Menu In Progress

Boccalone Salumeria and Acme Bread - A San Francisco Ferry Building Picnic

2009-07-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

The day after having dinner at Incanto, we were craving some more cured meat from Boccalone. The solution? Head to their storefront in the San Francisco Ferry Building.

It was worth the visit just to peer into their curing refrigerators. Yum!

We decided to get some more of our favorite item from the Incanto antipasto platter - their capocollo. Here is a 4oz portion, freshly sliced up:

Salted pig parts now in hand, we just needed a delivery vehicle. Lucky for us, Acme Bread Company was only a few steps away:

There we purchased what might be the best baguette I've ever tasted. Deliciously crispy on the outside, delicately airy on the inside and perfectly seasoned. Paired with the capocollo it made for the perfect sandwich.

For "dessert", we stopped by the San Francisco Fish Company and snagged a few of their smoked scallops.

They were fantastic - something we definitely need to try making.

Boccalone Salumeria
Shop 21, Ferry Building Marketplace
San Francisco, California
(415) 433-6500

Acme Bread Company
Shop 15, Ferry Building Marketplace
San Francisco, California
(415) 288-2978

San Francisco Fish Company
Shop 31, Ferry Building Marketplace
San Francisco, California
(415) 399-1111

Incanto - San Francisco

2009-06-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

On one of the nights we spent recently in San Francisco, we hopped the J Church streetcar and escaped Union Square - heading out to the Noe Valley neighborhood for dinner at Chris Cosentino's restaurant, Incanto. Being big fans of pig parts served up in any and all forms, Incanto is a place we've been wanting to visit for a while now.

We shared three appetizers and a small pasta. Here's the rundown:

Antipasto platter for two

In addition to Incanto, Chris and his business partner Mark Pastore run Boccalone, a salumeria located in the San Francisco Ferry Building. The antipasto platter is a selection of Boccalone meats along with some veggies. This incarnation had french country pâté, mortadella, capocollo, and coppa di testa, served with breakfast radishes and roasted carrots, shallots and garlic. There was also a dollop of Boccalone's house-made mustard.

The star of the show for us was the capocollo (they favor the Neapolitan spelling) - paper-thin slices of ruby-colored pork, striped with clean white fat. Beautiful and very, very tasty. We also really liked the mortadella - velvety textured, faintly aromatic with spices and studded with the occasional pistachio and peppercorn. It was probably the best rendition I've had. The only disappointment on the plate was the coppa di testa - a complete lack of seasoning prevented any of the flavors from coming through. On the balance, though, a very good dish.

Calf's brain, porcini, Douglas fir & mugolio

This was probably our favorite dish of the meal. The bites of calf's brains had a light, crisp coating and were nicely set up. The porcini were quite mild in flavor, but were very visually appealing and had good texture. The complex sauce brought everything together. Our first brain experience, and definitely not our last.

Trotter cake, red wine braised snails & watercress

Sadly, this one was a clunker. The interior of the trotter cake had a pleasant gelatinous texture dotted with small bits of meat, but the expected porky flavor was muted due to a lack of seasoning and the outside of the cake was thick, gummy, and unpleasant. The snails dotting the plate were rubbery and neither the red wine nor the watercress sauce had much flavor.

Spaghettini, Sardinian cured tuna heart, egg yolk & parsley

We really enjoyed our final selection of the evening - perfectly cooked pasta that was generously topped with deeply flavored shavings of salty, cured tuna heart. Nestled in the center was a fresh egg yolk waiting to be mixed through. As a follow-up to the under-seasoned trotter dish, the salty flavor here was quite aggressive, and very welcome.

Along with our food, we enjoyed several wines from their Italian-centric list - comprised of an interesting selection of regions and varietals that we don't often drink. Service (we sat at the bar) was friendly, pleasant and efficient - provided by the bartender who also ventured out as sommelier for the rest of the restaurant.

Overall, a very enjoyable if somewhat flawed meal. Providing an ever-changing menu with a nose-to-tail focus is, I am sure, something that is difficult to execute consistently. The promise of an exciting new dish is well worth the risk of having a poor one, however. We definitely plan to eat here again.

Incanto
1550 Church St.
San Francisco, California
(415) 641-4500

Fish - Sausalito

2009-06-20T10:51:00.001-07:00

We suddenly broke into clear blue sky as we headed over the golden gate bridge out of an overcast San Francisco. It was perfect weather for lunch along the water in Sausalito, so we stopped in at Fish.

Fish, as you might expect, specializes in seafood. The place is casual, but given the location and their emphasis on sustainability, the food isn't cheap. Tax is included in the prices, however, and since you order at the counter gratuity is tip-jar style.

The menu has a selection of permanent offerings - chowders, fish & chips, sandwiches - as well as a daily selection of several fish that can be served as your choice of salad, pasta or on an Acme roll.

We started with a cup of their Portuguese Red Chowder:

If they had just called it a tomato-herb soup, I would have been completely satisfied. As a "chowder", however, it was a bit lacking - giving short shrift to seafood flavor. Nevertheless, it was still very good.

Next we had their ceviche:

I forgot to ask what fish were used, but their were at least two, and maybe three. We guessed halibut and tilapia. The marinade was an orange base, and fairly sweet. While I think I prefer the more standard lime/lemon as the citrus it was a nicely done and a fun change. The fish wasn't firmed up quite as much as I like, but it tasted wonderful and fresh.

We rounded out our lunch with one of their "fish of the day" selections - Monterey Sardines served as a salad:

It was generous portion of both sardines and salad. The sardines were great - nicely butterflied and grilled, and the salad was sparingly dressed with oil and vinegar just the way I like it.

Lovely day, great location, very nice meal. Highly recommended.

Fish
350 Harbor Drive
Sausalito, California
(415) 331-3474

Zen Yai Thai, Rose Cafe and the Santa Barbara Farmers Market

2009-06-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

While The Hungry Cat provided our best food in Santa Barbara, we had other nice meals as well. We had a surprisingly good Thai dinner at Zen Yai - a little place right on State Street (pictured above during lunch service the next day).

We started with their papaya salad, which was nicely done and had a decent heat level. Then we had an eggplant/chile/basil dish with chicken. I can be mixed on eggplant, but this was very nicely cooked. We also had their "Massaman Salmon". Generous chunks of crispy salmon in a rich, flavorful sauce.

On our way out of town, we stopped for late breakfast / early lunch at the Rose Cafe, a Mexican greasy spoon Several blocks east of State Street.

When we arrived, a few people were finishing up breakfast, and some older gentleman were enjoying coffee and a newspaper at the counter. Definitely a neighborhood joint.

I had huevos rancheros and Sherry had a pork burrito and a chile relleno. Everything was good - nothing particularly special, but quite enjoyable. Combined with friendly service and the nice local feel to the place, it makes a good casual breakfast or lunch option in the area.

On Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings, they shut down two blocks of State Street for a farmers market. We happened to be in town for the Tuesday market and took a stroll down the line of booths. We immediately had farmers market envy.

While we love our local farmers market, the Santa Barbara market was pretty impressive in comparison - with easily twice as many vendors. Like our market, it is all farm-produced products - nobody selling jewelry or snacks on a stick. Truly a great resource for those living in the area.

Zen Yai Thai Cuisine
425 State St.
Santa Barbara, California
(805) 957-1102‎

Rose Cafe #1
424 E Haley St.
Santa Barbara, California
(805) 966-3773‎

The Hungry Cat - Santa Barbara

2009-06-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Santa Barbara has always been a difficult food city for us. Admittedly, we generally stay in the touristy State Street area, so this might be like someone visiting San Diego, not leaving the downtown gaslamp district and complaining that they couldn't find any good food. Unlike San Diego, however, Santa Barbara doesn't seem to be big enough to have other, more foodie-friendly neighborhoods.

Fortunately, this visit proved much better than usual. A big contributor to that was The Hungry Cat. Located just off State Street, The Hungry Cat serves up a small, but appealing seafood-centric menu.

We arrived toward then end of happy hour (3pm - 6pm, half-priced cocktails and draft beers) and snagged the last two seats at the end of the bar. I was a "homer" had had a Green Flash West Coast IPA. Sherry had their special cocktail of the day - a Plum Gin Rickey:

It was very tasty - lots of fresh fruit flavor.

Foodwise, we decided to make a dinner out of appetizers. We started with tea-smoked ahi with mango salsa and cucumber slices in a cilantro water:

We loved everything about this dish. The tuna had a light smokiness and was well seasoned, the mango salad was bright, but only slightly sweet and the cucumber and cilantro water added a nice freshness.

Next up was a cold pea soup with dungeness crab and meyer lemon crème fraîche:

Again, everything was just perfect. The soup was light an flavorful, the generous portion of crab tasted great and the lemon lemon crème fraîche added a cool richness that matched very well with the crab.

Our third dish was hamachi sashimi with orange, watermelon radish and shiso in a celery vinaigrette:

Very nice, delicate flavors with the citrus and celery complimenting each other nicely. A little bit of heat might have been nice - maybe some fresh chile. No complaints, though.

Our final dish of the evening was grilled baby octopus and bucatini with bitter greens, chile flake, garlic and olive oil:

We'd been watching this dish being prepared all evening (our bar seats were right across from the grill) and knew we wanted to end with it. While listed as an appetizer, it was an entrée-sized portion. The bucatini was cooked perfectly, the octopus had great flavor and texture, and the bitter greens rounded things out nicely.

Along with our food, we had a couple of carafes of white wine. Their selection was interesting and well-priced.

All in all, a very enjoyable meal. We won't hesitate to come back the next time we are in Santa Barbara.

The Hungry Cat
1134 Chapala
Santa Barbara, California
(805) 884-4701

Beachwood BBQ - Seal Beach

2009-06-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

We're off on a quick road trip up the coast - ambling along at a nice leisurely pace. The first leg of our trip was just a couple of hours north to Seal Beach, a little community just south of Long Beach. We immediately liked the place - it reminded us a lot of our own neighborhood in Pacific Beach.

Our destination in town was Beachwood BBQ, a place known for passable barbecue (hey, that's a compliment in Southern California...) and one of the better selection of craft beers in the greater L.A. / Orange County area. The place is pretty small, and is split into two sections: a bar area and a separate seating area with 10 or so small tables.

We generally prefer to sit at the bar, but it was 5:00 on a Sunday and the place was packed - we had to wait a bit for a table. The crowd in the dining area was decidedly food and not beer focused, with the demographic being largely families with kids and older couples. After an appetizer and some drinks, we left for a while and came back later to sit at the bar. Much better.

On the beer front, our visit to Beachwood was definitely a success. After trying the Deschutes Hop Henge (which we quite liked) we moved on to some Belgian selections - the Houblon Chouffe Dobblen IPA Tripel (a favorite of ours) and the Maredsous Triple 10.

The Chouffe was very nice, as usual, but the star of the evening was the Maredsous. It poured with a beautiful, creamy head that lingered nicely. Although a bit maltier than what I think of as typical for the style, I thought it worked really well.

So, what about the food? I have to admit that we did more drinking than eating, but we did try a few of their offerings. They have a set of their sauces at each table:

We had an order of the bbq chicken nachos, which we quite liked - a good sized portion of smoked chicken with some nice guac and salsa. We were intrigued by their "fish sticks" (made with cold smoked ling cod), but they were just ok. The fish had some smoke flavor, but overall was under seasoned and didn't really grab us. Ditto the fried green tomato salad - fine, but fairly bland.

Beachwood is definitely an oasis in the craft beer desert north of Camp Pendleton, and certainly a worthy destination.

Between our two separate stints at Beachwood, we took a sunset stroll on the Seal Beach pier. The view looking north was a fascinating contrast between the serenity of surf and sand, and the industrial and urban sprawl of the Long Beach harbor and skyline.

Beachwood BBQ
131 1/2 Main Street
Seal Beach, California
(562) 493-4500‎

Making Banh Mi

2009-05-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

Now, I certainly can't claim that we are anything even approaching experts on Banh Mi. Quite the contrary - we are relatively recent converts to the Church of the Vietnamese Sandwich. What I can say, however, is that we've been making, eating and enjoying Banh Mi a lot lately. And you should, too.

Banh Mi starts with good bread. Luckily, our Banh Mi obsession has coincided with Sherry getting more into bread making. We've tried a number of baguette recipes, some more complex than others, and have been happiest with the simplest - I love it when that happens!

Our Banh Mi bread of choice is a straightforward, knead-rise-shape-and-bake recipe from a basic Williams Sonoma bread book. No overnight starter or slow-rise retarding - the dough is shaped into personal-sized "baguette" sandwich rolls and ready in time for lunch:

Another key ingredient in Banh Mi is some sort of meat filling. At home, we've been favoring pâté. One nice version that we've used is from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, by Andrea Nguyen:

Her recipe uses chicken livers, ground pork, ground beef, eggs and some extra pork fat. It sets up quite firm and slice-able, and is flavored with an aromatic mixture of onion, garlic, salt, pepper, Cognac and Chinese five-spice powder.

No need to make your own pâté, though - your favorite store-bought variety will do just fine. We really like using a humble liverwurst.

Next up, what I think is the most important component of Banh Mi - the pickled vegetables. We do a quick-pickle of carrot, daikon radish and cucumber with a bit a jalapeño for some kick.

Start with the meat on the bottom, top with the tangy marinated vegetables, add a generous amount of cilantro and mint, and you're good to go.

While pâté is our most common protein of choice, we have had great success experimenting with other fillings as well. Case in point, this chicken milanesa Banh Mi with hit of chile-lime sauce:

So, if you haven't made your own Banh Mi before, we definitely encourage you to give it a try.

The pickled vegetables are really the only part you need to make yourself, and they are easy. Here is the recipe we've been using:

Marinated Vegetables for Banh Mi

1 large carrot, peeled
1 4-inch piece of daikon radish (about 1 1/2 inch diameter), peeled
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 2-inch piece of cucumber, peeled
1 jalapeño

Cut the carrot and daikon into 2-inch lengths. Julianne each (matchstick or thinner) and place into a bowl. Sprinkle with salt. Using your hand, massage the salt throughout the vegetables. Let sit for 5 or 10 minutes, at which point a piece of carrot should bend in half without breaking.

Add the sugar to the rice wine vinegar and stir until completely dissolved. Thoroughly rinse and drain the carrot and daikon. Return them to the bowl and cover with the vinegar-sugar marinade. Let sit at room temperature about an hour.

Meanwhile, cut the cucumber into 1/4-inch sticks (discard the seedy center). Cut about half of the jalapeño into thin slices. Taste to assess the heat level - if very hot, cut the slices in half. Add the cucumber and jalapeño slices to the carrot-daikon mixture for the last 30 minutes.

To use, grab a generous pinch of vegetables and gently shake, but do not drain. Use as a condiment or garnish. Makes enough for about four 6-inch Banh Mi. Extra carrot and daikon can be stored with the marinade in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks (discard extra cucumber or jalapeño).

Saucisson Sec

2009-05-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

Saucisson Sec is pretty much the easiest cured sausage you can make - in fact it just means "dry sausage" in French. The meat is pork, unadulterated save for some salt, pepper, sugar, garlic and "curing salt #2".

While it may be sparse in ingredients, it is big on flavor. Pure pork goodness.

It cures quickly - about three weeks in our meat curing fridge. We've made it twice so far, and given how simple it is to make, we will likely keep it in regular rotation going forward.

Writing this is making me hungry. I think I'll go grab a few crackers, slice up some Saucisson, and have myself a little snack.

Chile-Lime Chicken

2009-05-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

Chiles and limes just belong together, somehow, and this simple dish is a perfect expression of that harmony.

We call it Chile-Lime Chicken, but it is based on a recipe from British restaurateur and television chef Nancy Lam. She calls her dish "Mummy Saucy Chicken" because, as she says "it and stir-fried vegetables were the only things that my mother ever cooked for us, when she wasn't gambling".

If this dish represents childhood neglect, well then sign me up!

It really is easy to make. Take your favorite cleaver (you do have a favorite cleaver, don't you?) and hack up a chicken into small pieces.

After several hours in a soy-based marinade (we usually mix it up in the morning for dinner that night), fry 'em up.

The marinade gives them a fantastic golden color.

Make a simple sauce of chile, lime juice and a bit of sugar. Use whatever kind of fleshy, red chiles you can find. We've used red serranos, red jalapeños, and (when we can get them) the red Holland chiles that are commonly used in Indonesian cooking. The heat level will vary wildly depending on your chiles and how much of the hotter inside bits you use. We like it pretty hot.

The fiery, tangy sauce pairs perfectly with the salty, savory chicken. We serve the chicken family style with individual bowls of the sauce for dipping and bowls of sticky rice to help absorb the chile-burn.

The sauce is also good for other things - a dipping sauce for potstickers, adding some kick to an Asian slaw, on Banh Mi, etc.

Chile-Lime Chicken

If you can only find a 5 pound or larger bird, remove one of the breasts and save for another use.

1 whole chicken, about 4 1/2 pounds
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
3 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce
4-5 whole limes
4-6 fresh, hot red chiles
1/4 cup sugar
Approx. 1/4 cup canola oil, for frying

Use a cleaver, kitchen shears or heavy knife to cut the chicken into small pieces (ie: breasts in 4-5 pieces each, wings split, thighs and legs in half). Leave the skin on.

In a large bowl, mix 1 ½ teaspoon salt, the soy and the black pepper. Coat the chicken pieces evenly in the mixture and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (you can do this in the morning, and let it marinate all day in the fridge).

Squeeze the juice from the limes -- you should get 2/3 to 3/4 cups juice. Chop the chiles into smallish pieces. Put the chiles, a teaspoon of salt, and the sugar into the lime juice, then use a hand blender or food processor to chop the chiles finely. Taste the sauce and add additional sugar or salt if needed.

Heat the oil to medium high in a fry pan. Without crowding, place the chicken pieces into the pan and fry until golden brown and cooked through, turning as needed (15-20 minutes). Remove cooked pieces and keep warm while cooking the rest.

Serve the chicken family-style and provide each diner with a small bowl of dipping sauce and a second bowl of plain short-grained rice.

NOTE: Beware of your fingers after dinner - the spiciness may linger...

Pacific Beach Farmers Market

2009-05-08T15:19:00.000-07:00

I go to the beach nearly every Saturday morning - not for surfing or sunbathing, but for outdoor grocery shopping. The PB Farmers Market is one of San Diego's smaller markets, offering only direct farmer-grown products - there are none of the street-fair style prepared-food stands or arts-and-crafts booths. I love the fact that every vendor is a local farmer (or farmer's kid!) selling only what they grow - it's all fresh and top-quality, and the selection is getting better all the time.

I always start at the South end of the market where most of the heavy things are located - they go into the bottom of my bags. My first stop is Schaner Family Farms from Valley Center for onions, garlic, shallots.

This winter we also enjoyed their super sweet Tangellos, a cross between a mandarin tangerine and pomello grapefruit (affectionately dubbed "franken-fruit" by Mike). Now in early May we're getting beautiful spring onions and green garlic.

Next stop is Polito Family Farms (also from Valley Center) for big bags of Valencia or Navel oranges and huge Oro Blanco grapefruit. Depending upon the season I get all kinds of lemons, limes, tangerines and avocados here as well. France is usually running the stand and she always has a young man helping her out - in this case, her son.

A fairly new addition to PB's Farmers Market is the Hopkins AG table. Darrin sells raw and freshly roasted and seasoned almonds from his grandfather's almond and cherry tree farm up in Bakersfield.

Our absolute favorite are the fresh, raw, in-shell almonds. Tasty snacking, but since it takes time to crack open the shells they don't disappear by the handful the way the others do - much safer for the waistline!

Cherry season started last week, and our first batch was great.

At the table next door I purchase my weekly supply of lovely, red tomatoes, grown on a farm near Carlsbad. These tomatoes have been tasty the entire year - even in the winter months.

Every week, rain or shine, Annie (aka "the Ramona Egg-Lady") sells local, farm-fresh eggs from her family's Eben-Haezer Egg Ranch in Ramona. I always get a dozen large, free-range browns.

The PB Market is split into two sections. Crossing over to the Northern half, the focus shifts to flowers and fresh vegetables.

One of my favorite stops is the Maciel Family Farm stand manned each week by Sue and Laura with occasional help from a young man. Laura and her husband, Adam (who is at a market in Temecula on Saturdays) grow a huge and varied assortment of vegetables and flowers up in Bonsall. The selection changes frequently, but I can always count on greens like romaine and red leaf lettuce, swiss chard, mustard greens, collard greens, spinach and kale. Often there are beets, turnips, kohlrabi, radishes, chives, lemons, tomatoes and fresh herbs like tarragon, parsley and cilantro.

Right now they have the sweetest, most flavorful carrots I've had in ages.

Just across the way, George and Lois sell freshly cut flowers from their farm near Encinitas. Every week George teases me: "Look Lois, she's here. It must be time to close up shop." Without fail, I'm always running late and by the time I'm at their stand it's almost noon - market hours are 8am to 12pm...

In addition to large mixed bouquets, roses, and seasonal bunches of lilies, freesia, tulips, and gerbera daisies, Lois and George sell beautiful little bouquets of mixed posies. I like to keep one by my kitchen sink at home.

Right next door, Brandt Beef parks their refrigerated truck. We've been enjoying their meats since they first set up shop in our market just over a year ago (you can find posts of ours using their products here: New York Strip, Bavette Steak, Tri-Tip and, of course, burgers) . If you time it right, you can often sample a freshly grilled piece of steak or burger - I was too late this time.

Several stands sell strawberries, but I've been buying mine from the same two guys since January, when the berries were a bit "crispy" but loaded with great flavor. Now, later in the season, they really can't be beat.

Located right next to the Maciel farm stand, these two guys (who don't really pose for pictures) bring their strawberries, blueberries and vegetables from their farm up in Oceanside. I've been really pleased that this stand carries things like cauliflower, broccoli, snow peas, artichokes and bell peppers. I'm looking forward to corn season, too.

Finally, my last stop of the morning is here at the potted-plant stand. There are gorgeous hanging plants and lots of potted flowers of various types.

The grower is a super friendly fellow. Over the years, I've purchased several pots of herbs now growing on my patio - rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram, oregano, basil, mint and tarragon. During the winter holidays he sells an assortment of poinsettias, while currently he's got chile pepper and tomato seedlings.

There are a few items carried by multiple growers at the PB Farmers Market, but generally speaking each one fills a specific niche allowing me to do a significant proportion of my grocery shopping on Saturdays at the beach.

Surf, sun, sand and a really good farmers' market - I'm happy.

Pacific Beach Farmers Market
Saturdays, 8am - noon
Mission Boulevard between Pacific Beach Drive and Reed Avenue
(at Promenade Mall)

Queso Fresco - Home Cheesemaking

2009-04-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

This Queso Fresco was our very first attempt at a pressed cheese, and it came out very well. Pictured above the day after it was made, it is completely ready to use. How awesome is that?

Our first test was to use it how we normally use queso fresco when we have it on hand: crumbled atop something. In this case, it is gracing a simple breakfast of memelitas:

The cheese added a very nice lactic and salty element to the salsa atop freshly cooked corn tortillas.

In addition to our traditional uses, this cheese has surprised us with its versatility. It melts much better than we expected, and makes for a very nice quesadilla. Given this, we decided to give it a shot as a pizza cheese. We made a simple Pizza "Margarita" (no, not Margherita - this a Mexican, not Italian cheese after all...)

The result was quite nice indeed.

The cheese-making process is actually quite simple - like many artisanal products, it mostly takes time and a little attention to detail. For recipe guidance I've been using the book Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Delicious Cheeses by Ricki Carroll. It's been a very helpful resource.

For my queso fresco I started with two gallons of organic whole milk. The thing that gives many cheeses their characteristic twang is an active culture that produces lactic acid. I used a freeze-dried version (Mesophilic A) from Leeners.com that you add directly to the milk. Since my milk was homogenized I also added a little calcium chloride to avoid an overly soft curd.

After letting the milk ripen at 90°F for 20 minutes, I stirred in some diluted rennet and let it form a reasonably solid curd - it sets up rather like a custard. Next the curd gets sliced into little cubes and the solids start to release a lot of liquid (the whey).

The cubes release even more whey and shrink significantly while you slowly increase the temperature to 95°F and gently stir them. I was surprised to learn that many cheeses use almost identical ingredients and preparation techniques, but that a few degrees of temperature variation makes the results quite different.

After pouring off as much whey as possible, it's time to salt the curd. The simplest method for ensuring an even distribution is to gently stir it and break up clumps using your fingers.

Because queso fresco is a "pressed cheese", you then need to press it. The compression requires weight, which I improvised like so:

Upon reflection, I like to think of this press as representing my three careers thus far - Microbiology, Epidemiology, and now making good food. The press worked well, apart from a few loud, startling tumbles - one of which sent the cheese flying. Fortunately, no damage was done - we do need a real press, though...

Now that I'm comfortable with the cheese-making process I'm anxious to try my hand at some hard, aged cheeses like cheddar, gouda and maybe a parmesan. But since those take several months to mature, I'm sure we'll be eating lots of tasty queso fresco in the meantime.

Smoked Tri-Tip

2009-04-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

We're getting our first really hot weather here in San Diego, and for us that means it is time to fire up the grill. We had a nice prime Brandt Beef Tri-Tip - a beautiful piece of meat with lovely veins of fat marbled through it.

It was smoked for a bit over an hour over a mix of pecan and hickory to an internal temp around 140°.

This was our first time smoking Tri-Tip. Wow, was it good!

The frenzy of the slicing was exceeded by the frenzy of the eating...

Lamb Meatball Tagine Pizza And Other Cross-Mediterranean Explorations

2009-04-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

I find myself endlessly fascinated by the various cuisines of the world. On the one hand I am intrigued by their diverse styles and flavors. On the other, I'm often also struck by things that they have in common.

Case in point - the similarities and differences among the foods of Southern Europe and North Africa - the "two sides of the Mediterranean", if you will.

One evening we made a Moroccan Lamb Meatball Tagine:

After my initial reaction (I love it!), I thought about how the tomato base in the tagine reminded me of an Italian pasta sauce (and an Indian curry sauce as well, but that is another story altogether). As is often the case, I was planning another dish while eating the current one (something Sherry finds frustrating).

In this case, the next dish was to use the leftover meatballs and sauce with pasta (taking it to the "North Side" of the Mediterranean). The pasta we used was Campanelle, which is named after its characteristic trumpet shape.

The result was very nice indeed. Probably even more enjoyably than the original dish.

Bolstered by this success, we decided to try using the tagine as a pizza topping. It seemed fitting, since various forms of flatbread are a staple of cultures on both sides of the Mediterranean. Pictured at the top of this post, and below, the resulting pie was wonderful:

We cooked the pizza on the grill, of course. Everything came together in a perfect conglomeration of flavors and textures. I just hope we can re-create it.

And we've got more Lamb "Tagineballs" safely stowed away for whatever other cross-cultural experiment we come up with next.

Lamb Meatball Banh Mi, perhaps? Maybe some tacos? On a breakfast sandwich? In a soup?

We'll see...

Our First Cured Sausages

2009-04-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

Our new meat curing fridge has now officially borne fruit, and I'm happy to report that our first cured sausage is a success!

It is an improvised "Spanish-style" sausage that we first did as a "regular" sausage and later as a smoked sausage. We figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try as a cured sausage.

I'm glad we did.

I find it amazing how the sausages change during the dry curing process - shrinking and darkening, flavors getting concentrated within. They lost over a third of their weight during the 3 weeks of curing, firming up into dense, solid links.

So far we've just been eating it straight-up, sliced thinly. The taste is wonderfully rich, complex and meaty.

We are very pleased with our first cured sausage. It certainly won't be our last - especially since we have some Saucisson Sec that is almost ready...

Pizza Port Belgian Beer Party 2009

2009-03-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

We took the Coaster up to Carlsbad yesterday for the 2009 Pizza Port Belgian Beer Party. Being West-Coast Hopheads, an all-Belgian (from, or in the style of) fest was a bit out of our normal element, but we really enjoyed it.

There were 117 beers available - 25 taps and the rest in bottles. Quite an overwhelming selection.

I was pretty conservative and stuck pretty much to Tripels. Sherry was more adventurous and had mostly sours. I was happy with my choices. Sherry was, too, although everyone else thought she was a bit mad...

Here is the taster glass:

No Belgian beer here, though - we had some Wipeout IPA as a "palate cleanser" while grabbing pizza next door in Pizza Port proper.

Charcuterie - Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn

2009-03-26T12:03:00.001-07:00

It will come as no surprise to those of you who have been following the blog that one of our favorite cookbooks is Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing, by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. When we got the book it was like receiving a personal invitation into the world of magical meats transformed by salt and smoke. It is a comprehensive guide to the subject, easy enough for a beginner to use, and everything we have made from it thus far has been fantastic.

These are a few of our favorite recipes from the book. If you click on a picture or recipe title, you can view a more detailed post on the subject.

Homemade Bacon
The first time we made homemade bacon it was a revelation. It looked beautiful, tasted even better, and wasn't at all hard to make.

Ever since that first batch, we've been making all of the bacon we eat. No comment on how much that is...

Headcheese (Testa)
Not a cheese at all, but rather a pig-face terrine of sorts. Great stuff, whether served as a nice warm slice, or cold on toast.

As an added bonus, the leftover gelatinous stock that you get as a byproduct makes a good base for a take on Pho'.

Pancetta
This was the first recipe we ever made out of Charcuterie. It just requires a simple cure and can dry under conditions that do not require special equipment (or a cellar).

Making pancetta is a perfect way to get started curing your own meats.

Smoked Andouille
We have always loved making sausages, but these were our first ones cooked in the smoker and they remain one of our favorites.

The deep, intense flavor is great all by itself, but it really shines as an ingredient in other dishes (Jambalaya, anyone?)

Smoked Salmon
We've made both cold and hot-smoked salmon from recipes in the book and both have turned our really nicely.

The cure has allspice, bay leaf, cloves and mace. Initially we were a bit skeptical of using such bold flavors, but paired with a mild smoke they work well.

All Quiet On The Cured Meat Front

2009-03-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

What's wrong with the picture above? Well, it is measuring the temperature of the fridge (top) and freezer (bottom) sections of our meat curing fridge. The top number should be more like 55°.

Yep, the fridge stopped working this morning :-(

This wasn't a complete surprise. It actually was dead on delivery. When it arrived, we plugged it in, noted that it was running, and waved goodbye to the delivery guys. A few hours later when the interior had actually increased in temperature, we knew we had a problem.

According to the repair guy, the problem was pretty clear - no freon. He couldn't find a leak, so he filled it up and we hoped for the best. Turns out we only got two weeks out of it.

Our guanciale is done, but our sausages still have a week or so to go. We're trying to figure out the best way to save them.

Update: Fortunately, we were able to get a repair guy to come out this afternoon. At the very least, we should be able to get the fridge back on life support to save the sausages...

Update 2: The freon leak is now (we hope!) repaired. Curing has resumed!

It's Been An Offal Week...

2009-03-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

We purchased a few goodie-bags of assorted organs from Da-Le Ranch a while ago, and finally got around to starting to make use of them this week. Pictured above is a Lamb's Liver dish we cobbled together from recipes in several Portuguese cookbooks.

The liver was marinated in white wine and lemon juice, cooked in bacon fat, sauced with the reduced marinade, topped with the bacon, and served family-style over sauteed onions. We really enjoyed the way it turned out - it had a fantastic depth of flavor.

Another meal had us working with Pig's Heart:

We used a Chris Cosentino recipe for grilled heart with roasted beets and horseradish. It called for beef heart and golden beets (we used red) but I'd guess that Chris wouldn't mind the substitutions - he'd probably just be pleased to see someone cooking heart.

All of the elements came together really well. We had it as a main dish, but it would probably be better as a starter as the beets get a bit overwhelming after a bit.

The next morning, we used some of the leftovers to make a "hearty" breakfast:

This wasn't the first time we've had "offal eggs", and it definitely won't be the last.

We also made a pâté with leftover liver and a bit of heart. We haven't tried it yet, though - we plan to use it for Banh Mi.

We still have Pig and Lamb Kidneys to cook with, but we haven't figured out exactly what we want to do with them yet...

Our New Meat And Cheese Curing Fridge

2009-03-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

Cheapo fridge from Sears Outlet + temperature controller = home curing chamber.

Our temperature controller is a Johnson Controls Refrigerator Thermostat that we purchased from Northern Brewer. The unit gets plugged between the fridge and the power outlet so that it can cycle the fridge on and off to maintain a (reasonably) constant temperature.

We're currently curing some Saucisson Sec (a very basic cured pork sausage) and some Spanish-style sausages that we've enjoyed smoked and are curious to try cured.

Oh, and since we had a pig jowl from Da-Le Ranch, we're taking a crack at some Guanciale.

Fingers crossed!

Cafe Dore - Banh Mi Bi and Banh Mi Dac Biet

2009-03-11T11:12:00.001-07:00

As part of our foray into Southeast Asian cooking, we've started making our own Banh Mi. Given this, we decided that it was quite silly that we had never actually had Banh Mi from a restaurant. Even more silly given that there are a bunch of local options. We just don't get to City Heights very often, which is where most of them are located.

Recently, however, the stars aligned. We had some errands to run in Hillcrest and also needed to drive out to Alpine Brewing Co. to get some of their fantastic Nelson Golden Rye IPA during the small window of opportunity before it was all gone.

Cafe Dore made a good stop along the way.

Not sure what to order, we decided that we could do a lot worse than to try a couple of Kirk's favorites.

Pictured at the top of the post is the Banh Mi Bi. Here it is a bit closer up:

We liked this sandwich a lot. The filling was a nice mixture of translucent, elastic pork skin along with more meaty bits of pork. Add in the generous bunch of herbs and marinated vegetables tucked into a very nice baguette and it was just perfect.

The second sandwich we got was a Banh Mi Dac Biet - a filling of pâté, bbq pork and a couple of types of pressed meat.

I enjoyed this one a lot as well, although not quite as much as the Bi. I'm a real fan of the marinated veggies, and there weren't as many on this one. Still, I'd be more than happy to eat this sandwich on a regular basis.

When we got to Cafe Dore, we weren't quite ready for lunch, so we ended up getting our sandwiches to go. They held up just fine until we were able to dig into them when we got home. At $6 for the pair, this was the best lunch deal we've had in a while.

Cafe Dore
4135 University Ave.
San Diego, CA
(619) 563-3525

Smoked Trout In Olive Oil

2009-03-05T13:44:00.001-08:00

Meet our current favorite breakfast treat. We have been smoking a lot of trout lately, and while it is fantastic all by itself, we enjoy it even more after it has been sitting in olive oil for a few days. The oil takes on the smokey/salty character of the fish to give it a great flavor.

Lately, we've been buying our trout from El Pescador in La Jolla. We have been very pleased with the quality of their fish.

After removing the heads, we season the trout with a quick brine. For three fish we use 3 cups cold water, 6 tablespoons kosher salt, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice, 3 minced garlic clove and a large pinch of allspice mixed up in a plastic bag.

After a 60 minute soak, we rinse them off and let them dry on a rack overnight in the refrigerator. The next day it's on to the smoker for about three hours at a gentle 150-180 degrees over apple and oak.

And this is what they look like when they're done.

Once the fillets have cooled, we peel off the skin and pack the flesh into small mason jars, along with with plenty of extra virgin olive oil. Since we don't do a heat processing step, these aren't really "preserved" so we only make 3 or 4 jars at a time and store them chilled.

When we're in the mood for some smoked trout for breakfast, we just grab a jar out of the fridge. A quick zap in the microwave (on low power - otherwise the olive oil freaks out) is all it takes to make it nice and warm and aromatic.

We like to have it on crackers or thin slices of bread, along with some red onion and tomato.

It makes a pretty darned good addition to a salad, too...

Making The Perfect Hamburger

2009-02-26T14:00:00.000-08:00

Hamburgers can be a controversial subject. Everyone has their favorite burger, and everyone thinks that theirs is the best.

This is our favorite burger, and it is the best.

A good burger starts with good, high fat beef. Recently, we've been making ours with the ground chuck Brandt Beef sells at our local farmers market. If you can't get high quality ground beef, grind your own.

We keep the meat mostly unadulterated - although we do add salt and some onion, chopped small enough that the pieces mostly disappear during cooking.

You can see a pint of beer in the background. Now, I'm not saying that this is an essential part of the process, but then again I'm not saying it isn't...

What is certainly an essential part of the process is the cooking technique. While I love all sorts of things cooked on a barbecue, please keep my burger away from the flame. Burgers should be cooked in a large frying pan or on a griddle, where the fat they release lovingly caresses them during cooking rather than dripping uselessly away into the belly of a barbecue.

Now for the toppings. We like to grill some onions along with the burgers (another way to make use of that nice fat in the pan). Cheese? Yes, please. I'm not ashamed to admit that I usually get American Cheese on a burger when eating out, but we can't quite bring ourselves to buy it for use at home.

These guys were topped with some home-smoked cheddar, which worked just fine indeed...

I can take or leave lettuce on a burger, but I absolutely need tomato and pickle - as much of both as I can stack on and still keep things semi-manageable.

A great burger (cook mine medium rare, please), starts as a thing of beauty but is like a ticking time bomb - as its juices ooze out it begins to self destruct. Your challenge is to eat it before it completely falls apart - a challenge that I, for one, am always happy to accept.

Partial Mash Brewing and an IPA Recipe Modeled After Blind Pig

2009-02-19T17:49:00.001-08:00

Given that a year and a half has now passed since we brewed our last batch of beer, it was clearly time to get the wort boiling again. This time, in our ongoing quest for our perfect IPA, we took a step forward into the world of partial mash brewing.

Partial mash is a technique that allows you to get some of the flexibility and control of all-grain brewing, while still allowing for a kitchen-friendly stove-top boil. Basically, you are moving part way from extract brewing to all-grain by replacing roughly half of your extract with grain.

We bought the malted barley whole at our local brewing supply store, and used their barley crusher to mill it into the form you see above.

The cracked barley gets mixed together with the specialty grains you are using and it all goes into a big mesh bag.

The next step is the mash. For our mash vessel, we used a 3 gallon beverage cooler - perfect for keeping hot water at a reasonably stable temperature for the hour or so the grain is steeping. This size cooler can handle up to 6 pounds of crushed grains in about 8.25 quarts of water. Since the cooler and grains start out unheated, we used 165 degree water, shooting for a target mash temperature of 150-153 degrees.

It's important to lower the bag of cracked grains into the cooler very slowly and prod it with a spoon to ensure that no dry patches of grain are trapped in the center.

Another great thing about the cooler is that the spigot provides an easy way to get the wort out after the mash is complete.

After you've collected the first wort, it needs to be immediately heated to 168 degrees to stop enzymatic activity and keep the sugars fermentable. This is done by pouring the wort into a pot that already contains a small amount of boiling water. You then bring the wort to a boil on the stove top just like you would do for all-extract brewing.

While the first wort is heating, more hot water gets added to the wet grains in the cooler and allowed to sit for another 5 minutes before draining off every drop of this second wort to add to the boil pot.

After all the wort comes to a boil, the timer starts for hop additions.

Remember that only half of our malt bill was grain - the remaining is extract. We prefer to use dry malt extract (DME) for both flavor and color reasons. We use the late extract addition technique - adding the DME (all of it, in this case) at the end of the boil to avoid over-caramelization.

For this beer, we were inspired by Russian River's Blind Pig IPA, and Alpine Brewing Company's clone of it, O'Brien's IPA. Both are fantastically aromatic beers in the San Diego Pale Ale style - although at around 6%abv, they are bit lower octane.

The hops we chose were based on a combination of the sparse info about Blind Pig we were able to find on the web, our personal preferences, and what we had on hand. We used Columbus, Cascade and Simcoe in the boil, and then dry hopped in secondary with all three again, plus some Centennial.

The result was easily one of the best beers we have made. It has a beautiful light-orange color, with a nice, white lacy head. Taste-wise, it is quite dry and hoppy, but with just enough malt sweetness for balance. At 6.3% abv, the alcohol content is right where we wanted it.

Doing a partial mash was not much more complicated than straight extract brewing and it made a big difference in the outcome. Add in the extra flexibility you get with regard to the grains you can use (we're thinking of adding some rye next time) and it has definitely become our brewing technique of choice. Until we go all-grain, that is...

This batch won't last long...

Piggish IPA

Total batch size = 5 gallons; Partial Mash in 3 gallon beverage cooler; ~3 gallon, 60 minute stove-top boil; very late malt extract addition; dry hopped for aroma.
Additional helpful procedural details can be found in "Countertop Partial Mashing" by Chris Colby in Brew Your Own magazine.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 lb 2-Row Pale Malt
1/2 lb 40L Crystal Malt
1/2 lb Carapils/Dextrin Malt
1/2 lb Wheat Malt
4 lb, 1 oz Briess Golden Light Dry Malt Extract (DME)
2 oz Columbus Hops (12.3% AA)
2 oz Cascade Hops (6% AA)
3/4 oz Simcoe Hops (13.2% AA)
1 oz Centennial Hops (8% AA)
1 tablet Whirlfloc
White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast
4 oz corn sugar (for bottle priming)

Hop Schedule:

1 oz Columbus - 60 minutes boil
1/2 oz Cascade - 30 minutes boil
1 oz Cascade - 15 minutes boil
1/4 oz Columbus - 2 minutes boil
1/2 oz Simcoe - 2 minutes boil
1/4 oz Columbus - Dry Hop in Secondary Fermenter
1/2 oz Cascade - Dry Hop in Secondary Fermenter
1/4 oz Simcoe - Dry Hop in Secondary Fermenter
1 oz Centennial - Dry Hop in Secondary Fermenter

Heat 8.25 quarts water to 165 degrees for a target mash temperature of 150-153 degrees. Place the 6 pounds of crushed grain (2-Row Pale, 40L Crystal, Carapils and Wheat) into a large mesh bag. Pour the hot water into the beverage cooler, then lower the grain bag into the water very slowly, pushing and prodding with a large spoon to ensure all the grain is wet (this can take several minutes). Put the lid on the cooler and allow to rest 60 minutes.

While the grains are mashing, heat another 4-5 quarts of water to 180-185 degrees for sparging (rinsing the grains). Near the end of the 60 minutes, heat 2 quarts of water to a boil in your brew pot.

After the first mash is complete, remove the cooler lid and open the spigot to draw off about 2 quarts of wort into a large pitcher. The first draw will likely be cloudy with grain particles; pour it gently back into the cooler over the grain bag to help filter it. Draw off the remaining wort by the pitcher-full and carefully pour that wort into the boiling water in your brew pot; continue until only a trickle of wort leaves the spigot.

Pour about 4 quarts of your hot sparge water over the grain bag in the cooler. Gently lift the bag up and down to thoroughly re-wet the grains (but don't slosh). Cover and let sit about 5 minutes. Use the spigot and a pitcher to draw off all of the second wort and add it to your brew pot. You should have about 3 gallons of wort.

Bring the wort to a boil and add hops according to the schedule. At time zero, remove from heat and add the DME one pound at a time, stirring to dissolve (if needed, return to low heat for a few minutes to help dissolve the extract). Stir in 1 tablet Whirlfloc. Cover and let sit 10-15 minutes.

Move brew pot to an ice bath and cool quickly to less than 80 degrees. Transfer wort to a primary fermenter, straining most of the hops. Add water to reach the 5 gallon mark. Swirl vigorously then pitch the yeast.

Ferment in primary for 1 week, then transfer to secondary and dry hop with 1/4 oz Columbus, 1/2 oz Cascade, 1/4 oz Simcoe and 1 oz Centennial. Bottle after fermentation is complete (2 to 3 weeks in secondary).

Ba Ren Szechuan Restaurant

2009-02-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

Recently, I was invited by a friend to join her and a group of others to "go to Ba Ren to eat really, really hot, spicy szechuan food." Mike was jealous, since he'd heard interesting things about the place - sorry Mike, you only get to see the pictures along with everyone else.

The place was a little intimidating initially, since not much English is spoken. I arrived at Ba Ren a couple minutes early and asked about our reservation. I was met with a bit of a blank stare and "reservation??" - which prompted me to dash back outside and await the rest of the group. Once strength in numbers arrived we were hustled to a large table in a side area, as far away from the main dining area as possible. So apparently you can make reservations - just don't expect them to be happy about it.

To start the meal, several of us perused a display case filled with intriguing chilled meat and vegetable dishes near the door. By gesturing to the server manning the station, we managed to procure a somewhat random variety of appetizers to bring back to our table. (I have since read that a selection of cold starters is a typical beginning to a Szechuan restaurant meal.)

The plate on the left holds thin-sliced jellied Pig's Ear on top of sliced Pork Tongue in the back, and another tasty meat of some kind in the front. The other plate holds marinated cucumber spears in the back, a salad of edamame and greens on top, and a really spicy chile-crusted meat of some sort. I'm told that one of the two unidentified meats was a tripe dish called Husband and Wife (at least that's what my friend thought it was), but we're not sure which. I liked the tongue a lot, and was pleasantly surprised by the intriguing crunch of the pig's ear. We've tried using pig ears at home, with much less success (one of the few instances where Fergus Henderson, our guide in these matters, has let us down).

Everything at Ba Ren is served family style which means the bigger group you dine with, the more dishes you get to taste. Along with our two plates of appetizers, we opted for six main dishes and a vegetable for our group of ten.

First up was Sliced Boiled Fish:

The fish was in a dark red sauce with a lot of cabbage and tons of spicy, mouth-numbing whole szechuan peppercorns. Overall it was tasty and not too hot if you avoided some of the peppercorns.

Chicken with Hot Peppers:

This was deep fried chicken pieces served among piles of cut-up dried chile peppers along with the obligatory szechuan peppercorns. It looked like it was going to be very fiery, but I was told that the dried chiles aren't meant to be eaten - they just flavor the cooking oil. I found this dish to be ok, but fairly one-dimensional.

Cut Beans:

Ba Ren's menu isn't always easy to decipher when reading the English translations - "Cut Beans" anyone? It turns out that this was a very savory dish of stir-fried green beans seasoned with plenty of garlic and ginger and only a pinch of szechuan pepper.

Dry-Cooked Lamb:

The spicy, tender lamb was quite nice, especially paired with the crunchy fresh bean sprouts scattered throughout.

Ma Po Tofu:

Simply-prepared with an earthy, slightly pungent red sauce and generous cubes of soft tofu, this was really good over steamed rice. Spicy, but not over-the-top. I think I had thirds of this one.

Braised Duck with Taro:

The braised duck was one of the few dishes without a lot of heat from either chiles or Szechuan pepper. It was rich and flavorful, although a bit challenging to eat since the small chunks were bone-in. While nobody was enamored of the jelly-like taro, the duck was a winner.

As you can tell from most of the photos, my fellow diners were quite patient with me and generally allowed me to get a shot of each dish before everyone started to dig-in. Patient until we started nearing the end, that is, when everyone was enthusiastically and cheerfully eating without much pause. Thus, the meager photo of a morsel of duck on my plate above, and a lone shrimp below.

Crispy Shrimp with Hot Peppers:

These two-bite crispy fried shrimp had both sweet and salty components in the batter and were infused with the tongue-tingling flavor of Szechuan peppercorns.

The shrimp were quite addictive - if there had been anything other than a huge plate of chiles remaining on the shrimp platter I would have helped myself to another!

My friend had visited Ba Ren several times before, and on previous visits she had been served a complementary rice pudding-like dessert. After finishing our meal, one of the members of our group who spoke Mandarin asked about the dessert. The waitress responded (in Mandarin) that she hadn't planned to serve it, as many customers do not want it, but yes, she would bring it out.

To our surprise, this is what we were served:

Chicken Noodle Soup with Pea Sprouts and Sour Pickled Greens (aka Dessert Soup).

This was a really nice, comforting way to restore my spice-abused taste buds. I especially liked the vibrancy of the pickled greens. Later I learned that a clear, mild soup and pickles are traditional endings to a multi-course Szechuan meal. Who knew?

While the restaurant still intimidates me quite a bit, I definitely want to return.

Ba Ren Szechuan Restaurant
4957 Diane Ave (between Clairemont Mesa Blvd & Conrad Ave)
San Diego, CA 92117
(858) 279-2520

Smoked Duck

2009-01-29T20:53:00.001-08:00

This is a tale of two ducks.

We've made smoked duck twice, now, and both times it has been fantastic. It has most definitely earned a slot on our difficult-to-gain-entry-to repeat meal rotation.

The way a duck takes on color during cooking is amazing. Here is a bird going onto the smoker - pristine and white, it awaits the transformation that is about to come:

And the same bird coming off around four hours later:

The slices of moist, flavorful meat make for an almost dizzying array of delicious morsels on a platter.

But what of our tale of two ducks? The first, pictured above, was cooked somewhat less. It resulted in a more rare, dark-colored meat - more like what you would get with a nicely-cooked rare duck breast.

The second was cooked a bit longer. The meat was lighter in color, but surprisingly no less juicy - low and slow has its benefits! The main difference was an improvement in the taste and texture of the fat - while the fat was tasty in the less-cooked duck, it really shined in the more slowly and completely cooked bird.

Regardless of the cooking details (which we will certainly continue to play with), smoked duck is a dish that is here to stay.