positions in my department. The hotel where I was working had one bar and one restaurant so this included kitchen, dining room, and bar/lounge positions. I was supposed to show the job descriptions to all prospective employees to make sure they were able and willing to do the jobs for which they were applying.

Talk about re-inventing the wheel! This had been done so many times for the exact same positions by each of my predecessors (and every other F&B manager at every other inn in the chain). I thought it was a complete waste of time so I asked the General Manager if I could just review and resubmit a previous version of each.

“No deal”, he told me. “Start from scratch”.

I had recently "graduated" from a 5-day exhaustive management workshop (i.e. paid vacation) at the illustrious Holiday Inn University in lovely Olive Branch Mississippi where I was introduced to the collective H.I. corporate mentality. Apparently this onerous little task was supposed to be an exercise designed to make sure that every F&B was intimately familiar with each of the job positions in his department. Well, I was more than familiar, having done most of them first hand, so I went at it.

To be honest, I did a pretty half-assed job for all the service staff positions, and the bar positions and the dishwashers etc. My heart just wasn't in it. But, when it came to the cooks, the job positions I knew most about, I had some fun. I ended up sending the GM a 2-page, single-spaced typed (remember typewriters?) document. I don’t remember it entirely, but it went something like this...

Job Description for a Cook

The primary job for a cook is preparing the food served in our restaurant. Cooks are required to work in widely variable physical environments for extended periods of time including sub-zero degrees F while working/cleaning/stocking/organizing/and -or inventorying in the walk-in freezers and 120 degrees F-plus temperatures on the hot cooking line. “If you can’t take the heat; stay out of the kitchen” is not just a cute saying.

The work environment for cooks is also usually slippery, often wet, can be very cramped and is always full of very sharp tools and extremely hot equipment. Accidental burns and cuts to the cook’s person can be expected. They are part of the job and should be tolerated with minimal interruption to the work flow. (see below for more on non-accidental injuries)

Cooks must be able to stand on their feet working for 2 to 3 hours at a time under these conditions without a break during service periods. Cooks can expect to do a great deal of physical heavy lifting on a daily basis with regular tasks involving moving 50 lb+ containers up and down stairs, along narrow hallways and through the above described wet/hot/cold environments.

Additionally, the kitchen work zone is a fast-paced, intense and testosterone-rich environment that is often adversarial in nature. “Colorful language”, “rich metaphors” and a certain amount of physical and mental stress (abuse) that would be considered out of place in most work environments is to be expected for cooks.

Cooks are also expected to be available to work all weekends and holidays as these are the restaurant's busiest times. Normal work shifts for cooks either begin at 5am or end at midnight (sometimes both). Cooks shifts will theoretically include the periodic meal and shift breaks as mandated by applicable labor laws but in reality they will rarely be available to take (but don’t worry, a member of management will be assigned to punch your time card in and out at appropriate intervals).

We are required by law at this point to also inform you that cooks and chefs have the highest suicide and divorce rates of any profession with the exception of law enforcement.

I went on to break down each of the individual positions (breakfast cook, dinner cook, prep cook, etc) in ridiculous detail, highlighting each and every difficult or unpleasant task they might face.

Management apparently didn't like my work very much and told me not to use my descriptions for my interviews. Imagine that. Probably a good thing or I’d never have been able to get anybody to fill job openings.

The following year I was handed a packet of generic F&B job descriptions to begin using. It was sent down from the corporate headquarters and was obviously written by, or at least with the oversight of the company lawyers. The job descriptions were vanilla, vague and effectively useless as a hiring tool but I guess they kept guys like me from getting the company in trouble.

But times have changed. Commercial kitchens are not at all the same places they were 30 years ago. I'm happy to report that this type of job description is COMPLETELY outdated and totally inapplicable in today's sensitive, modern restaurant paradigm. <wink, wink> (pssst, Hey buddy, Wanna job?...)

Bagels

2011-04-06T15:46:00.001-07:00

We don't have breakfast around here very often. Mornings are always full and often hectic with the morning chores, feeding all the animals, milking the goats - which leads right into the day's cheese-making activities etc. By the time we've stopped to catch our breath, it's 10am - too close to lunch time for a meal.

Some days, we know lunch is going to be very late (order processing days are infamously so) so we'll try to grab a little something in the morning to tide us over. Maybe a piece of fruit or a muffin, but our go-to breakfast of choice is a toasted bagel with freshly made goat cheese, just out of the draining bags.

For the longest time we struggled with finding a good source for bagels. We're 100 miles form the nearest bagel bakery (not that Arizona is exactly well known for the quality of it's bagels to start with!) and the grocery store bagels we'd tried were insipid imitations at best. "Bagel-shaped bread" Kathryn called it.

There is one little bagel shop in Tucson we'd discovered when we lived there that could make a really good bagel (depending on who was baking that morning). In the years since we moved to The Ranch I'd make it a point whenever I was in town to pick up a couple of dozen to carefully bag and freeze upon getting home. We'd dole out those bagels like they were solid gold.

As our time up here went on, I found my need for trips to Tucson getting fewer and farther between. What had, at one point, been trips down about every other month became 2 or 3 times a year. Now I get down there maybe once a year. We needed a new bagel source.

The obvious solution was to make them ourselves. I'd been baking for 35 years but, for some reason, had never attempted bagels. I guess they seemed too complicated and specialized to be able to do a good job of on a small-scale/home basis. I knew there were several cooking steps and had read a couple of recipes that called for things like "Non-diastatic Malt Powder", whatever that was.

Whatever my phobia/excuse/aversion, it was time to "man-up" and learn to make bagels. I read everything I could find about the process and while there were plenty of "easy", or "one-step" types of recipes out there, the more I looked into it, the more I became convinced that there were no good short cuts, cutting corners or substitutions that didn't, in some way, act to the detriment of the final product.

If I was going to do this I was going to do it right so I took several well respected and authentic formulas (some for practically industrial quantities) and made a melange of their similarities and differences and came up with a solid, scaled-to-home-use base, from which to start. I also ordered some of that mysterious Non-diastatic Malt Powder online. By the time it arrived, I was ready to give it a shot.

Let's just say the first batch was a "learning experience". It's not that they were inedible, or anything, but they needed a lot of help. For one thing, I didn't realize how much they would grow through the boiling and baking processes. Called "oven spring", the rapid expansion of the dough when it meets high heat is a combination of the yeast's gas-producing effect briefly increasing and the expansion of the dough as some of it's moisture turns to steam. Anyway, I didn't account enough of it and my first bagels ended up without any holes at all and were more like large rolls. On the up-side, the flavor was excellent, the texture was dense and chewy and the crust was shiny and crisp. In short, a pretty good bagel (if you didn't look at it).

A couple of tweaks to the recipe and some re-thinking about how I was forming the dough and I was ready for another shot. They came out MUCH improved in form and just as good otherwise. I made some notes for a few small changes.

Subsequent batches went easier and easier. I optimized my set-up so it took less space, time and clean-up. I converted the mish-mash volume/weight/measure/English/metric ingredient list to primarily metric weight to ensure best possible future repeatability (something I've been working towards on most of my recipes for years).

Anyway, this morning I made bagels. "Everything bagels" are our favorites and so that's the type I made this time. The process was smooth and fluid and while, sure, bagels have a few more steps than a loaf of white bread, it's hard to remember what all the drama was about in finally making my first ones.

Here's my recipe and some process pictures...

BMR "Everything" Bagels

Yield: 12 Bagels

Ingredients

12 Grams Dry Yeast

70 Grams Non-diastatic Malt Powder

24 Grams Sugar

1 pint Warm Water

720 Grams Bread Flour

16 Grams Salt

As Needed (about 300 grams total) Topping: Your choice combination of: Sea Salt, Poppy Seeds, Sesame Seeds, Onion, Garlic, Caraway, Etc.

For Water Bath

3 Quarts Water

50 Grams Non-diastatic Malt Powder

24 Grams Sugar

Method

1. Combine the yeast, malt and sugar in a mixer bowl

2. Add the warm water, mix, and let the yeast proof for a few minutes.

3. Add the flour and the salt then knead the dough till smooth.

4. Shape the dough into a ball place it in a lightly greased bowl covered with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow it to rise till doubled in bulk, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

5. When the dough has risen, release the air and transfer it to a clean work surface.

6. Put the water into a 4-5" deep pot about 10" in diameter -- the water should be about 3 inches deep -- and add the malt and sugar. Bring the water mix to a boil while shaping the bagels.

7. Scale the dough at about 3.5 oz (100 grams, .22 lb) which should make about 12 pieces. Roll the prices into balls.

8. Working with one piece of dough at a time, shape it into a ball, poke a hole through the center with your index finger, and twirl; the dough will form a ring.

9. As you get 3 or 4 bagels ready, boil them immediately for chewiest bagels, or let them rise a bit (see notes). Keep the water bath at a simmer. Don't crowd the bagels in the water. Simmer them for about 30 seconds on each side, then drain briefly.

10. While still hot and moist, dip the bagels top and bottoms, in topping mix, then move them to a parchment-lined sheetpan, liberally sprinkled with corn meal.

11. Bake the bagels in a preheated 425°F oven for about 20 minutes, or until they are a deep golden brown.

NOTES :

Second rise or not?

Boiling the bagels immediately after shaping will produce chewy, dense bagels. Letting the bagels rest and rise for 30 minutes or so after shaping, will yield a lighter, puffier bagel. Be advised that rising the bagels before boiling will make them more fragile and more difficult to handle (they will want to deflate in the water bath).

What's with the "Non-diastatic Malt Powder"?

Malt Powder improves the flavor of the bagels and, more importantly, when used in the water bath it gives them a shiny crust. Non-diastatic malt powder is made from sprouted barley kernels which have been roasted (to intensify their natural sweetness), ground, filtered in water (to remove husks and bran), then dehydrated. The resulting powder, has a characteristic sweet caramel taste and aroma. Regular (diastatic) malt retains enzymes which gives yeast a boost - a desirable characteristic in some applications, but not for bagels. Non-Diastatic Malt is much more stable here. Too much Diastatic Malt might cause the bagels to collapse or even start breaking a part in the simmering water.

Roast Duck Dinner (From Post Office to Plate) - Part 4

2011-04-03T16:21:00.003-07:00

Click here to go back to Part 3

Duck tonight! Time to do the "final assembly" of all the components for our duck dinner, at last!

Three days have passed since we butchered the first duck and I start the day with 6 VERY nicely cleaned, plucked and rested, feet-on ducks. I figure I have just enough room in my commercial convection oven to roast them all at the same time. This allows me some economies of scale and conservation of energy consumption.

The first step is to make up a big batch of aromatic-rich mirepoix. I used 2 lbs of carrots, one large head of celery, four medium onions, and one head of garlic, I chopped all of this coarsely and added about a cup of fresh rosemary leaves, some salt and ground black pepper and tossed it to mix well.

Rough Mirepoix

To prepare the ducks I cut off the feet, necks, fatty skin flap around the neck and knuckles off the legs. These all go on the bottom of the roast pans along with a little of the mirepoix. I then folded each wing back onto itself, tucking it under the body.

Next I filled the body cavity of each duck loosely with the remaining mirepoix, rubbed the exteriors with a little dark soy sauce, arranged them, breast side up, in the roast pans and popped them in the preheated 350F oven.

While the ducks cooked I started the wild rice pilaf that would accompany them at dinner. I started by measuring out 2 cups of wild rice, covering it with water in a small sauce pot and bringing it to a boil then quickly draining it ("blanching").

While the rice blanched, I cut up another aromatic mirepoix (carrots, celery, onions and garlic), this time diced about 1/4" (garlic fine chopped) and began sautéing it in a little butter. When it was almost soft I added some chopped thyme and rosemary to cook for a minute or so before removing it from the heat. I brought 8 cups of well-seasoned chicken stock to a boil.

I put the blanched and drained wild rice in a lightly oiled 2" hotel pan, stirred in the sautéed mirepoix and poured on the boiling stock. A quick stir to distribute everything evenly, then I covered the pan with plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil and popped it in the oven.

Back to the ducks. After about an hour I turned each of the ducks so they were breast-down. The mirepoix was browning nicely but not getting too dark so back in the oven they all went.

I checked the rice after an hour in the oven and it still had a ways to go but was coming nicely.

After the second hour in the oven for the ducks they got flipped again (breast side up again). I often find that with store-bought ducks they are very close to being done at this point and a little crisping of the breast skin is all that is needed. These ducks were not nearly ready yet. I suspect it was because of their age (quite a bit older than commercially prepared birds) but for what ever reason, they needed some more quality time in the oven. The mirepoix was darkening and there was very little liquid remaining in the bottoms of the roast pans so I added a little water to each to prevent scorching.

To my surprise, the ducks took nearly another hour to cook sufficiently at which time I took them out, removed them from the pans to cool.

I then set about deglazing the roast pans on the stove over hot flames with some red wine and water, scraping up all the brown bits. This would all go toward making the stock that would be made into a sauce for the ducks so, the deglazing liquid went into a stock pot with the feet, necks and mirepoix from the pans.

deglazing a roast pan

I covered the parts with more water and put the pot on the stove to heat while I continued working with the birds.

By this time the rice was fully cooked and very fluffy. I poured it out of the hotel and onto a sheet pan to cool, then put into the fridge. I've found that wild rice will tend to sour if not cooled and chilled quickly after cooking.

Once cool enough to work with, I de-boned the ducks. Starting by tearing off the first two joints of each of the wings, then cutting each bird in half through the backbone and breast and removing the mirepoix from the cavities (goes into the stock pot)

I proceeded to pull out all of the now-exposed rib, back, hip and breast bones, being careful not to tear the meat or otherwise mangle the birds. Most of the bones (which of course also go into the stock pot) came out easily so all that was left in each half was one leg bone, one thigh bone and one wing bone. This makes the duck halves sit nicely on the plate, be very easy to eat and gives me more bones for the stock!

mostly-deboned duck half

The duck halves then went into the fridge to chill while the stock cooked.

All My Ducks in a Row

After about 6 hours at a low simmer, the stock was a rich brown color, smelled great and some of the bones were just beginning to fall apart.

Duck Stock Simmers

Time to strain. After removing as many of the larger bones as possible I strained the stock first through a coarse china cap (conical colander), then through progressively finer mesh strainers and finally through a sieve lined with cheesecloth.

I skimmed off as much of the fat as possible (reserved for other uses) and cooled the nearly-clear stock in an ice bath before moving it to the fridge to finish chilling.

Time to make the sauce. Duck L'Orange is the classic preparation for roast duck with a rich orange-flavored sauce but the same technique can be used to make any type of fruity sauce. Today I was going to make one with blackberries.

I started by making a piquant caramel by combining sugar and red wine vinegar and cooking it to a thick syrup and then to a medium brown. This base is what will give the sauce much of its sweet-and-sour kick.

Piquant Caramel for Sauce

While the caramel was reducing I pureed some previously frozen blackberries with an orange. These I added to the caramel when it reached just the right point to stop the cooking process (CAUTION! This is a little tricky and can cause violent sputtering of the molten sugar if you are not very careful).

I cooked the blackberry/caramel mix a bit longer to further reduce and concentrate the flavors then strained the base through a fine sieve to remove the berry seeds, pressing to get every drop of base I could.

I retrieved the cold stock from the fridge, skimmed off the little bit more fat that had congealed on the surface and put some stock in a small sauce pot. I added some of my blackberry base and began heating the mixture. There are any number of options for thickening this sauce but arrowroot is usually my tool of choice. I like the glossy, semi-clear look of the finished sauce but in this case I thought I'd try something a little different. I made a quick roux from some of the reserved duck fat and flour and also dissolved some cornstarch in cold water and used a combination of the two as my thickeners. The result was interesting. It had the full body and mouth-feel of a demi-glace brown sauce but also the sheen of an arrowroot sauce. I liked it. A bit of tweaking of the flavor (touch more thyme, little more vinegar at the finish) and the sauce was good-to-go.

Putting it all together. It's almost dinner time but these are big birds and we've been picking at the roast duck bones all day so we opt to have just 1/4 duck each tonight. The duck half goes onto a sizzling platter, skin side up, with a little water on the bottom (to prevent drying of the exposed meat) and into a 450F oven. This will heat it through and crisp up the skin in about 10 minutes. In the mean time I reheat some of the wild rice in the microwave, and make sure the sauce is hot and ready.

Once the duck was ready it was time to eat! I added a few sliced tomatoes, fresh from our green house to complete the plate. At last, our own duck dinner!

It was absolutely worth the work and the wait but now you know why, when I buy a frozen duck at the grocery store, Kathryn calls it a "convenience product" or even "fast food"!

Roast Duck Dinner (From Post Office to Plate) - Part 3

2011-03-31T16:15:00.003-07:00

Click here to go back to Part 2

The following day brought a fresh perspective, some new ideas and much better weather.

In evaluating the previous day's successes and failures we decided that:

1. We needed to scald for longer than we thought and at a much higher temperature than is generally recommended. We think this is because our ducks are older than most that are harvested commercially.

2. The ducks seemed to continue to loosen their feathers for a while after coming out of the scald so we would try streamlining the process through scalding on all of the birds were were going to do and then concentrate on removing the feathers as a separate project.

3. We needed to resign ourselves to the fact that if we wanted skin-on ducks there was going to be a serious amount of hand plucking work involved. There was no magic gizmo (at least not within our reach) that was going to miraculously de-nude the birds completely. Further research into commercial duck processing came across some other techniques that might have applicable merit. One method: the easy feathers were removed after scalding and then the ducks were dipped into molten paraffin wax then into ice water to harden the wax which was then peeled off - taking with it most of the remaining feathers - sounded promising but it required a LOT more of the wax than we had on hand for this session.

After setting up our various stations for the day (see previous post for details) we decided to kill and scald 4 birds in short succession then work together on the plucking. That would give us a total of 6 in the fridge. Plenty to see if this was all going to be worth it.

Work progressed smoothly. After killing and bleeding-out, we scalded the birds in the soapy water at 170-180F for a full 3 minutes and by the end some feathers were almost falling out on their own. A quick check showed no signs that it was cooking the ducks. Once all four were scalded and piled in a large bus tub, I began working on them with the Hillbilly Plucker. They were still quite hot and the plucker got off a lot of feathers. When the first one was as done as I could get it, Kathryn started the hand work on it while I "HIllbillied" the rest.

By the time I'd finished pre-plucking all four, she had the first one almost done. Things were definitely going faster but it was still very fussy work. Despite our super-scald, some of the feathers were still so well anchored we had to pull them with needle-nose pliers. Working together we plucked three of them until as done as possible, sometimes exchanging the birds we were working on.

"Here. You take this one for a while. I'm tired of looking at it"

Once the first three were done I started the gutting and Kathryn finished the last one.

When all four were plucked, gutted, washed off and in the ice bath we, again, moved inside to finish the work of peeling feet and singing hair (and pulling the occasional missed feather here and there).

All in all it took us about 4 hours to process the four ducks today and get them in the fridge to rest. Half the time per-bird of the previous day's efforts, but still a lot longer than we had hoped.

Two days in the fridge and the ducks should be nice and relaxed and I can start treating them like food!

(To be Continued...)