Caterers Pantry

Male and Female

2012-04-02T22:09:00.000-04:00

Roast Boned Rolled Stuffed Shoulder of Lamb

2011-11-13T14:47:00.001-05:00

Country Cooking from Central France:
Roast Boned Rolled Stuffed Shoulder of Lamb (Farce Double)
Here is an old French regional dish for you to try. Attempts by presumptuous chefs to refine it have failed to subdue its basically hearty nature. It demands some patience, but you will be abundantly rewarded for your pains.

Farce double--literally, double stuffing--is the specialty of La Tour Lambert, a mountainous village in Auvergne, that rugged heart of the Massif Central. I have often visited La Tour Lambert: the first time was in late May, when farce double is traditionally served. I have observed the dish being made and discussed it with local cooks.
The latter were skeptical about reproducing farce double elsewhere-not out of pride, but because they were afraid the dish would make no sense to a foreigner. (It is your duty to prove them wrong-and nothing would make them happier if you did.) Furthermore, they said, certain ingredients would be hard to find. Judicious substitution is our answer to that. Without it, after all, we would have to forgo most foreign cooking not out of a can.

The shoulder of lamb itself requires attention. You must buy it from a butcher who can dress it properly. Tell him to include the middle neck, the shoulder chops in the brisket, and part of the foreshank. The stuffing will otherwise fall out of the roast.

In Auvergne, preparing the cut is no problem, since whole lambs are roasted: the dish is considered appropriate for exceptional, often communal feasts, of a kind that has become a rarity with us.

All bones must be removed. If you leave this to the butcher, have him save them for the deglazing sauce. The fell or filament must be kept intact, or the flesh may crumble.

Set the boned forequarter on the kitchen table. Do not slice off the purple inspection stamps but scour them with a brush dipped in a weak solution of lye. The meat will need all the protection it can get. Rinse and dry.

Marinate the lamb in a mixture of 2 qts of white wine, 2 qts of olive oil, the juice of 16 lemons, salt, pepper, 16 crushed garlic cloves, 10 coarsely chopped yellow onions, basil, rosemary, melilot, ginger, allspice, and a handful of juniper berries. The juniper adds a pungent, authentic note. In Auvergne, shepherds pick the berries in late summer when they drive their flocks from the mountain pastures. They deposit the berries in La Tour Lambert, where they are pickled through the winter in cider brandy. The preparation is worth making, but demands foresight.

If no bowl is capacious enough for the lamb and its marinade, use a washtub. Without a tub, you must improvise. Friends of mine in Paris resort to their bidet; Americans may have to fall back on the kitchen sink, which is what I did the first time I made farce double. In La Tour Lambert, most houses have stone marinating troughs. Less favored citizens use the municipal troughs in the entrance of a cave in the hillside, just off the main square.

The lamb will have marinated satisfactorily in 5 or 6 days.

Allow yourself 3 hours for the stuffings. The fish balls or quenelles that are their main ingredient can be prepared a day in advance and refrigerated until an hour before use.

The quenelles of La Tour Lambert have traditionally been made from chaste, a fish peculiar to the mountain lakes of Auvergne. The name, a dialect word meaning "fresh blood," may have been suggested by the color of its spreading gills, through which it ingests its food. (It is a mouthless fish.) It is lured to the surface with a skein of tiny beads that resemble the larvae on which it preys, then bludgeoned with an underwater boomerang. Chaste has coarse, yellow-white flesh, with a mild but inescapable taste. It has been vaguely and mistakenly identified as a perch; our American perch, however, can replace it, provided it has been caught no more than 36 hours before cooking. Other substitutes are saltwater fish such as silver hake or green cod. If you use a dry-fleshed fish, remember to order beef-kidney fat at the butcher's to add to the fish paste. (Be sure to grind it separately.)

To a saucepan filled with 2 1/2 cups of cold water, add salt, pepper, 2 pinches of grated nutmeg, and 6 tbsp of butter. Boil. Off heat, begin stirring in 2 1/2 cups of flour and continue as you again bring the water to a boil. Take off heat. Beat in 5 eggs, one at a time, then 5 egg whites. Let the liquid cool.

Earlier, you will have ground 3 3/4 lbs of fish with a mortar and pestle-heads, tails bones, and all-and forced them through a coarse sieve. Do not use a grinder, blender, or cuisinart. The sieve of La Tour Lambert is an elegant sock of meshed copper wire, with a fitted ashwood plunger. It is kept immaculately bright. Its apertures are shrewdly gauged to crumble the bones without pulverizing the flesh. Into the strained fish,mix small amounts of salt, white pepper, nutmeg, and chopped truffles--fresh ones, if possible. (See truffle.)

Stir fish and liquid into an even paste.

Two hours before, you will have refrigerated 1 cup of the heaviest cream available. Here, of course, access to a cow is a blessing.

The breathtakingly viscid cream of La Tour Lambert is kept in specially excavated cellars. Those without one use the town chiller, in the middle depths--cool but not cold--of the cave mentioned earlier. Often I have watched the attendant women entering and emerging from that room, dusky figures in cowls, shawls, and long gray gowns, bearing earthenware jugs like offerings to a saint.

Beat the cool cream into the paste. Do it slowly: think of those erect, deliberate Auvergnat women as they stand in the faint gloom of the cave, beating with gestures of timeless calm. It should take at least 15 minutes to complete the task.

At some previous moment, you will have made the stuffing for the quenelles. (This is what makes the stuffing "double.") It consists of the milt of the fish and the sweetbreads of the lamb, both the neck and stomach varieties. (Don't forget to mention them to your butcher.) The milt is rapidly blanched. The sweetbreads are diced, salted, spiced with freshly ground hot pepper, and tossed for 6 minutes in clarified butter. Both are then chopped very fine (blender permitted) and kneaded into an unctuous mass with the help of 1 cup of lamb marrow and 3 tbsp of aged Madeira.

I said at the outset that I am in favor of appropriate substitutions in preparing farce double: but even though one eminent authority has suggested it, stuffing the quenelles with banana peanut butter is not appropriate.

The quenelles must now be shaped. Some writers who have discoursed at length on the traditional Auvergnat shape urge its adoption at all costs. I disagree. For the inhabitants of La Tour Lambert, who attach great significance to farce double, it may be right to feel strongly on this point. The same cannot be said for families in Maplewood or Orange County. You have enough to worry about as it is. If you are, however, an incurable stickler, you should know that in Auvergne molds are used. They are called beurdes (they are, coincidentally, shaped like birds), and they are available here. You can find them in any of the better head shops.

But forget about bird molds. Slap your fish paste onto a board and roll it flat. Spread on stuffing in parallel 1/2-inch bands 2 inches apart. Cut paste midway between bands, roll these strips into cylinders, and slice the cylinders into sections no larger than a small headache. Dip each piece in truffle crumbs. (See truffle.)

I refuse to become involved in the pros and cons of presteaming the quenelles. The only steam in La Tour Lambert is a rare fragrant wisp from the dampened fire of a roasting pit.

We now approach a crux in the preparation of farce double: enveloping the quenelles and binding them into the lamb. I must make a stern observation here; and you must listen to it. You must take it absolutely to heart.

If the traditional ways of enveloping the quenelles are arduous, they are in no way gratuitous. On them depends an essential component of farce double, namely the subtle interaction of lamb and fish. While the quenelles (and the poaching liquid that bathes them) must be largely insulated from the encompassing meat, they should not be wholly so. The quenelles must not be drenched in roasting juice or the lamb in fishy broth, but an exchange should occur, definite no matter how mild. Do not under any circumstance use a baggie or Saran Wrap to enfold the quenelles. Of course it's easier. So are TV dinners. For once, demand the utmost of yourself: the satisfaction will astound you, and there is no other way.

I mentioned this misuse of plastic to a native of La Tour Lambert. My interlocutor, as if appealing for divine aid, leaned back, lifted up his eyes, and stretched forth his arms. He was standing at the edge of a marinating trough; its edges were slick with marinade. One foot shot forward, he teetered for one moment on the brink, and then down he went. Dripping oil, encrusted with fragrant herbs; he emerged briskly and burst into tears.

There are two methods. I shall describe the first one briefly: it is the one used by official cooks for public banquets. Cawl (tripe skin) is scraped free of fat and rubbed with pumice stone to a thinness approaching nonexistence. This gossamer is sewn into an open pouch, which is filled with the quenelles and broth before being sewn shut. The sealing of the pouch is preposterously difficult. I have tried it six times; each time, ineluctable burstage has ensued. Even the nimble-fingered, thimble-thumbed seamstresses of La Tour Lambert find it hard. In their floodlit corner of the festal cave, they are surrounded by a sizable choir of wailing boys whose task is to aggravate their intention to a pitch of absolute, sustained concentration. If the miracle always occurs, it is never less than miraculous.

The second method is to seal the quenelles inside a clay shell. This demands no supernatural skills, merely attention.

Purveyors of reliable cooking clay now exist in all major cities. The best are Italian. In New York, the most dependable are to be found in east Queens. (For addresses, see Appendix).

Stretch and tack down two 18-inch cheesecloth squares. Sprinkle until soaking (mop up puddles, however). Distribute clay in pats and roll flat until entire surface is evenly covered. The layer of clay should be no more than 1/16 inch thick. Scissor edges clean.

Drape each square on an overturned 2-qt bowl. Fold back flaps. Mold into hemispheres. Check fit, then dent edge of each hemisphere with forefinger so that when dents are facing each other, they form a 3/4-inch hole.

Be sure to prepare the shell at least 48 hours in advance so that it hardens properly. (If you are a potter, you can bake it in the oven; if not, you risk cracking.) As the drying clay flattens against the cheesecloth, tiny holes will appear. Do not plug them. Little will pass through them: just enough to allow the necessary exchange of savors.

Make the poaching liquid-3 qts of it- like ordinary fish stock (q.v.). The wine used for this in Auvergne is of a local sparkling variety not on the market; but any good champagne is an acceptable substitute.

By "acceptable substitute," I mean one acceptable to me. Purists have cited the fish stock as a reason for not making farce double at all. In La Tour Lambert, they rightly assert, the way the stock is kept allows it to evolve without spoiling: in the amphora-like jars that are stored in the coldest depths of the great cave, a faint, perpetual fermentation gives the perennial brew an exquisite, violet-flavored sourness. This, they say, is inimitable. I say that 30 drops of decoction of elecampane blossoms will reproduce it so perfectly as to convince the most vigilant tongue.

Fifteen minutes before roasting time, put the quenelles in one of the clay hemispheres. Set the other against it, dent to dent. Seal the seam with clay, except for the hole, and thumb down well. Hold the sphere in one hand with the hole on top. With a funnel, pour in hot poaching liquid until it overflows, then empty 1 cup of liquid. This is to keep the shell from bursting from within when the broth reaches a boil.

Be sure to keep the shell in your hand: set in a bowl, one bash against its side will postpone your dinner for several days at least. In La Tour Lambert. where even more fragile gut is used, the risks are lessened by placing the diaphanous bags in wooden reticules. It is still incredible that no damage is ever done to them on the way to the stuffing tables. To avoid their cooling, they are carried at a run by teen-age boys, for whom this is a signal honor: every Sunday throughout the following year, they will be allowed to wear their unmistakable lily-white smocks.

Earlier in the day, you will have anointed the lamb, inside and out: inside, with fresh basil, coriander leaves, garlic, and ginger thickly crushed into walnut oil (this is a must); outside, with mustard powder mixed with--ideally--wild-boar fat. I know that wild boars do not roam our woods (sometimes, on my walks through Central Park, I feel I may soon meet one): bacon fat will do--about a pint of it.

You will have left the lamb lying outside down. Now nestle the clay shell inside the boneless cavity. Work it patiently into the fleshly nooks, then urge the meat in little bulges around it, pressing the lamb next to the shell, not against it, with the gentlest possible nudges. When the shell is deeply ensconced, fold the outlying flaps over it, and shape the whole into a regular square cushion roast. Sew the edges of the meat together, making the seams hermetically tight.

If the original roasting conditions will surely exceed your grasp, a description of them may clarify your goals.

In Auvergne, the body of the lamb is lowered on wetted ropes into a roasting pit. It comes to rest on transverse bars set close to the floor of the pit. Hours before, ash boughs that have dried through three winters are heaped in the pit and set ablaze: by now they are embers. These are raked against the four sides and piled behind wrought-iron grids into glowing walls. The cast-iron floor stays hot from the fire. When the lamb is in place, a heated iron lid is set over the pit. The lid does more than refract heat from below. Pierced with a multitude of small holes, it allows for aspersions of water on coals that need damping and the sprinkling of oil on the lamb, which is thus basted throughout its roasting in a continuous fine spray. Previously, I might add, the lamb has been rapidly seared over an open fire. Four senior cooks manage this by standing on high stepladders and manipulating the poles and extensible thongs used to shift the animal, which they precisely revolve over the flames so that it receives an even grilling.

Thus the onslaught of heat to which the lamb is subjected is, while too restrained to burn it, intense enough to raise the innermost broth to the simmering point.

Carefully lower the lamb into a 25-inch casserole. (If you have no such casserole, buy one. If it will not fit in your oven, consider this merely one more symptom of the shoddiness of our age, which the popularity of dishes like farce double may someday remedy.) Cover. You will have turned on the oven at maximum heat for 45 minutes at least. Close the oven door and lower the thermostat to 445°. For the next 5 hours, there is nothing to do except check the oven thermometer occasionally and baste the roast with juices from the casserole every 10 minutes. If you feel like catnapping, have no compunctions about it.

Do not have anything to drink--considering what lies in store for you, it is a foolish risk. The genial cooks of La Tour Lambert may fall to drinking, dancing, and singing at this point, but remember that they have years of experience behind them; and you, unlike them, must act alone.

One song always sung during the roasting break provides valuable insight into the character of the Auvergnat community. It tells the story of a blacksmith's son who sets out to find his long-lost mother. She is dead, but he cannot remember her death, nor can he accept it. His widowed father has taken as second wife a pretty woman younger than himself. She is hardly motherly toward her stepson: one day, after he has grown to early manhood, she seduces him--in the words of the song, "she does for him what mother never did for her son." This line recurs throughout as a refrain.

It is after the shock of this event that the son leaves in quest of his mother. His father repeatedly tries to dissuade him, insisting that she is dead, or that, if she is alive, it is only in a place "as near as the valley beyond the hill and far away as the stars." In the end, however, he gives his son a sword and a purse full of money and lets him go. The step-mother, also hoping to keep the son from leaving, makes another but this time futile attempt to "do for him what mother never did for her son."

At the end of three days, the son comes to a city. At evening he meets a beautiful woman with long red hair. She offers him hospitality, which he accepts, and she attends lovingly to his every want. Pleasure and hope fill his breast. He begins wondering. He asks himself if this woman might not be his lost mother. But when night falls, the red-haired woman takes him into her bed and "does for him what mother never did for her son." The son knows she cannot be the one he seeks. Pretending to sleep, he waits for an opportunity to leave her; but, at midnight, he sees her draw a length of strong, sharp cord from beneath her pillow and stretch it towards him. The son leaps up, seizes his sword, and confronts the woman. Under its threat, she confesses that she was planning to murder him for the sake of his purse, as she has done with countless travelers: their corpses lie rotting in her cellar. The son slays the woman with his sword, wakes up a nearby priest to assure a Christian burial for her and her victims, and goes his way.

Three days later, he arrives at another city. As day wanes, a strange woman again offers him hospitality, and again he accepts. She is even more beautiful than the first; and her hair is also long, but golden. She lavishes her attentions on the young man, and in such profusion that hope once again spurs him to wonder whether she might not be his lost mother. But with the coming of darkness, the woman with the golden hair takes him into her bed and "does for him what mother never did for her son." His hopes have again been disappointed. Full of unease, he feigns sleep. Halfway through the night he hears footsteps mounting the stairs. He scarcely has time to leap out of bed and grasp his sword before two burly villains come rushing into the room. They attack him, and he cuts them down.

Then, turning on the woman, he forces her at swordpoint to confess that she had hoped to make him her prisoner and sell him into slavery. Saracen pirates would have paid a high price for one of such strength and beauty. The son slays her, wakes up a priest to see that she and her henchmen receive Christian burial, and goes his way.
Another three days' journey brings him to a third city. There, at end of day, the son meets still another fair woman, the most beautiful of all, with flowing, raven-black hair. Alone of the three, she seems to recognize him; and when she takes him under her roof and bestows on him more comfort and affection than he had ever dreamed possible, he knows that this time his hope cannot be mistaken. But when night comes, she takes him into her bed, and she, like the others, "does for him what mother never did for her son." She has drugged his food. He cannot help falling asleep; only, at midnight, the touch of cold iron against his throat rouses him from his stupor. Taking up his sword, he points it in fury at the breast of the woman who has so beguiled him. She begs him to leave her in peace, but she finally acknowledges that she meant to cut his throat and suck his blood. She is an old, old witch who has lost all her powers but one, that of preserving her youth. This she does by drinking the blood of young men. The son runs her through with his sword. With a weak cry, she falls to the floor a wrinkled crone. The son knows that a witch cannot be buried in consecrated ground, and he goes his way.

But the young man travels no further. He is bitterly convinced of the folly of his quest; he has lost all hope of ever finding his mother; wearily he turns homeward.

On his way he passes through the cities where he had first faced danger. He is greeted as a hero. Thanks to the two priests, all know that it was he who destroyed the evil incarnate in their midst. But he takes no pride in having killed two women who "did for him what mother never did for her son."

On the ninth day of his return, he sees from the mountain pass he has reached, the hill beyond which his native village lies. In the valley between, a shepherdess is watching her flock. At his approach she greets him tenderly, for she knows the blacksmith's son and has loved him for many years. He stops with her to rest. She has become, he notices, a beautiful young woman--not as beautiful, perhaps, as the evil three: but her eyes are wide and deep, and her long hair is brown.

The afternoon goes by. Still the son does not leave. At evening, he partakes of the shepherdess's frugal supper. At nighttime, when she lies down, he lies down beside her; and she, her heart brimming with gladness, "does for him what mother never did for her son." The shepherdess falls asleep. The son cannot sleep; and he is appalled, in the middle of the night, to see the shepherdess suddenly rise up beside him. But she only touches his shoulder as if to waken him and points to the starry sky. She tells him to look up. There, she says, beyond the darkness, the souls of the dead have gathered into one blazing light. With a cry of pain, the son asks, "Then is my mother there?" The shepherdess answers that she is. His mother lives beyond the stars, and the stars themselves are chinks in the night through which the hateful light of the dead and the unborn is revealed to the world. "Oh, Mother, Mother," the young man weeps. The shepherdess then says to him, "Who is now mother to your sleep and waking? Who else can be the mother of your joy and pain? I shall henceforth be the mother of every memory; and from this night on, I alone am your mother-even if now, and tomorrow, and all the days of my life, I do for you what mother never did for her son." In his sudden ecstasy, the blacksmith's son understands. He has discovered his desire.

And so, next morning, he brings the shepherdess home. His father, when he sees them, weeps tears of relief and joy; and his stepmother, sick with remorse, welcomes them as saviors. Henceforth they all live in mutual contentment; and when, every evening, the approach of darkness kindles new yearning in the young man's heart and he turns to embrace his wife, she devotedly responds and never once fails, through the long passing years, to "do for him what mother never did for her son."

The connection of this song with farce double lies, I was told, in an analogy between the stars and the holes in the lid of the roasting pit.

When your timer sounds for the final round, you must be in fighting trim: not aggressive, but supremely alert. You now have to work at high speed and with utmost delicacy. The meat will have swelled in cooking: it is pressing against the clay shell harder than ever, and one jolt can spell disaster. Do not coddle yourself by thinking that this pressure is buttressing the shell. In La Tour Lambert, the handling of the cooked lamb is entrusted to squads of highly trained young men: they are solemn as pallbearers and dexterous as shortstops, and their virtuosity is eloquent proof that this is no time for optimism.

Slide the casserole slowly out of the oven and gently set it down on a table covered with a thrice-folded blanket. You will now need help. Summon anyone--a friend, a neighbor, a husband, a lover, a sibling, even a guest--so that the two of you can slip four broad wooden spatulas under the roast, one on each side, and ease it onto a platter. The platter should be resting on a short surface such as a cushion or a mattress (a small hammock would be perfect). Wait for the meat to cool before moving it onto anything harder. Your assistant may withdraw.

Meanwhile attend to the gravy. No later than the previous evening, you will have made 1 1/2 qts of stock with the bones from the lamb shoulder, together with the customary onions, carrots, celery, herb bouquet, cloves, scallions, parsnips, and garlic (see stock), to which you must not hesitate to add any old fowl, capon, partridge, or squab carcasses that are gathering rime in your deep freeze, or a young rabbit or two. Pour out the fat in the casserole and set it on the stove over high heat. Splash in enough of the same good champagne to scrape the casserole clean, and boil. When the wine has largely evaporated, take off heat, and add 2 cups of rendered pork fat. Set the casserole over very low heat and make a quick roux or brown sauce with 3 cups of flour. Then slowly pour in 2 cups of the blood of the lamb, stirring it in a spoonful at a time. Finally, add the stock. Raise the heat to medium high and let the liquid simmer down to the equivalent of 13 cupfuls.

While the gravy reduces, carefully set the platter with the roast on a table, resting one side on an object the size of this cookbook, so that it sits at a tilt. Place a broad shallow bowl against the lower side. If the clay shell now breaks, the poaching broth will flow rapidly into the. bowl. Prop the lamb with a spatula or two to keep it from sliding off the platter.

Slit the seams in the meat, spread its folds, and expose the clay shell. Put on kitchen gloves-the clay will be scalding-and coax the shell from its depths. Set it in a saucepan, give it a smart crack with a mallet, and remove the grosser shards. Ladle out the quenelles and keep them warm in the oven in a covered, buttered dish with a few spoonfuls of the broth. Strain the rest of the liquid, reduce it quickly to a quarter of its volume, and then use what is left of the champagne to make a white wine sauce as explained on p. 888. Nap the quenelles with sauce, and serve.

If you have worked fast and well, by the time your guests finish the quenelles, the lamb will have set long enough for its juices to have withdrawn into the tissues without its getting cold. Pour the gravy into individual heated bowls. Place a bowl in front of each guest, and set the platter with the lamb, which you will have turned outside up, at the center of the table. The meat is eaten without knives and forks. Break off a morsel with the fingers of the right hand, dip it in gravy, and pop it into your mouth. In Auvergne, this is managed with nary a dribble; but lobster bibs are a comfort.

(Do not be upset if you yourself have lost all desire to eat. This is a normal, salutary condition. Your satisfaction will have been in the doing, not in the thing done. But observe the reaction of your guests, have a glass of wine [see below], and you may feel the urge to try one bite, and perhaps a second . . .)

It is a solemn moment when, at the great communal spring banquet, the Mayor of La Tour Lambert goes from table to table and with shining fingers gravely breaks the skin of each lamb. After this ceremony, however, the prevailing gaiety reasserts itself. After all, the feast of farce double is not only a time-hallowed occasion but a very pleasant one. It is a moment for friendships to be renewed, for enemies to forgive one another, for lovers to embrace. At its origin, curiously enough, the feast was associated with second marriages (some writers think this gave the dish its name). Such marriages have never been historically explained; possibly they never took place. What is certain is that the feast has always coincided with the arrival, from the lowlands, of shepherds driving their flocks to the high pastures where they will summer. Their coming heralds true spring and its first warmth; and it restores warmth, too, between the settled mountain craftsmen of La Tour Lambert and the semi-nomadic shepherds from the south. The two communities are separate only in their ways of life. They have long been allied by esteem, common interest, and, most important, by blood. Marriages between them have been recorded since the founding of the village in the year one thousand; and if many a shepherd's daughter has settled in La Tour Lambert as the wife of a wheelwright or turner, many an Auvergnat son, come autumn, has left his father's mill or forge to follow the migrant flocks toward Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Perhaps the legend of second marriages reflects a practice whereby a widow or widower took a spouse among the folk of which he was not a member. The eating of farce double would then be exquisitely appropriate; for there is no doubt at all that the composition of the dish--lamb from plains by the sea, fish from lakes among the grazing lands--deliberately embodies the merging of these distinct peoples in one community. I should add that at the time the feast originated, still another group participated harmoniously in its celebration: pilgrims from Burgundy on their way to Santiago de Compostela. Just as the people of La Tour Lambert provided fish for the great banquet and the shepherds contributed their lambs, the pilgrims supplied kegs of new white wine that they brought with them from Chassagne, the Burgundian village now called Chassagne-Montrachet. Their wine became the invariable accompaniment for both parts of farce double; and you could hardly do better than to adopt the custom. Here, at least, tradition can be observed with perfect fidelity.

It is saddening to report that, like the rest of the world, La Tour Lambert has undergone considerable change. Shepherds no longer walk their flocks from the south but ship them by truck. The lakes have been fished out, and a substitute for chaste is imported frozen from Yugoslavia. The grandson of the last wheelwright works in the tourist bureau, greeting latter-day pilgrims who bring no wine. He is one of the very few of his generation to have remained in the village. (The cement quarry, which was opened with great fanfare ten years ago as a way of providing jobs, employs mainly foreign labor. Its most visible effect has been to shroud the landscape in white dust.) I have heard, however, that the blacksmith still earns a good living making wrought-iron lamps. Fortunately, the future of farce double is assured, at least for the time being. The festal cave has been put on a commercial footing, and it now produces the dish for restaurants in the area all year round (in the off season, on weekends only). It is open to the public. I recommend a visit if you pass nearby.

Eat the quenelles ungarnished. Mashed sorrel goes nicely with the lamb.

Serves thirteen.

Panna Cotta

2011-08-15T22:50:00.000-04:00

Marguerita was in mood for it tonight event though it takes four hours to set.

Made it with fresh ricotta, whole milk and sheep yogurt (equal parts and strained after simmer).

Cheap food thrills'

http://whatscookingamerica.net/PannaCotta.htm

Another Aphrodisiac

2011-03-16T19:32:00.000-04:00

Colorful

2011-02-21T01:55:00.002-05:00

photo by Liam McMullan

An interpretation of primary colors

Yellow - Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with Yellow Pepper/Yellow Tomato

Red - Carpaccio

Blue - Blue Potatoes with Creme Fraiche/Caviar

Green - Gaspacho "shooters"

Do You Want Gold?

2010-05-03T19:03:00.001-04:00

Do you want Gold?

That was the slogan for last week’s feast, in which a menu was designed specifically to enhance a cultural experience. Death’s Door Distillery was kind enough to provide the vodka for the evening, presented to guests in shot form, along side a carefully executed, caviar topped potato cup. Devilled eggs, garnished in edible gold leaf followed, in what proved only the start of a delectable and eclectic multi-sensory dinner experience.
As guests sipped well crafted cocktails courtesy of Orson Salicetti, and browsed an art space brimming with multi-media installations, the Mark Fahrer staff was preparing behind the scenes. Decked out in eerie mesh head coverings, servers listened raptly to the instructions of 2 head chefs. After an hour of mingling, the 140 guests took their seats in the main dining area along a swirling, snake like table topped with nearly two tons of tamarind stained yellow salt that slowly faded to white. The dancing light of 100 candles reflected off the beeswax glasses and triangular mirror dishes to eerie effect, illuminating the spectacularly ghostly scene.
Plates were never empty, and the wine flowed. For the first course, servers with golden nets appeared and dropped handfuls of edible flowers and mesculin greens atop each diner’s individual pyramid shaped saffron flan. Dressing for the salad came from spray bottles, spritzed energetically by staff in just the blink of an eye. Next was a platter of assorted delicacies, including alligator sausage, fiddle head ferns, and frogs legs, followed by a triangular slice of pizza Bianca bread (similar to focaccia, but flakier) used as a base for the rustic stew to come.
Dessert was truly a tease. As guests imbibed, pastry cups of quinoa were assembled along side a nude woman, drizzled in honey. Diners were encouraged to spoon some honey off the subject into their pastry cups. Lemon sorbet, served in dry ice carved, frozen lemons, was provided for the less salaciously inclined.
It was an evening of delightful shock and great company. Thank you to all who helped orchestrate event. Special thanks to Pamela and Kirsha, the two women who really pulled it all together, through their endless time and energy. Bravo.

Do you Want Gold

2010-04-21T13:44:00.007-04:00

On April 15th, a performance art piece was held at the artist building on W 21st Street in Chelsea. The space consists of three rooms, the Eagles Nest, Honey Pot and Bath House.

The Menu:

Do You Want Gold?

I. Lust

Death’s Door Vodka with Taro and Ramps Triangles, Creme Fraiche and Ebony and Golden Caviar

Gold Leafed Devil Egg

II. Energy

Full Moon Charged Spring Water

III. Primtemps

Still Life with Fiddlehead Ferns, Pickled and Marinated Vegetables, Wild Quail and Frog’s Legs.

Saffron Mousse Pyramid with Strewn Field Greens and Edible Flowers

IV. The Beast

Brad Adams’ Hunted Alligator, Antelope and Wild Boar Sausage

Manchego with Quince Membrillo

V. Of The Sun

Fruit and Bees’ Honey Sorbet with Star Anise

Lucien’s Handmade Gold Flecked Absynthe

VI. Of the Earth

Golden Beets and Dandelion Root Stew with Yellow Trumpet Tomatoes in Trenchers

VII. Forest and Insect Life / Greed

Chocolate Soil with Dusted Truffles and Merengue Mushrooms

Friandise and Sugared Flowers

Spun Sugar Cocoon and Honey Bath by Lisa Lozano and …..

(photos by Damian Abrams)

Don't overcook you meat

2010-04-21T12:36:00.003-04:00

Overcooked meat can lead to increased risk of pancreatic cancer according to a new study in Texas
(click on title for full article)

Foraging in the "Garden"

2010-03-22T19:03:00.000-04:00

Last Friday we prepared a foraging presentation at Tribeca Project Space curated by the McNeill Art Group (www.mcneillartgroup.com).

Foraging as in hunger/gatherer with categories of Flora, Fauna and Aqua. The selections included Dandelion Greens, Wild Mushrooms, Pea Potatoes, Frogs Legs, Quail, Barnacles, Snails and Oysters.

Thanks to James Ruff for these photos

Benton Boxes

2009-08-11T00:34:00.001-04:00

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Bento

Reinterpret the classic Bento Box tracing the roots of the five hundred years and numerous dynasties.

Menus to follow

Effects of Martini

2009-05-13T13:33:00.002-04:00

how martinis affected Dorothy Parker:

I like to have a martini,

Two at the very most.

After three I’m under the table,

after four I’m under my host.

Bakewell Tarts

2009-04-01T22:51:00.001-04:00

On the occasion of his highness Obama the naked chef has risen the Bakewell Tart back to its prominence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakewell_tart

We now offer in a miniature form with our mini finger sweets.

Healthy Foods to Eat

2009-01-11T16:41:00.002-05:00

I found an interesting list of healthy foods on the NY Times http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/the-11-best-foods-you-arent-eating/?em

Here are some suggestions:

Beets - Borscht - see recipe at this link http://caterers-pantry.blogspot.com/2007/05/borscht.html

Cabbage - C0le Slaw with Carraway

Swiss Chard - Braise in butter and chicken stock

Cinnamon - Bysteeya, Morrocan "cigars" filled with squab, almonds, egg and wrapped in waffa (phyllo type pastry) and powdered cinnanom and poweder sugar

Pomegranite - makes a nice cocktail with green tea infusion and agarve syrup for sweetening (don't forget the vodka)

Dried Plums (Prunes) - Great to snack or stuff inside a loin of pork

Pumkins Seeds (dried) - eat raw on on salads

Sardines - I like the fresh ones to be grilled simply with olive oil and herbs. My wife likes the canned ones.

Tumeric - Colors rice to look like saffron

Blueberries - Eat fresh or with cream

Pumpkin - Pumpkin and Lobster Soup

Girls have a better sense of taste than boys

2008-12-17T15:17:00.002-05:00

Quite interesting that children at the age of 13-14 is where their preponderance for taste is influenced the most a Swedish research indicates.
http://www.life.ku.dk/English/Nyheder/2008/963_children.aspx

The real Fussili

2008-10-29T00:07:00.004-04:00

I was at DiPalo's in Little Itlay, clearly the best importer of Italian specialities and better than most I have had in Italy. The brothers DiPalo actually travel there multiple times a year to select.

Fusilli is classicly wrapped around wire to dry and I found an artisanal one from Naples (http://www.pkgiardano.it/) So tonight's dinner was Fusilli tossed with classic tomato sauce, small cubes of fresh mozzarella, grated Parmesan Reggiano and topped with baby Arugula. I served it with buttered Ciabatta and Prosciutto di Parma all while listening to a great online concert by Milton Nascimento on WBGO. http://wbgo-web.streamguys.net/audio/onDemand.php?podcastID=489

2008-10-28T16:58:00.002-04:00

Berries, guacamole, mixed nuts and oranges are among the seven foods that reduce anxiety.http://food.yahoo.com/blog/beautyeats/1888/7-foods-that-fight-anxiety

Anglulas

2008-10-15T23:51:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite edibles from Spain are Angulas--Baby Eels that start their life from parents in the Sargasso Sea of the mid-atlantic. http://www.buber.net/Basque/Food/food1.html

The best way to enjoy is in an earthenware dish heat great olive oil, add fire cracker peppers, garlic and eels which are done when they sizzle. So delicate is the flavor that restaurants stamp their logo on wooden forks since metal changes the taste.

Lobster

2008-09-02T16:38:00.002-04:00

One of the only food items that has decreased in price is Lobster. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/02lobster.html I saw it yesterday at Fairway Market for $5.99 per pound. So enjoy.

Lobster Newburg -

One of the best-known international seafood dishes is Lobster Newburg. Many people believe it to be a French dish but it was, in fact, the creation of a Mr. Wenburg, a former head chef at Delmonico's in New York. The first letters of the name Wenburg have been transposed to give Newburg. as is so often the cse, you will come across this dish made with a variety of ingredients and by a variety of methods. The following recipe has now become something of a classic.

Ingredients
2 1 3/4lb Live Lobsters

Coral and Liquid from the lobsters

3 qts Court-Bouillon

1 cup Reduced Fish Stock

1 cup Heavy Cream

6 tbsp Olive Oil

5 tbsp Brandy or Cognac

5 tbsp Dry Sherry

2 tbsp Butter

2 tbsp All Purpose Flour

To Taste Salt and White Pepper

Preparation
Clean the lobsters. Heat the court-bouillon to a rolling boil in a large pot. Place one lobster headfirst into the pan and remove after 3 minutes. Repeat with the second lobster, once the water has come back to a rolling boil.

Using a heavy, sharp knife cut each lobster into fairly large pieces. Discard the intestinal vein and reserve the corals and the liquid produced.http://www.cooking-lobster.com/cooking-lobster/lobster-killing.html

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Quickly fry the lobster, turning continuously, and season. Pour off the oil. Add the brandy and sherry and reduce by two-thirds. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream and reduced stock. Cover the pan and simmer, over a low heat, for about 15 minutes.

Remove the lobster from the pan. Remove the meat from the shells and place it in a serving dish. Keep hot. Mix the butter, corals, lobster liquid and flour to a smooth past. Whisk this into the sauce, a little at a time, and simmer for at least 10 minutes. Reduce further, if necessary, until creamy. Then strain it over the lobster.

Instead of the mixture of butter, coral, liquid and flour, other recipes mix Béchamel sauce and egg yolk into the Newburg sauce. This gives a good consistency, but cannot compare with the flavor given by the coral and lobster liquid.

Rusks and Koeksisters

2008-05-21T15:42:00.002-04:00

When I catered the opening reception for the documentary Mandela I was bidding against several Harlem caterers and was certainly surprised to get the winning bid. Their menus were traditional as expected and I took the time to research authentic South African recipes. I like the names of these two baked goods with Dutch influences. And I will write soon about my favorite Dutch food (Riijstafel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_rice_table)that doesn't come from Holland either showing another food cultures international fusion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koeksister

Evening Hours NY Times

2008-05-16T16:46:00.003-04:00

Thursday, May 3, 2007

THE EVENING HOURS
By GEORGIA DULLEA
Published: May 3, 1985 New York Times

WHO is the strongest woman in the world? What did she do to George Plimpton and Gloria Steinem under the laser lights of Visage? Which two Pulitzer Prize winners ate couscous on the St. Regis Roof? How old is Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern? And what is a ''nasty floral arrangement?''

Answers to the above were revealed this week at a round of parties, two of which involved auctions, both silent and noisy.

On the silent side was the bidding on art objects at Visage, where more than $75,000 was raised Tuesday for the New Museum of Contemporary Art in SoHo. The auction's theme, ''Pandora's Box,'' inspired 125 artists from Richard Artschwager to Rhonda Zwillinger to examine the world's ills through their boxes.

Among 350 guests admiring the art was Mary McFadden, in one of her pleated evening numbers. A box by Erika Rothenberg caught her eye. ''It's a Kleenex box that says hell and damnation,'' Miss McFadden said, cheerily. ''Can I get you a drink? Straight rum and orange juice will help your writing.''

Nancy Luce, wife of Henry Luce, was raving about a boxing-ring box by William Copley, signed CPLY. It held two wooden figures, gloves up, ready to box at the push of the buttons on the side. ''I was telling Hank, 'You be this guy and I'll be that guy,' '' Mrs. Luce said, jabbing the air. ''Bam! Pow!'' There were edible boxes too. Mark Fahrer, a ''conceptual caterer,'' created a ''boxed repast.'' Pandora would have loved it. Especially the boxed floral arrangements of anthuriums and dried weeds. ''Aren't they nasty?'' Mr. Fahrer said, looking pleased.

H ENRY J. STERN was driving home from work Wednesday night when the alert came over the Parks Department radio: Three vandals caught defacing Belvedere Castle in Central Park. A television crew, there on a weather shot, had filmed the arrest. They wanted a live interview with Mr. Stern. Back to Central Park, up the castle steps where - surprise, surprise - the courtyard rang with ''Happy Birthday, Henry!''

Mayor Koch's present to Mr. Stern on his 50th birthday was to hand him a Bible and swear him into office, something the Mayor never got around to doing. ''Henry presides over 1,000 parks, '' Mr. Koch said, fondly, ''and I preside over Henry.''

Mr. Stern kept professing ''total surprise'' as he opened presents, blew out birthday candles and and greeted about 60 family members and friends, including Robert M. Morgenthau and Robert F. Wagner Jr. ''This,'' Mr. Stern said, ''proves that the higher you rise in the world, the less you know.''

High in the turret, another old friend, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., looked down on the historic scene.

B ERNADETTE PETERS acquired an iron and coral necklace at an auction at the St. Regis for the Millay Colony for the Arts. It didn't really work with her sparkly black dress, but so what. ''Our director wrote a play up there,'' the singer-actress said. She pointed a finger in the direction of Austerlitz, N.Y., home of the artists' colony founded by Edna St. Vincent Millay's sister, Norma.

At the next table, James Lapine, director-author of ''Sunday in the Park with George,'' sat beside its composer, Stephen Sondheim. Both were getting kudos on their Pulitzers and putting in plugs for the colony. Mr. Lapine, who stayed there in 1978, called it ''a beautiful and gemutlichkeit'' experience.'' No telephones, no meetings, nothing to sap the creative energies. ''It's wonderful to get away,'' Mr. Sondheim said. ''I just got a house in the country, which affords me the same thing.''

Some other notable faces in the party of 200: Ellen Burstyn, who read poems by Millay; Mandy Patinkin, the original George, who sang with Miss Peters; Roscoe Lee Brown; Tim Matheson; Tom Hulce, whom everyone called ''Amadeus,'' and Maureen Stapleton.

The thing about Miss Stapleton is wherever she sits, men come to kneel at her feet. ''Get off your knees,'' she kept saying, but it was no use.

B EV FRANCIS is the world's strongest woman. She can bench press 331 pounds. But can she simultaneously lift Gloria Steinem and George Plimpton? A crowd of 500 athletes and feminists gathered at Visage Monday to find out. Mr. Plimpton was positioned in one chair, Miss Steinem in another. Connecting the chairs was a steel bar. Flashing lights. Drum rolls. Grunts. Gasps. Up went George and Gloria.

Meanwhile, other female body builders posed under the laser lights and Carla Dunlap, also a synchronized swimmer, circled in the disco's pool in a Norma Kamali swimsuit.

All are starring in a new movie, ''Pumping Iron II: The Women'' and all helped to pump $27,000 into the coffers of the Women's Campaign Fund, a nonpartisan political support group.

Ginseng

2008-05-16T14:48:00.002-04:00

A form of Asian ginseng shows promise for relieving schizophrenia symptoms. In a small study, patients had fewer negative symptoms when they took Panax ginseng than when they took a placebo, according to Canadian researchers
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/08/health/webmd/main4080752.shtml

Every thing you want to know about sausage and Pork Bung

2008-05-11T20:25:00.003-04:00

Shopping in NYC Chinatown today in the showcase was Pork Bung--it is exactly what you think-- and is often used for sausage making.

Drink your milk

2008-05-06T14:43:00.001-04:00

one's vitamin D intake may lead to mood improvements and protect against depression

TRACKLEMENT

2008-05-04T19:00:00.003-04:00

I came upon a new food term that I was not familiar Tracklement. A quick search found the answer.

Tracklement is a 20th-century word used to describe "an item of food, usually a jelly, that was served with meat". It has changed over the years to include mustards, chutneys, sauces, etc.

Roast Leg of Lamb with Mint Tracklement - recipes to follow

Fish Heads

2008-04-22T01:57:00.001-04:00

A story in the NY Times about wild and farm raised had interesting tidbit regarding Americans and the rest of the world with regards to serving whole fish. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20food-t.html

as written "Short of eschewing all bass, I would suggest a Mediterranean approach to whichever bass you choose. The American preference for filleted fish is a highly wasteful one. Millions of pounds of good meat are dumped into the sea after the fillets are removed from a fish’s carcass. But in Mediterranean countries, fish are treated like lobster — they are served whole, and it’s something of a sport to probe the flesh out of every cranny. As a result, one good fish can feed many. The Italian cookbook writer Marcella Hazan lamented recently Americans’ whole-fish phobia. “It’s looking at me! I don’t like it,” one of Hazan’s students complained to her. “How can it be looking at you?” she responded. “It’s dead.” I agree with Hazan. And furthermore, I’d say that if you’re going to eat a precious thing like a striper or a branzino, you should at least have the guts to look it in the eye.

Years ago I catered a dinner for 600 at Lincoln Center for the Israel Museum with the guest of honor the reknown Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek. We served Fresh Cohoe Salmon (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/fish/cohosalmon.htm ) that I had flown in that day from Snake River Idaho and we served it head on. The American hosts were outraged and Mr. Kollek, whom I was introduced commented on how much he enjoyed the repast.

Cohoe Salmon Wrapped in Grape Leaves

16 0z individual Cleaned Coho Salmon or Trout or larger fish for family style
Whole Grape Leaves
Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion
2 ripe tomatoes skinned or canned peeled or 1/3 cup tomato paste
3 cloves garlic
2 Cups Red Wine
serve with lemon and caper berries

Saute onion & garlic in olive oil add tomato and wine and simmer for several minutes. Add fish and cover cooking till done. Can be made in advance and finished in oven.