Unique Culinary Adventures

Baltimore's Ultimate Exotic Dining Experience at BYOB

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:34:00 -0400

In more active days of blogging at Unique Culinary Adventures, number one on my wish list was to score an invitation to the Explorers Club Annual Dinner in New York. From what I'd been able to read and learn, no other event on earth---even in places like China---offered as diverse an array of culinary exotica.

So it is extremely exciting that right here in old Bawlmer we now have Corner BYOB's Gastronaut Society. With the modest $50 membership comes a switchblade carving knife as well as the opportunity to participate in not just one, but three very unusual dinners a year. Kudo's to Chef Bernard and everyone at Corner BYOB at the northeast corner of 36th and Roland for taking the inititative to host these events.

Our title image pictures the head of a Lexington Market (Faidley's) procured raccoon. Other parts of it were principal ingredients in a stew that would be one of three items in our sixth---seventh if you count a prelinary kangaroo carpaccio amusant--- course of the evening. Ultimately, this raccoon head was to far exceed its pictured role as a candle holder.

The first main course of our dinner was a platter bearing fried crickets and fried python snake meat with Harissa aoli. The crickets were from Thailand. We were instructed to pick them up by the legs and ingest their fried up but mushy heads and bodies, then discard the legs, which could tend to become caught in one's teeth. Far more than the crickets, I enjoyed the python a great deal, even though just about all amphibians taste pretty much alike: somewhere between chicken and fish, only somewhat tougher.

The next plate bore sea urchin souffle with bay scallops and squid ink pasta. Most important was that the sea urchin was fresh, a far cry in taste and flavor from the uni served in typical Japanese restaurants. Fresh sea urchin---never mind that it's the creature's male sex organs---has a sublime mild flavor. By expanding our portions into souffle, Chef Bernard rendered them yet milder and impossible not to like. Even so, the fresh sea urchin all by itself would have suited me just fine. Everyone also loved the squid ink pasta with it's ever so light, mild, and not at all fishy flavor. Though bay scallops are hardly exotic, having some good fresh ones on hand, Chef Bernard apparently threw them in.

Third course was balut accompanied by an Asian barbecue sauce. Balut is a popular street food in various Asian countries. That its preparation can differ somewhat from country to country is notable when considering just exactly what balut really is. Wikipedia provides an apt description. The word at at my table was that to have previously read the Wikipedia description could detract from the extent that some might enjoy their balut. Notwithstanding, everyone appeared to partake, some more than others. There was plenty of egg-white, which was brownish in colour. The rest tasted to me pretty much like duck liver.

Next came a plate bearing separate portions of razor clams, fresh water eel, and fresh fava beans. Razor clams are frequently available in the Baltimore area at various Asian markets extending along Route 40 from about a mile inside the Beltway to west of Ellicott City. If you like maninose (soft-shell) clams, you'll like razor clams. They appeared to have been steamed in the shell, with appropriately flavored butter. The fresh water eel was delicious, mild and unlike any other variety of eel I'd previously enjoyed. As for the fresh fava beans, let them speak for themselves: so much work to prepare and so delectable.

Course number five consisted of a squid ink baguette, a spoon full of snail caviar, and a mini pancake on which to spread the caviar. People raved about the squid ink baguette, which was very mild. The caviar mystified me.Having once earned a (very meager) livelihood from producing canned chowders, one made from conch another from whelk, each a variety of sea snail, I'd never encountered snail caviar. Chef Bernard informed us, is made from the eggs of a snail that lives on land. It looked and tasted to me very much like trout caviar, a favorite of mine.

And with our final main course came the raccoon stew, served with a side of trumpet mushrooms, a side of ravioli made with several other kinds of wild mushrooms, and oddly, a carrot. Having previously enjoyed trumpet mushrooms and various mushroom raviolis, my focus zeroed in on the raccoon, which would be yet another first for me. Stewed for long enough to be quite well done, it's flavor was more neutral than I expected, despite a faint and very welcome gamey aftertaste. As for the severed head featured in our title picture? It was now that things---at another table---got pretty wild when a diner split it open, and before injesting the eyeballs, chowed down on the brains, which he described as tasting like yogurt. How sweet it was to be dining in a group where someone else proved more adventurous.

Last came desert for which everyone, curiously, still had room. If a bit anticlimatic, whole hibiscus flowers stuffed with goat cheese, everyone enjoyed it. A little over two hours had passed. We were full and happy. I learned that Corner BYOB would be serving this same dinner for more Gastronaut Society members the following night. The next dinner will be in the fall. Corner BYOB promises to announce its menu and a date by summer's end.

Purchasing Live Yellow Perch and Wild Crappie

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 06:31:00 -0500

For most of us, yellow perch and crappie are all about fishing. Even so, especially with yellow perch, timing and luck are of the essence. In Maryland, you can pretty much forget about either catching or purchasing yellow perch for all but a week or two at the end of February or the beginning of March; and even during that brief window, the protective restrictions on both recreational and commercial yellow perch fishing are stringent. In Baltimore, the only occasions where I've seen yellow perch for sale in recent years have been during late February and early March at Whole Foods Downtown and at the Northeast Market.

So you can imagine my surprise and elation upon finding them in mid-January swimming around live in a tank at Asia Market at 5100 Baltimore National Pike. This is the same place where I was able to score the duck tongues we wrote about at Unique Culinary Adventures last May. Asia Market has another name for its yellow perch, namely Ta Bong, although I should note that my search for such a species on the Internet ended up blank. A language barrier prevented me from obtaining specific information on how Asia Market was able to source such a delicasy, but I suspect it relates to some kind of tie with the Fulton Fish Market in New York. The price, $21.99, was as scary as it reads, especially when considering that prices at Asia Market on many more common items are lower than at more mainstream supermarkets. It's hard for me to imagine Baltimore's Asian community being into such a native local delicasy as yellow perch. Could Ta Bong be a different species? I purchased, cooked, and ate one, and was unable to either observe or taste any differentiation.

During spring, summer, and fall, live crappies are easier to catch in regional waters, but not this time of year. We found some at Baltimore's Northeast Market and covered the experience at Unique Culinary Adventures in March, 2008 . But finding crappies alive and swimming around in a tank at a local market? To the best of my knowledge, all crappies, just like bluegills, are wild, so how did they make it to this tank? Notwithstanding, $8.99 a pound could seem a hefty tag for such a common and locally ubiquitous (though rarely sold in markets) delicasy. But for those like me, who as recreational fishermen, have come to love them, they could be worth the splurge.

Big News From the 2011 National Oyster Cook-off

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:40:00 -0400

It was totally unexpected and has never happened during the 32 years of the Lexington Park Rotary Club's and Maryland Department of Natural Resources Seafood Marketing Program's National Oyster Cook-off near Leonardtown, Maryland every third weekend of October at the St. Mary's County Oyster Festival. At this year's 2011 event on October 15, 2010, a single contestant, namely Loic Jaffres , a local, won every award available for him to take. Those awards were as follows:

Best in the Hors d'oeuvres category

Best Presentation

People's Choice for best overall dish

Grand Prize for best dish our of all three categories.

Spinach Wrapped Oysters Casino, as entered in the Hors d'oeuvres Category and pictured above were what did it. According to the recipe printed in the 32nd Annual National Oyster Cook-off cookbook, one might have expected a more traditional "casino" style presentation served atop an oyster shell. Serving them this way, however, could render a bit ponderous the tastings offered each year to dozens of spectators. Therefore, both spectators and judges, the latter holed up in a different building, received their Spinach Wrapped Oysters Casino in clear plastic cups as shown in our title picture. Just as well, better perhaps for Loic Jaffrey. Who's to say whether the French born Chef Jaffres, of Cafe des Artistes in Leonardtown, would otherwise have clinched "Best Presentation?" Interestingly, I didn't overhear the judges consider the discrepancy. Surely such an oversight did not relate to bias favoring local contestants. The judges, though provided with recipes, had no information regarding who the contestants were or where they were from. In any event, Chef Jaffrey's oyster dish pleased my palate enough that I ultimately intend to prepare it at home. Sometime thereafter, you can expect a close-up photograph accompanied by exclusive coverage here at Unique Culinary Adventures.

Hors d'oeuvres were but one of the three categories. Long before the cook-off, a different team of judges had selected the top three recipes plus numerous runner-ups from each category to be published in the 32nd Annual National Oyster Festival Cookbook. As it's been each year, this book is released at the Festival. The winner from each of the three categories is determined after the creators of the top three entries from each of the three categories prepare their treats live before a packed house at the Fairgrounds. Here are the entries that won second and third place from the Hors d'oeuvres category along with the top three from the Soups and Stews category and the Main Dishes category:

HORS D'OEUVRES

SECOND PLACE: Stuffed Oyster Stickers

by Mark Strejk of Milwaukie, Oregon

THIRD PLACE:

Oyster Puffs

by Thomas Faglon of Somerset, New Jersey

SOUPS and STEWS

FIRST PLACE

Marjoram Oyster and Baby Bella Soup

by Judy Armstrong of Prairieville, Louisiana

SECOND PLACE

Baltimore Oyster Chowder

by Ron Borowy of Arnold , Maryland

THIRD PLACE

Oyster Artichoke Bisque

by Rebecca S. Blake of Waldorf, Maryland

MAIN DISHES

FIRST PLACE

Oyster Pot Pie with Bacon Crust

by Amy Angelo of Pennsville, New Jersey

SECOND PLACE

Oyster and Black Bean Quesadillas with Cilantro Cream

by Ronna Farley of Rockville, Maryland

THIRD PLACE

Creamed Maryland Oysters in Pastry Shells

by Jack Campbell of Clacamas, Oregon

Sublime Duck tongues

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Sat, 14 May 2011 10:48:00 -0400

Word has reached me that the envelope pushing Sumile, a former hotspot for Franco-Japanese cuisine in Manhattan's West Village closed over a year ago. I visited Sumile in 2004, after reading in New York Magazine that duck tongues garnished one of the selections on its menu. An old notebook describes one of my choices from that night's small plate menu as having been "Miso cured brook trout, with seared crisp skin, almost raw with ginger pickled shallots and crispy duck tongue salad, the tongues fried to a crisp over slaw shredded cabbage mildy marinated with lemon juice or asian vinegar." As I recall, Sumile's duck tongues offered little substance.

The following year, here in the Baltimore area, I encountered a package of duck tongues at what is now H Mart at Rolling Road and Route 40. Unfortunately, at that time, neither an Internet search nor my vast library of cookbooks proved sufficient for finding a recipe for them. Thereafter, I never again observed duck tongues at H Mart, but recently scored some at Asia Supermarket, 5510 Baltimore National Pike, about 1/2 mile inside the Baltimore Beltway.

Also on Route 40, on the other side of the Beltway at 9180 Baltimore National Pike, the restaurant Asian Court offers on its menu a selection featuring duck tongues with chive flowers. I tried them with the intention of posting about the experience here at Unique Culinary Adventures, only to discover that Baltimore's own Minx had beat me to it. The Asian Court dish is pictured at left. It was all right, though the duck tongues were slimy and messy to eat.

However, using a simple and straight-forward preparation shared by Chichi Wang under "Nasty Bits" at the Serious Eats web site, I found duck tongues to be sublime ---addictive even. Anyone who likes chicken feet---I wont comment here on duck feet--- is bound to absolutely love duck tongues. Like chicken feet, the experience is about extracting luscious fat encased betweem thin cartilege and bone. Unlike chicken feet though, duck tongues needn't be messy. Each tongue is consumed with a single stroke where front teeth remove the cartilege and fat from a single bone that can then be put aside leaving nothing to spit out. Best of all, when prepared as Ms. Wang instructs, with a very thin coating of beaten egg white and cornstarch, a crisp exterior encases and traps their luscious substance.

Perfect as this recipe turned out, it's possible that a bit of seasoning or sauce might enhance them even further. Ms. Wang mentions "hints of curry like cumin or turmeric," as well as oyster sauce, Worcestershire sauce, "or anything else savory that's sitting in the cupboard." Coming up with the perfect combination of embellishments could prove to be an intriguing task and conceivably even a means for moving duck tongues closer to the culinary mainstream.

Live Blues, Louisiana Cookery, and Diversity on Harford Road

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:55:00 -0500

To the best of my knowledge, Baltimore has never before seen the likes of the new Chef Mac's and All That Blues at 4709 Harford Road in Baltimore's Lauraville neighborhood.

To Maclonza Lee (aka Chef Mac), it's all about the food. He insists that his Louisiana style seafood, meat, and vegetables be fresh as well as freshly prepared. The menu for Tuesday through Thursday, noon til 8 p.m. , offers much the same fare as the menu from the former Chef Mac's Louisiana style carry-out several blocks south at 4311 Harford Road. On weekend nights, this menu gives way to buffet style (Cajun seafood on Fridays, prime rib on Saturdays)as top regional blues bands keep comfortably packed the spacious room previously the Parkside. To attract more business during the week, expect local jazz bands to soon be playing on Wednesday nights.

Recent blues acts have included Clarence "Bluesman" Turner (pictured at left), Charles "Big Daddy" Stallings, and Ursula Ricks. Twenty dollars best paid at the door upon entering to Chef Mac's leading lady and soul mate Leslie. covers the music and all you can eat from 7 p.m. until 11. For beer, wine, or liquor, it's BYOB. Unlimited set-ups are available for all who want or need them.

A bar lines the north wall at the front end with convenient perches for solo patrons. To the right of the bar are tables. Additional tables and, on Friday and Saturday nights, the buffet table graces the far end of the room. The stage where the band plays, with space in front to dance, comprises the center portion.

Particularly intriguing is the sociology of this uptown blues club scene. At just about all of Baltimore's other live music nightspots, the crowd is much younger. At Chef Mac's they're mostly 40 and older. Twenty years ago in Baltimore, the blues drew a younger crowd, mostly white folks. Now they're older, and their African-American peers, who once eschewed blues as music of oppression, have come to realize what they were missing. Bottom line: you wont find a more diverse crowd anywhere else in Baltimore. That's the way the patrons like it, and Lauraville is a perfect neighborhood for this to be happening.

The absence of a liquor license is not yet an issue with either Chef Mac or his rapidly growing clientele. Twenty dollars and BYOB with a full buffet along with this kind of music is a value that speaks for itself. Chef Mac admits that "the thought(of a liquor license) is there," but states: "My main focus is not that." For the time being, he says he'd rather hold onto his wallet and keep things as they are.

Chef Mac has not advertised. In fact, he's done little if anything to generate publicity. "I want people to find out about this place by word of mouth" he explains. "You see these places do all this advertising when they open up. Then they get a slew of customers and the service is bad. They don't know what they're doing yet."

Chef Mac's and All That Blues is a treasure not only for the Lauraville-Hamilton neighborhood, but for Baltimore. It very much needs more patrons during the week. On weekends, however, their number has grown by leaps and bounds. Last weekend, every table was filled. What evolves from all this will surely be interesting. There's nothing else like Chef Mac's and All That Blues in town.

Great Goat

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Sat, 6 Nov 2010 06:14:00 -0400

To begin with, I've never liked goat until now and over the past two years have shifted my blogging focus from food to rocks. Every once and a while, however, something comes along to ignite my culinary passions when time is available to photograph and write about it. The last such occasion involved duck tongues with chives flowers that Asian Court on Baltimore National Pike near Ellicott City was serving. Soon thereafter, however, I found where Baltimore's inimitable food-blogger, the Minx had beaten me to the quack.

However, to the best of my knowledge, no one else has yet uncovered this particular Caribbean goat curry dish, for which the recipe and main ingredient hail from Baltimore's Downtown Farmers Market. Arousing my curiosity was something I read several months ago that convinced me the goat meat from Jeanne Dietz-Band's Many Rocks Farm in Washington County was special and different. Particularly encouraging was that Jeanne's goats were free from animal hormones and antibiotics. Their diets, meanwhile, consisted of grass, locally grown barley, and soy.

I also suspect Jeanne's recipe for "Caribbean Goat Curry," had just as much to do with my extremely pleasant experience. It turned out perfectly on first attempt despite a couple of minor questions arising during preparation. Having asked Jeanne about them when returning the following week, here it is. Any deviation from the specifics of the recipe provided by Many Rocks Farm will be shown in Italics.

CARIBBEAN GOAT CURRY

1 pound Many Rocks Farm goat meat in small cubes. ( Jeanne sells meat cut into the proper sized cubes in approximately 1 lb. packages .)

Finely Grated Lime Rind and Juice (The grated exterior rind and juice of one Persian lime proved sufficient.)

2 Cloves Garlic Crushed

3 Tablespoons Oil (I used vegetable oil)

1 Medium Onion, Finely Chopped

2 Teaspoons Curry Powder (no specifics were provided. I used generic, and it worked fine.)

1 Teaspoon Cumin

1 Tablespoon Tabasco Sauce

2 Tablespoons Tomato Puree (Because some of the last really good local fresh tomatoes of the season were available at the farmers market, I removed the seeds and skin from one, ran it through the blender and used 4 tablespoons since the taste was milder than with a canned puree.)

2 Ounces Creamed Coconut (Use what has settled at the top of a can of unsweetened coconut milk and save the rest of the coconut milk for another purpose.)

1 Teaspoon Salt

2 Tablespoons Fresh Coriander (cilantro) Finely Chopped

Cooked Rice for Serving

Place the meat in a non-metallic bowl. Add the grated rind and lime juice along with the garlic. Stir well, cover, and marinate overnight in the refrigerator. In a large pan, heat the oil and cook the onions until soft. Remove onions. Sear meat on high heat until sealed. Lower heat and stir in the curry powder and cumin and cook for 1 minute. Add the Tabasco sauce, tomato puree, and creamed coconut and cook for 5 minutes. Add the salt and approximately 1 1/4 pints of water, and return the cooked onions---Jeanne's recipe didn't say to return the onions, but she agreed with me that this could be a positive---bring to a boil, cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours until meat is tender. Stir in fresh coriander and serve over hot rice.

Note: Do not despair that the consistency of the sauce with this curry is thin enough to be like soup. That simply makes it all the better, especially when served over plenty of rice.)

Talara: A Concept Baltimore Long Needed

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:42:00 -0400

After 274 Unique Culinary Adventures posts, my blogging focus over the past year and a half has been far removed from delectable culinary esoterica. Rather, it's been about the hobby of mineralogy. Regardless, my interest in the former has in no way diminished, and I've missed being in the thick of everything.

Unique Culinary Adventures needed a push, and it came last week. What can I say when an operation like Nakturnal bestows the honor of shooting me an email out of the blue entitled, "Love 'Unique Culinary Adventures Blog! Can we Partner?" The only requirement was to enjoy a complimentary "tasting" at Talara.

Obviously Nakturnal's Charli Bales had read enough of our posts to have noted that ceviche was a favorite topic. Little did she know, however, that independently of blogging, I'd been hounding people in the restaurant business for over 20 years about the need for a ceviche bar in Baltimore. Finally, late last summer, one arrived when Talara opened its doors at the southeast corner of Fleet and President Streets. It didn't take me long to get to this instant hotspot with its multiple ceviche offerings and wonderful drinks. Of course, Talara is more than that. Nuevo Latino is the larger concept, with emphasis on tapas, especially ceviche.

The layout makes for quite a scene. Within a single neon lit space enclosed by floor to ceiling windows and walls featuring Cuban art are two bars, extensive counter seating, and plenty of both normal tables and high-tops. From the latter, patrons can observe everything from the preparation of ceviche to the crowd inside and out.

As for "bedidas," Mrs. Yi and I consumed between us over the course of the evening a blood-orange margarita, a caipirnha, a cucumber mojito, and a pisco sour. I've tried all these drinks at the relatively few other spots in town that offer them, and never enjoyed them more than at Talara. Also available is a good selection of beers and wines, plenty which are Spanish or Latino. Even better, during Talara's Baltimore Happy Hour, cocktails are priced at $5, a glass of wine is $4, and a beer $3. In addition, comes a happy hour menu of $5,00 tapas, including two of the selections we most enjoyed at our dinner (Shrimp and Tropical Fruit Seviche and Salmon Asian Tartare on Sushi Rice). Best of all is the happy hour time frame: from 4 to 7 Monday through Friday, and---get this---10 p.m. until 1 a.m. on Saturday night.

For both Mrs. Yi and me, the culinary highlight of dinner was a "seviche sampler" (spell it ceviche or seviche; either is correct). It is pictured above and features all seven seviche selections, for which patrons choose from the always fresh selection of seafoods available. The enormous variety of other ingredients comprising the various seviches are described in detail on Talara's menu. Shown clockwise from top left in the above image, we enjoyed the following:

Traditional seviche (crab)

Curried tropical fruit seviche (shrimp)

Asian tartare (aji)

Tiradito (salmon)

Avocado and corn seviche (diver scallop)

Fire and ice (conch)

Ginger Tataki (yellowtail)

While Unique Culinary Adventures often ignores what isn't new, undiscovered, unusual, overlooked, or forgotten, at least by local standards, Talara understands that here in Baltimore, it's good business to please as many people as possible. Even before our drinks , we were served a trio of chips (plantain, malanga, and tortilla) and salsa (black bean hummus, curried tropical fruits, and "house" (tomato et al). Then came a very basic but impossible not to like mini tostadas platter featuring chicken breast, beans, white cheese, and tomato salsa. The ceviche was next, followed by a "mid plate" (aka small entree). Mine was a wonderful filet mignon a la plancha (that means cooked quickly over very high heat on a salted griddle or iron skillet) with chimichurri sauce and accompanied by a wild mushroom saffron risotto, grilled asparagus, and Tempranillo (that's a Spanish variety of grape) demi glace. At $19 it was the most expensive item on the menu. Mrs. Yi raved about her chorizo wrapped diver scallops with roasted corn and goat cheese polenta, wilted spinach, and tamarind barbecue sauce.

Talara has introduced to Baltimore a concept that in other cities has evolved into a major culinary phenomenon. Just as when sushi first arrived here in 1980 at Shogun on Charles Street, it took a while for other players to jump into the game. That has not happened here yet. For sure, one reason why is because Talara is going to be hard to beat.

Oysters Savannah Pirates House

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 6 Jan 2010 12:36:00 -0500

I spent most of Christmas cooking dinner for the family members who each year descend on our Northeast Baltimore house at about 6 p.m. We started off with with an hors d'oeuvre of Oysters Savannah Pirates House, for which this post will share the recipe.

Next coursewas the conch chowder pictured at left, made with fresh Honduran conch purchased at Wegmans. Being low on bacon, we sustituted goose fat to start off the onions, garlic, conch, green peppers, celery, and carrots with a few pinches of dried thyme and oregano for sesoning. The broth consisted of a mixture of chicken stock (from cooking the chicken for chicken salad), bottled clam juice, and all the juice from the can of diced tomatoes that were added once the raw vegetables were somewhat cooked. The result was stupendous. Of course everyone added a little dry sherry and hot sauce to taste.

After the chowder came plates of Haitian grillots, chicken salad, and Bengalese cabbage as shown on the plate at right. Incidentally, the picture that accompanied our 2007 post with the recipe for grillots has become a hot destination on Flickr with 2,799 views thus far . It's also one of the most popular recipes ever posted at Unique Culinary Adventures. So is the Jake Slagle's chicken salad.

Here we're share our recipe for the Oysters Savannah Pirate house. It's different from several versions of similar title that appear on the Internet. Presumably the famous restaurant in Savannah with which they're eponymous has changed its preparation over the years. Our version is neither available elsewhere on the Internet nor in print, and most likely predates the others. It was inspired by a recipe that appeared in the March, 1977 Gourmet Magazine.

OYSTERS SAVANNAH PIRATE HOUSE

24 oysters, freshly opened on the half shell

1/2 pound raw bacon, finely

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

1/4 cup roasted red bell peppers, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons Spanish paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat a broiler. Combine all the ingredients other than the oysters. Place the oysters over rock salt in a pan that's suitable for broiling. Place approximately three inches below the flame and broil until the bacon is crisp, about 5 minutes.

Adapted from a recipe that appeared in the March, 1977, Gourmet Magazine

After practically shutting down during 2009, Unique Culinary Advanures plans to significantly reactivate in 2010 with at least one post each month.

Mrs. Yi's Fried Green Tomatoes

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:04:00 -0400

Often, Mrs. Yi tends to make up dishes as she goes along. Her instincts are good. So it was with this fried green tomato dish with curry mayonnaise that she whipped up just the other night. Over many years, I've enjoyed fried green tomatoes prepared scores of ways. To my palate, these were the best yet.

Green tomato season is happening right now.. So it's been ever since the tomatoes in our back yard stopped growing in mid-September and began to redden sparingly. For the dish we're about to share, we plucked four small green tomatoes. They yielded about 15 one-third inch slices.

Here's the recipe:

MRS. YI'S FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

TOMATOES

4 small green tomatoes, or perhaps 2 large, or 3 medium
1 cup flour
1 3/4 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
Canola oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup yellow corn meal

CURRY MAYONNAISE

1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon Indian curry powder
healthy squirt of lemon juice

Slice the tomatoes into 1/3 inch slices. Season 1 cup of flour with 1 1/4 teaspoon of Lawry's Seasoned Salt. Dip tomatoes in flour so they're well coated and put on a plate. Save the remaining flour. Meanwhile pour canola oil into a frying pan until 1/4 inch deep and place over moderate heat. Beat 2 eggs with a teaspoon of water. To the flour that's left, add the 1/2 cup of cornmeal and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of seasoning salt. Dip floured tomato slices in egg and then in cornmeal making certain they're well padded. Then fry them up in the heated oil til light golden brown and sure to be crisp, about 7 minutes, turning and testing as you see fit. Rest on a double folding of paper towels to drain. Mix the the three ingredients for the curry mayonnaise to be served on the side.

Returning with Lamb Ribs

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:05:00 -0400

The last and most recent post at Unique Culinary Adventures, entitled "New Directions," happened eight months ago in November. As promised, we traveled while growing a non-food related business to critical mass. We anticipated being there in four months, it took eight, and the travel continues. Through this period we initiated and have faithfully maintained weekly posts at a new blog . Rather than being about food, it relates to that non-food business and is more about heralding the aesthetics of radioactive rocks than stalking scrumptious edible delights.

So now, Unique Culinary Adventures returns with a post and will continue posting if and when the urge strikes. It strikes full force here in mid-July, for sure the best time of year to enjoy the diversity of real food in this part of America. Notwithstanding, we resume with a post that would have been more likely to appear last winter had Unique Culinary Adventures been active. That's when I purchased lamb ribs from Virginia Lamb at the DuPont Circle Farmers Market in DC. Somehow they got lost for a few months in the back of our freezer. I suspect they're the Denver Style spare ribs featured on Virginia Lamb's web site, but our package simply read "lamb ribs.

Looking through plastic encasing them, it would appear nine or ten single ribs were inside. Enforcing this misperception were part of the instructions from a recipe on the Internet that practically made me drool. These instructions said to place the ribs on skewers if grilling them. I didn't understand. They were cross-cut so that approximately a dozen little one inch bones blocked the path of of every skewer. Forgetting the skewers, however, many ingredients and some of the techniques from this mouthwatering Cooks.com recipe contributed to one of the most killer main platters I've enjoyed all year. Here's the scoop:

Lamb Ribs

1 pound lamb ribs, cut crosswise across the bone

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated onions

1 clove garlic, sliced fine

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon thyme, crushed

Pinch of seasoned pepper

Paprika for dusting

Chives and lemon wedges for garnish.

Mix lemon juice, grated onion, garlic, and a mixture of salt, dry mustard, chili powder, cumin, thyme, and seasoned pepper. Pour over lamb in a large shallow dish or pan. Cover and marinate in refrigerator 6 to 8 hours; turn occasionally. Remove spare ribs from marinade and place on rack in shallow roasting pan. Dust with paprika. Place in hot broiler 5 to 6 inches from the source of heat and broil for 16 minutes, turning 4 times and basting with marinade juices or until desired degree of doneness. Garnish with chives and lemon wedges to serve.

Serves 2.

New Directions

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:17:00 -0500

For three years, Unique Culinary Adventures has been pretty much committed to publishing a post a week, and that's about to change. One reason is that a busy travel schedule over the next few months will make it unrealistic to offer a weekly "perspective from Baltimore, Maryland, on what's new, unusual, undiscovered, overlooked, or forgotten regarding food and drink."

This travel is necessary for growing a small nonfood-related business enterprise until it reaches a certain "critical mass." The expected time frame is four months, but who's to say, when you consider current economic conditions?

A blogging hiatus will also free up time to review the 260 features currently posted at Unique Culinary Adventures and polish up those occasional rough spots that make us cringe from time to time.

Just as likely, the Unique Culinary Adventures blog will resume sometime in the first half of 2009 with features very similar to those of the past three years.

About Ryleigh's Oyster

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 09:02:00 -0500

"But when it comes to oyster bars, Baltimore is reviving. That renaissance took a huge leap forward with the the birth of Ryleigh's Oyster in 2007."

From Rowan Jacobson in an addendum to his definitive book The Geography of Oysters.

Despite the Chesapeake Bay oyster harvest's tragic decline, this is how Rowan Jacobson describes the way Baltimore is reclaiming its stature as an oyster mecca. The establishment known as Ryleigh's at 36 East Cross Street, which Jacobson credits with boosting forward that "renaissance," had been operating as a watering hole with food in the space where Sisson's previously evolved into Baltimore's first brew pub. The decision to reinvent itself as Ryleigh's Oyster proved auspicious.

The transition began a little over a year ago after Patrick Morrow (at right in the picture above), formerly a sous chef under Chef Chris Paternotte at Towson's now closed Vin, became executive chef and focused on oysters enough for the name change to Ryleigh's Oyster. Ever since, Chef Morrow has seen to the availability of at least eight of the 72 different branded raw oyster varieties served up here over the past year. Most are raised on oyster farms where the temperature and salinity of the waters in which they grow are subject to rigid control.

A couple good examples are the deep, firm, salty, and flavorful Glidden Points from Maine and the very salty, yet flavorful with sweet finish Raspberry Points from Prince Edward Island. Selections of each were shucked and presented to me to photograph by oyster bartender Josh Foti (pictured at left in the photo above). All too soon, they had become my first "comp" on behalf of Unique Culinary Adventures after I slurped them down before remembering to do the photograph.

Oysters have long been strictly seasonal in Bawlmer---limited to months bearing the letter r, when the harvest of wild Chesapeake Bay oysters is legal. That seasonality has continued in recent years despite the emergence of aquaculture and increased year-round availability of oysters from disease-free waters often in more northerly latitudes. All too often, between May and August, most oysters available in Baltimore at retail as well as in many restaurants, taste horrible.

The presence of Ryleigh's Oyster has significantly raised local awareness that things can be different. "We sold more oysters in the summer than we did in October," says chef Morrow. He also made a point of noting the delectablility of many oyster genre during May. That's because they're farmed in or harvested from waters that have yet to warm up so soon after the passing of winter. As a general rule, the colder the water, the better the oyster.

Very importantly, the variety of raw oysters available year-round has no less do do with the phenomenon Ryleigh's Oyster so quickly became than what has sprung than the bounty of its kitchen. One item by which I was very much taken was Panko Encrusted Fried Oysters-adobo aioli "mini cobb salad, (served with all its ingredients cooked on the half shell) . Having personally tasted and photographed the entries of all nine finalists in America's National Oyster Cook-off for each of the past three years, I have yet to sample a preparation that more intrigued me. "Is the recipe proprietary?" I asked. Patrick agreed to share it, after noting: "We kind of teach each other how to do it. Nothing is really written down." Having just slurped down instead of photographing a dozen Glidden Points and Raspberry Points, my instinct was to spare the likely disruption in the kitchen and additional block of Chef Morrow's time that teaching me would require.

Quite auspiciously, however, as we were discussing those "Panko Encrusted Fried Oysters-adobo aioli"mini cobb salad" Chef Morrow shared two tips about how to bread oysters of which I was unaware after years of frying them at home according to a myriad recipes. The first presented itself as Chef Morrow explained how he dredges his oysters directly into panko after removing them from their liquor. The rationale is that to first dip them in a wash such as eggs and/or milk ultimately detracts from a delicate oyster flavor profile. The second tip emphasized the importance of first opening an oyster's "lip" in order to bread not only the lip's exterior, but also its interior. Otherwise, during frying, the lip is likely to expand and open enough to detach a significant amount not only of breading, but also flavor bearing fluids. For me and I would suspect quite a number of oyster cooks, these tips could prove to be quite valuable.

Piri-Piri Makes Its Way

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Sun, 2 Nov 2008 12:56:00 -0500

You're looking at piri-piri chicken from Nando's (which uses the "peri-peri" South African spelling) with sides of spicy rice and excellent cole slaw. Nando's is a modern family type restaurant at at 810 7th Street NW in Washington, DC's Chinatown. It also sells five different versions of it own peri-peri sauce in bottles and enjoys a substantial carry-out business. Nando's is an international enterprise that originated as a restaurant opened during the 1970's in South Africa by former Portuguese colonists from Mozambique, where, as in the former Portuguese colony of Angola, piri-piri is much like curry is to India.

In the United States, awareness of the piri-piri flavor profile seems to be making its way in recent years from obscure older cookbooks toward the fringes of our culinary mainstream. Major credit goes to Nando's. My first encounter with Nando's peri-peri was at their booth during New York's National Association of Specialty Food Traders (NASFT) International Fancy Food Show the summer of 2006.

The most elaborate piri-piri delight I ever encountered was this Grilled Shrimp piri piri baby romaine garnished with cilantro, red onions and who knows what else. That was at Merkato 55 in Manhattan's Meatpacking District in conjunction with a dining experience shared in our September 24 post here at Unique Culinary Adventures.

Piri-piri is the name of a hot pepper, known also as the African birds-eye pepper, which is ubiquitous throughout the central African continent. A bit of research, however, has convinced me that just about any fiery hot red pepper will work just as well.

Cayenne in particular comes to mind. The chicken piri-piri at left was inspired by a recipe from The Africa News Cookbook that went so far as to cite everyday cayenne powder as suitable. Another unusual aspect of this recipe that especially pleased me was the idea of adding melted butter to a fresh batch of marinade ingredients for basting and then for dipping once the chicken has been grilled. Here's how I went about it:

CHICKEN PIRI-PIRI

1 Chicken, cut into serving pieces

8 Crushed red peppers or 4 heaping teaspoons of cayenne

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 cloves of garlic: crushed

12 sprigs parsley, chopped

1 cup butter to be melted

Juice of two medium sized lemons, juiced separately

Combine the chicken in a bowl with the juice of one of the two lemons half of the crushed peppers or cayenne, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, 2 cloves of the crushed garlic, and 6 sprigs of the parsley. Stir around to mix well. Marinate for two hours at room temperature, or better refrigerated and covered overnight. Remove the chicken and combine any marinade remaining in the bowl with the melted butter and remaining peppers, salt, garlic, and parsley. Baste the chicken with the spiced butter and broil---or better grill---to desired level of doneness, basting occasionally. Serve with remaining spiced butter as a dipping sauce.

Marinade and sauce prepared according to instructions from The Africa News Cookbook, Copyrighted in 1985 by Africa News Service, Inc., Published by Penquin Books, New York

Pizza with Duck Cracklings in Alexandria

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 08:24:00 -0400

The idea's been crackling away on my backburner ever since our March 24, 2007 post about Dominican Chicharrones de Pollo. When researching chicken cracklings on the Internet, I encountered a site that had nice things to say about a pizza spot in Manhattan which offered chicken cracklings as a topping for pizza. Though I never encountered that site again, a more recent search uncovered that the menu at Rustico, 827 Slaters Lane in Alexandria Virginia, offered something yet more intriguing: "duck confit and crackling pizza." Duck cracklings was one of the first items Unique Culinary Adventures ever covered, and word that an Alexandria restaurant was topping pizza with them, inspired me to drive south at the next available opportunity.

I was in for a treat. The duck confit and cracklings pizza was great, and so was Rustico and everything about it. Its beer menu features 50 draughts and 500 different bottled beers for which plenty of information can be had as to how best to pair them with food. Even better, the prices are extraordinarily reasonable. The cracklings and confit pizza that's pictured was $12. Notwithstanding very reasonable prices, Rustico's ambiance and space are plenty upscale, the latter graced by huge windows, intricate glass mosaics, marble tabletops, and more.

Soon Rustico will be cloning itself in Washington, DC. Should its management ever decide to do the same here in Baltimore, my prediction is that such an undertaking would almost immediately become one of the most popular restaurants in town and remain so indefinitely.

National Oyster Cook-off 2008

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:56:00 -0400

Below are pictured the entrees ranked first second and third in each of three categories in the 29th National Oyster Cook-off, which took place on Saturday, October 19, 2008, at the St. Mary's County Oyster Festival in the St. Mary's County, Maryland Fairgrounds.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER AND ALSO

FIRST PRIZE HORS D'OEUVRES CATEGORY

Oyster en Brochette with Remoulade Sauce

from Brendan Cahill, Lusby, Maryland

HORS D'OEUVRES CATEGORY SECOND PLACE

Grilled Oysters with Prosciutto Brandy Butter

from Antoinette Leal, Ridgefield, CT

HORSD'OEUVRES CATEGORY THIRD PLACE
Southern Maryland Oysters Cafe
from Loic Jaffres, Leonardtown, MD

SOUPS AND STEWS CATEGORY FIRST PLACE
Oyster Barley Soup

from Michael Strejc, Milwaukie, OR

SOUPS AND STEWS CATEGORY SECOND PLACE

Oyster Etouffe

from Judy Armstrong, Prairieville, LA

SOUPS AND STEWS THIRD PLACE

Golden Oyster and Potato Bisque with Crispy Prosciutto and Chives

from Lisa Grant, Cherry Hill, NJ

MAIN DISH CATEGORY FIRST PLACE

Oyster Sandwiches with Lemon Tahini Sauce

from Michaela Rosenthal, Indio, CA

MAIN DISH CATEGORY SECOND PLACE

Burrito Style Ostiones Fritas

from Dawn L. Brown, Rosedale, MD

MAIN DISHES THIRD PLACE

Manicotti Stuffed with Oysters in Lemon Caper Cream Sauce

from Jack Campbell, Clackamas, OR

Culinary Bliss with Chinese Sausage

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:41:00 -0400

Chinese sausage is a delight for which I have a serious propensity. It dates to my teenage years, when, lured by curiosity, I brought some home from a small ethnic Asian market near the corner of Maryland and North Avenues here in Baltimore. Unable to locate any cookbooks that offered information related to Chinese sausage, I fried some up (which isn't what you're supposed to do) and took a liking. My next experience with it was about 20 years ago when the menu at Bangkok Place on York Road in Govans featured it as the principal ingredient in one of several preparations of Yum.

Years later, I learned that rather than "fry up" Chinese sausage, it's best to steam it for fifteen minutes, let it cool, and slice diagonally prior to mixing and sometimes sauteing it with other ingredients.

Pictured above is a recipe from the July, 2007 Food & Wine for Lemongrass Salad with Chinese Sausage and Mango (and also watercress, cilantro, shallot, Thai chili, ginger, etc., etc.) As best I can determine, this is the first image of this dish to appear on the Internet. Its creator is the now legendary young chef Zak Pelaccio, whose cutting edge Malaysian culinary sensibilities contributed Fatty Crab and 5 Ninth to Manhattan's dining scene. No other Asian salad that I've ever tasted pleased me as much.

Jerk Pork

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 8 Oct 2008 09:05:00 -0400

This jerk pork was killer. It was promised in our post of September 10, and bears meek resemblance to the version referenced therein that Caribbean American Gourmet on West Lexington Street was dishing out from behind bulletproof glass. Thirty years have passed since I've tasted jerk pork as good as this. That was in the hills of Jamaica where scores of locals were gathered around a pimiento wood fire burning from a hole in the ground over which huge chunks of pork were grilling away. For this dish the Kingsford in our back yard would have to suffice, and it worked.

I'm convinced that considerable disillusion abounds about jerk pork and suspect some of it could have originated in Jamaica where numerous Rastafarian ideologies passionately condemn the consumption of any kind of red meat, particularly pork. In the United States, the disillusionment relates more to the misconception that that pork loin works as well as shoulder. Presumably that's because loin is leaner and healthier. Perhaps that's why jerk chicken and jerk fish have pretty much become mainstream United States staples, while jerk pork has not. Jerk is all about seasoning, and when the right mix of ingredients is blended, the flavor is hard not to like. My contention is that that pork butt is the best cut to bring up that flavor.

I've prepared numerous jerk recipes over the years, and this one from RecipeZaar easily surpasses them all. OK, the lemon wedge and scallion garnish were my own decorative touches, and yes I did substitute a couple of Thai peppers for the Scotch Bonnets just because we had some growing in the back yard, but so what? Here's a link to the recipe at RecipeZaar.

Fried Red Spanish Eggplant

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 1 Oct 2008 06:59:00 -0400

These red Spanish eggplants were purchased this past Sunday at the Dupont Circle Farmers Market in Washington, D.C., which which is open Sunday morning year round. As an habitue of our own downtown Baltimore Farmers Market since its incipience 20 or so years ago, making the run all the way to D.C was a stretch, but everything about the whole scene made the trip worth it. Totally upscale and very crowded though much smaller, The Dupont Circle Market reminded me more of San Francisco's Ferry Terminal Farmers Market than any other such market I've ever had the pleasure of visiting. The Dupont Circle Farmers Market is run by Freshfarm Markets, which is also responsible for seven other farmers markets in the Chesapeake Bay region, including the one at our own Harbor East on Saturday mornings. It's Freshfarm's largest with about 30 vendors, all of whom are regional producers. The prices, while a tad higher than here in Baltimore, are commensurate with the top-notch quality.

The red Spanish eggplants, of which I purchased a box of five for $3.50, were a treat I'd never before seen or heard of. Prior to posting, I did some research on the web and came up with very little beyond a couple of posts by bloggers who were as fascinated as they were curious about how to cook these beautiful vegetables. I cooked them according to the same basic recipe I would go with for any relatively small eggplant, and it worked great. Their red skin crisped distinctively and beautifully. The taste, flavor, and texture of the flesh was like that of any other small eggplant similarly prepared. Here's the recipe I've been using my whole life:

JAKE SLAGLE'S RED SPANISH FRIED EGGPLANT

Red eggplants--however many you need

flour

salt and pepper

oil

Slice eggplants into 1/4 inch slices, place in a bowl or on a plate, sprinkle with salt, toss, and then wait 30 minutes for them to sweat. Dry with paper towels and coat with flour that's been seasoned with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a skillet. Add the eggplant slices and fry over medium-high heat, turning once, so that the flesh on each side is browned but nowhere near burned. Remove with a spotted spatula to a plate or shallow pan covered with a double thickness of paper towels for a minute or two and serve.

Haute African Cuisine in New York

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:19:00 -0400

Merkato 55, which features such African haute cuisine as the shrimp piri piri at left, has become a hot ticket in the what's next culinary mecca of Manhattan's Meatpacking District. Though New York Magazine notes sixty New York African restaurants, they're all pretty much local, ethnic, or have menus limited to a single country or region of the African continent. The majority feature Senegalese or Moroccan cuisine. Washington D.C. is home to numerous African restaurants on a similar scale. Most specialize in Ethiopian/Eritrean or West African cuisine. In New York as well as D.C., foodies have been flocking to these places for decades. Could the time be right for the evolution of America's acceptance of African delicacies to reach a new level? My hunch is that this will happen sooner rather than later and ultimately make its way to Baltimore.

I'm not able to imagine anyone more apropos for having a hand in launching such a trend than Marcus Samuelson, the chef behind Merkato 55. He's the Ethiopian born, Swedish raised owner/executive chef of Aquavit, Manhattan's high end mecca for Scandinavian cuisine. In recent years Samuelson traveled several times to Africa to explore his culinary roots as well as to research and later author Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa, John Wiley & Sons, 2006. What better encore for such an effort than Mercato 55?

It's located in the thick of Meatpacking District action at 55 Gansevoort Street. My son Alex and I had no problem getting reservations on two hours notice this past Monday night, perhaps because a lot of people didn't feel like spending and eating when earlier in the day our nation's financial system had edged ever closer to collapse. For that matter, it wouldn't have surprised me had we tried and been able to score a table at Babbo.

Pursuant to expectations, the decor at Mercato 55 proved intriguing to say the least. I was particularly impressed by the small bar that appeared perfect for accommodating solo diners like myself when unsuccessful at enlisting similarly adventurous dining companions while traveling.

A Karakaraba, mixed with Cazadores tequila, St. Germain liqueur, pineapple, Canton ginger, and lime was just the cocktail over which to unwind. It was followed by the piri piri shrimp appetizer pictured at the beginning of this post. Though consisting of but two shrimp, the combination of ingredients and flavors far surpassed any other piri piri dish I'd previously experienced anywhere. Alex opted for the tuna kitfo (tartar), pictured at right. The tuna was put together with chocolate, lemon, and who knows what else, then perched upon an avocado puree. I was amazed: the most delectable piri piri and the most pleasing raw tuna of my life within a half hour.

Berbere rack of lamb is a favorite recipe to prepare at home and was my choice as an entree. It's pictured at left and the only item with which Alex and I were less than happy. The idea was for us to share our respective entrees. We would have liked to have been able to enjoy at least two chops apiece, preferably three or four. To me "rack of lamb," when priced at $34, means more than three one-inch thick rib chops. Even worse, the level of Berbere flavoring seemed less than sufficient. Alex's entree was the shrimp and triggerfish preparation pictured at right. Like so much (except for the rack of lamb) that we enjoyed at Merkato 55, the magic was in the seasoning.

While Africa is a big continent with plenty of flavor profiles, I recognized most that were associated with our meal. They recalled relishes, sauces, rubs and other specialty food items I've sampled over many years at NASFT International Fancy Food Shows. If only more such products were available in Baltimore, or better yet a restaurant that could introduce us to a few of these wonderful tastes.

4 East Madison

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:55:00 -0400

Oddly, perhaps, 4 East Madison was kind of off my radar even though its owners and operators are my friends and have been since it opened in 2002. Perhaps because they weren't pushing many culinary envelopes, I failed to consider how unique to Baltimore the experience of dining there could be.

Partners Betty Loafman and Sandy Lawler expanded into the restaurant business this past June without a lot of talk, promotion, or advertising. Since Four East Madison is primarily a bed and breakfast, most of its patrons were---and still are---from out of town. What they receive is the opportunity to enjoy life in Baltimore's Mount Vernon Place in a beautifully renovated historic setting.

For now, lunch in the garden is only served 11:30-2 Wednesday through Friday. Dinner is served 5-9 Thursday through Saturday. "I have to cook," is how Sandy explained the development of "feast @ 4 east." Since the beginning, Sandy's job has been to cook breakfast for the guests. She enjoyed her duties enough that she wanted to "keep on cooking and see what happened." Feast @ 4east has been recognized as Baltimore's "Best Summer Lunch Spot" as well as the city's "Best Bed and Breakfast" by City Paper

Mrs. Yi and I dined at feast @ 4east this past Friday, arriving shortly after 8 p.m. With most of the guests having already left, the din was low enough for us to blissfully groove to the recording of traditional New Orleans Jazz that was playing. The pleasant ambiance was completely different than at any other restaurant where we've dined in Baltimore. Since feast @ 43east is BYOB, we brought our own wine, which was promptly corked by a stylish and engaging young waiter from Seattle.

Feast @ 4east's menu accurately heralds "delightful food, sustainably sourced, prepared simply with a French Mediterranean flair." While not lengthy, it encompasses a range of choices to satisfy the culinary needs and preferences of just about anyone. Mrs. Yi and I sampled and thoroughly enjoyed a wide range of selections. My favorite was the "savory seasonal tart pictured above.

Hanging Out at the Lex

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:30:00 -0400

Anyone who listened to the Sept. 8, 2008, Unique Culinary Adventures podcast knows about my favorite place in Baltimore for fried chicken, namely the Lexington Market. Wings such as pictured at left have been the main course for literally hundreds of lunches I've enjoyed there continually over the past 40 years. It doesn't matter which stall they're from. All five serve up pretty much the same thing at similar prices. The wings at left are from the Lexington Fried stall. To learn more, click the podcast icon at the top of this page.

It was fun to grab those three wings for a dollar a piece (three wing minimum at all the stalls). I took them to the upstairs area that overlooks the newer southern part of the East Market, and chowed down at what amounted to a balcony table from which to enjoy a lunchtime concert of New Orleans funk music by Baltimore's own Junkyard Saints. At some point, my eyes became focused upon the enlarged reproductions of old food labels lining the upper wall separating the Lex's upstairs and downstairs. A rendering of the label from a can of "silver hake" grabbed my attention. Silver hake happens to be the same fish that we Baltimoreans know and love as fresh breaded and fried lake trout even though most fishmongers will tell you that "lake trout," is "whiting," when in truth it's silver hake.

I'd never seen, heard of, or tasted the likes of canned silver hake. The instructions on the antique label poster said to drain the liquid from the can, put fish in a bowl. Add onions, peppers, vinegar, salt, and season to taste. Mix thoroughly with a little mayonnaise and serve with lettuce on a platter. The same instructions also noted that this canned hake could be served "fried or boiled in whole pieces just as removed from the can or made into delicious fish cakes."

Next to Silver Hake was an enlargement of the label for a can of Bull Head Oysters from Mavar Shrimp & oyster Ltd. in Biloxi, Mississippi. Something about that label struck me as familiar. It seemed to quite resemble a label in which another Biloxi packer, the Aughinbaugh Canning Company, once encased cans of its Negro Head Oysters, such as the one pictured at right that I managed to retriece from the storage area of my basement. I really should get rid of it. Unopened cans of such vintage are known to explode occasionally due to a spontaneous combustion type phenomenon. My reason for acquiring it quite a number of years ago had far less to do with oysters within than a label that was clearly over-the-top. Not long I'd purchased it, Mrs. Yi moved in and in a nod to political correctness, removed the can from where anyone might see it.
After leaving the East Market, I walked along the 500 block of West Lexington Street, where for years and years the ambiance has been about as close to Middle Eastern/Third World as you'll find in the immediate area. Quite intriguing to me was a sign outside Caribbean American Gourmet heralding jerk pork as "new." So in I went to purchase a pint container of it for $6.95 through the bullet-proof glass. While dozens of local Caribbean spots offer jerk chicken and/or jerk fish, not many have jerk pork. My several trips to Jamaica years ago had always led me to believe that pork, not chicken or fish, best defined what the jerk phenomenon was really about. I suspect that jerk chicken and fish are more prevalent hereabouts simply because they can be prepared in almost any kind of kitchen. On the other hand, Jamaican aficionados have told me that at its best jerk pork should be barbecued on slabs of pimiento wood over a fire built into the ground. Most of the recipes for jerk pork that I've been able to source on the Internet would seem oblivious to this. Worse, they say to use pork loin. Believe me when I tell you shoulder meat is preferable, the fattier the better. That's what I believe Caribbean-American Gourmet was using, which was the good news. The bad news was that it appeared to have been cooked up in a pot like a stew. After all, Caribbean American Gourmet is hardly in a part of town that lends itself to building fires in the ground. But on my grill, I think I'd like to try it some time and see what happens.

Jarocha Clam Soup

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 3 Sep 2008 09:30:00 -0400

Back in my days with Denzer's Food Products, I almost canned this. It would have happened save for an unexpected development that led instead to canning Denzer's Maryland Crab Soup. That decision ultimately generated enough sales volume to subsidize the Denzer's line's four other more exotic soups and chowders. Possibly a good thing considering the mass conditioning in the U.S. toward the either/or proposition of creamy (Boston) clam chowder or the tomato based (Manhattan) clam chowder.

Jarocha clam soup is tomato based, but without potatoes, thus no more a chowder than it's associated with Manhattan. The recipe is from Vera Cruz, Mexico, where the term "Jarocha" refers to its people and culture.

The inspiration was a recipe from a long out of print cookbook, Good Food from Mexico. It's authors were Watt Mulvey and Luisa Maria Alverez. The book was first published in 1950, approximately a half-century before "authentic" Mexican cuisine became popular in the U. S. Simple as this concoction might seem, I've never observed a soup anything like it on a menu or encountered another recipe that's even vaguely similar.

We chose to share it this week because fresh juicy tomatoes are still in peak season. The original recipe called (presumably) for fresh tomatoes---or "chopped tomatoes, boiled and strained." That's how it was done for the above photograph. However, we only boiled our very juicy fresh tomatoes for 13 seconds in order to easily peel off the skin before chopping and straining them. In the past, rather than strain, I would simply to peel the tomatoes, chop them up and insert them when called for. Both techniques yielded equally pleasing results. The tomato seeds never bothered me a bit.

JAROCHA CLAM SOUP

2 cloves of garlic

4 tablespoons olive oil

3 medium Spanish onions, peeled and chopped

3 medium sized tomatoes, skinned and chopped*

18 large cherrystone clams, steamed, with broth reserved

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

Brown garlic in hot oil, pressing with a fork to extract flavor. Add onions and brown lightly. Add tomatoes, which have been boiled and sieved, and fry together about five minutes. Turn into a kettle, add the clams, one quart of the clam broth, salt, pepper, and paprika. Simmer covered one hour. Serves six.

*To skin tomato, drop into rapidly boiling water for 13 seconds (no more) and remove. Skin will peel right off.

Behind Tark's Success

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:56:00 -0400

One might think that Billy Shriver is a magician or has some kind of secret. He's the managing partner of Tark's Grill at Green Spring Station, which opened this February, became an instant Baltimore County hotspot, and has remained so ever since. The bar and dining areas are attractive. Tark's menu lists classic American fare of top-notch quality at reasonable prices. Is all that enough to make it in today's economy?

When I asked Tark's managing partner, Billy Shriver, he hammered away at two other points: an obsession with seeing that guests are pleased and "the best location in the Baltimore area."

Shriver has enjoyed success in the restaurant business before. He started out in the 70's working at the Crease in Towson. In 1979, when the economy was headed in much the direction it is today, he co-founded the Mount Washington Tavern, which like Tark's became popular immediately. In 1985, he accomplished much the same at the Harryman House in Reisterstown. A few years later, he did it again at the Milton Inn. When exorbitantly expensive upgrades to the historic premises became necessary, he left and went to work for 14 years at the California based public restaurant chain Grill Concepts as a general manager and later as area director. In that role, he opened a number of restaurants that he describes as being similar in many ways to Tark's.

Needless to say, with any public company, profitability is the principal determinant of success and is typically achieved through tested and well-formulated principles, operations, and execution relating to all aspects of the business. Shriver credits Grill Systems' retired CEO Bob Spivak as his mentor in that respect.

The most important lesson learned from Spivak, he says, was the importance of keeping the guests---"they're not customers, they're guests"---happy. Tark's mission, prominently displayed on its website, chose the adjective "legendary" for describing the level of guest service to which Tark's aspires. "The answer is yes: What''s the question?" is a phrase Shriver is fond of repeating.

He explains the caliber of the employees Tarks has managed to recruit and retain as key. They figure prominently into a mission that calls for "treating our employees as family." It certainly doesn't hurt, for example, to have a general manager with Mark Hoffman's experience and a persona the likes of Kevin Sweeney tending bar.

It's also notable that Tark's three other partners, Terry (Tark himself) Arenson, Gary Gill, and Scott Steele are prominent Baltimore area businessmen, who frequent the restaurant and meet together with Shriver on a regular basis to assess every aspect of the operation. Just as significantly, all the partners are well-connected in a lot of social as well as business circles around town. This has proven helpul both in finding just the right employees--- many of whom are similarly well-connected---and attracting guests, who attract more guests.

"People like it when they know we're here and that we're making a point of looking out for them," says Shriver.

Anchovy-stuffed Heirloom Tomatoes

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:15:00 -0400

The recipe upon which this delight is based preceded mass public awareness (in the United States, at least) regarding heirloom tomatoes, the kind of marinated white anchovies I purchase at Mastellone's on Harford Road), as well as potato bread. Anchovy-stuffed tomatoes have been a summer staple at the Slagle table every summer for well over thirty years. Recently, we've elevated the experience to a whole new level.

Love them aplenty, but beware those big heirlooms as well as large beefsteaks when harvested in peak season and fully ripe. They can fall apart in the process of being temporarily hollowed out, stuffed, refilled, and baked. Surely firmer and more spherical tomatoes were what the New York Times intended for the "anchovy-stuffed baked tomatoes" recipe it published in the 1950's. In place of the six "large" tomatoes, we substituted two humoungous heirlooms while leaving the other ingredient quantities constant. We've also specified marinated white anchovies for "anchovies" that 50 years ago, even the Times probably considered to be the salty filets packed into small cans with olive oil that you get at the supermarket. Likewise, we chose potato bread in place of those "slices (of)crumbled bread" in the Times' recipe.

Simply having that wonderful heirloom tomato flesh as the stuffing's principal ingredient was more than enough in itself to much enhance an already great recipe. As for the very real possiblilty of huge ripe heirloom tomatoes falling apart along the way, I'm quite confident that encasing them in aluminum foil ---to be removed prior to serving---would do the trick. Unfortunately, I neglected to so wrap the other heirloom, much distracted by the pleasure and opportunity of using for the first time a new Mario Batali casserole dish (actually a miniature Dutch oven). For that matter, I'll bet Mario would love what we put in it.

Here's the recipe:

ANCHOVY-STUFFED HEIRLOOM TOMATOES

2 large heirloom tomatoes

2 slices crumbled potato bread, crusts removed

1 7-ounce can of tuna, drained and flaked

6 filets white anchovies marinated in vinegar

1 small clove garlic, finely minced

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

salt to taste

3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut the tops from the tomatoes and discard. Scoop out the pulp and mince it. To the tomato pulp, add the bread, tuna, anchovies, garlic, and basil. Mix well. Salt the tomato cups lightly (you may want to encase them in aluminum foil if concerned they could fall apart) andfill them with the mixture. Toss the cheese in the butter until well mixed and sprinkle over the top. If concerned the tomatoes could fall apart, encase them in aluminum foil before placing in an oiled baking dish or casserole to bake for about 20 minutes.

Old School Baltimore Smelts

jake@jakeslagle.com (Jake Slagle) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:34:00 -0400

Typically about the size of sardines, fresh smelts are inexpensive and quite mild. In the Baltimore area, I've never seen them listed on a menu. However, from time to time, various local fishmongers and quite a few supermarkets will have them on ice appearing fresh.

Most likely, they will be previously frozen, sometimes split, and usually with heads off. Mrs. Yi, who fished for them as a child on a lake in northern Maine, has always contended that the smelts I bring home aren't as fresh-tasting as she would prefer. Like me, she has reservations about purchasing any fish whose eyes and gills are no longer available to be checked out. I once found some smelt at the International Market in Baltimore's Security Square Mall with heads on and eyes clear, and they tasted no different.

Because most smelt recipes call for frying, I was intrigued by this one for "BROILED SMELTS MAITRE D'HOTEL." It was adapted from a recipe once popular at Baltimore's long defunct Southern Hotel. Contibuted by "managing director A. J. Fink," it is from Frederick Philip Steiff's 1932 cookbook, Eat, Drink, and be Merry in Maryland.

BROILED SMELTS MAITRE D'HOTEL

When purchasing your smelts, find out as much as possible as to when they were thawed, or if fresh, where they came from and when. If satisfied, purchase however many smelt you wish to prepare. The Southern Hotel recipe calls for six large smelts, presumably good for a single serving.

smelts

olive oil

paprika

fresh bread crumbs

butter

parsley

lemon

If smelt are not already split, split them and remove the backbone, then dry with a paper towel. Generously add paprika to enough olive oil in which to dip all the smelts. Dip the smelts into the olive oil and then into the breadcrumbs. Broil close to the flame until breadcrumbs are golden brown. Top with butter that has been melted with finally chopped parsley, and if wished, add a slice of lemon and a spring of parsley.

Adapted from Eat, Drink, and be Merry in Maryland compiled by Frederick Philip Stieff, copyrighted by the author 1932, G.P. Putnam and Sons, New York.