The Baltimore Snacker

So Long and Thanks for All The Fish... and Crabs... and Bacon...

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:05:00 +0000

This is it, the final post! The last one of the whole damn blog. It's a weird milestone, but it wasn't a sudden decision. Actually, I decided this somewhere during my madcap overview of state foods, somewhere between Georgia and Illinois (I can’t remember exactly), and well after I realized that I just no longer had the money, time or gas to go back around the Beltway again. But still, after 6 ½ years (exactly - the first two posts were on September 12, 2006), 1,780 posts, 2,977 comments (as of this posting), about 310 recipes attempted (most of which were somebody else's recipes I was interpreting) and about 810 eateries, festivals, markets and food trucks visited, it’s time to pack it in. The “blog fatigue” has taken a strong hold, and just like Ray Lewis (RAVENS W00000000T!!!!!!), Tina Fey (30 ROCK W00000000T!!!!!!) and Benedict XVI (zuh? Er, RAVENS W00000000T!!!!!!), I want to go out on a high.

No, not “I want to go out high”. I want to go out ON A high. Good grief.

I’ve learned a lot these past several years of being part of the Baltimore food blogging community. I’ve tried to winnow that down to a list, with items in no particular order. Some are more particular than others. To wit:

1. There are a lot of good crab cakes in this city. And a lot of bad ones. But the bad ones are usually still better than the ones you find elsewhere.

2. You just can’t buy a stand mixer cheap, even from your favorite thrift store. You just can’t. Don’t do it.

3. You can really smoke pork barbecue in the slow cooker. And in the oven. Beef brisket, too.

4. Eating something you’ve grown is pretty damn satisfying, even if all you got from several broccoli seeds was one head the size of your fist.

5. Restaurants can actually improve, though how much so is debatable.

6. They can also get worse.

7. You don’t have to spend a fortune to get excellent food or service.

8. But you CAN end up spending a fortune and get craptastic service instead.

9. Chinese food in the US is a bit different than it is in the UK or in the Netherlands. Or, especially, in China.

10. You can actually pop sorghum at home. Amaranth, too. And while a dome popper (that rotates the kernels) might be preferable, you can get away with using just a stainless steel stockpot.

11. I now know how to make poi.

12. And sushi.

13. And beer.

14. And New York, New Haven and Chicago style pizzas. I just need to make sure they stay flat.

15. There are some good eats from food trucks. Here and in DC. And LA.

16. Recipes are there for a reason. Use them.

17. And read through them first!

18. That said, so long as you know where to improvise (and what to search for on the internet), you don’t have to follow the recipe to the letter.

19. As much as the woman irritates the hell out of me, I have to admit that Sandra Lee’s heart is in the right place in trying to help home chefs without a lot of scratch make something edible. She doesn’t always succeed (ahem), but at least she tries. To paraphrase Sophia Petrillo, her heart’s in the right place but I don’t know where her brain is.

20. Still, what’s up with those goddamn tablescapes!?

21. Guy Fieri, on the other hand... I have no friggin’ clue why he’s still on TV.

22. Hooray for the people who thought up Restaurant Week. And brewpubs. And Dogfish 90 Minute IPA.

23. I now know that people in South Dakota deep fry raw beef and eat it on toothpicks. That’s about as All American as you can get.

24. I have grown an appreciation for wine, but I will always be a beer person at heart. Double IPA please, only one if I have to drive somewhere, and only water until I can drive.

25. Oh yes, don’t drink and drive.

26. Homemade tomato sauce has totally ruined the stuff in a jar for me forever. No high fructose corn syrup! (Seriously, look at the ingredients the next time you buy store bought.)

27. Locally sourced really does taste better than the stuff they ship 2,000 miles across three time zones just so we can have cauliflower out of season.

28. Sometimes all you want is a nice, juicy hot dog. Without bacon. That’s right, I said “without”.

29. Yes, I love bacon, don’t get me wrong. But everything in moderation. If you have bacon all the time, it’s not special. (Didn’t Margaret Cho say that once?)

30. That said, this blog has re-introduced me to the pleasures of cooking with bacon grease. In moderation.

31. That Bitchin’ Kitchen show is pretty damn strange, and it rocks.

32. Nigella Lawson has such a great way of phrasing things on her shows and in her cookbooks. It’s such fun to read her.

33. If you have the time to explore food in local places you never get to visit, take it. Otherwise someone raised in Lansdowne won’t find the excellent hot dogs in Dundalk, fried oysters in Edgewood or Chinese and Japanese food in Overlea that he should be discovering (or the pit beef in Lansdowne and Arbutus that folks in Dundalk, Edgewood and Overlea are missing, too - and yes there is also good pit beef in Dundalk and off Route 40).

34. The internet is a great repository for recipes, but there will always be a place for cookbooks.

35. I wish there were more people out there like Jolene Sugarbaker, the Trailer Park Queen. Someone at LOGO get her a cooking show, dammit.

36. Seriously, what is up with this ridiculous "throw it up overnight Frozen Yogurt shop" craze? It has to end sometime. So long as the people working all of them find other work. Don't want anybody out of a job.

37. It's El-li-KIT City, not El-li-COT City! Jeez Louise, people.

38. A few things I regret not having blogged about these past few years:

Jamaican food, particularly jerk chicken
The Charleston, though that one is because I could not afford it. Still can't afford it. Likely never will. Wah waah.
How to steam crabs. Sure we all know how to do that here, but I never actually got around to writing an actual how-to post.
The Museum Restaurant, now snuggled in the former space where the Brass Elephant used to be.
More family recipes, and maybe an exploration of the hallowed Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery.
More posts about food, food production and nutrition writing. I've read and/or listened to on audiobook more than a few lately that really deserve more of a mention on a site like this one:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and family
The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentleman Farmers by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
The American Way of Eating by Tracie MacMillan
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (also been meaning to check out Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation. That one's next on the bucket list).

39. This city needs more Ethiopian restaurants. And Nigerian ones, too. And barbecue joints.

40. If you want an array of free cookbooks, go to the Book Thing in Waverly. Not just cookbooks but any books: you can take your old books that you don't want anymore and take home with you whatever you want. Granted, the selection skews towards the older stuff (hello, cookbooks for 600 watt microwaves from the early 80's), but it's still a fascinating bevy of cookbooks.

41. You want the essence of "Smalltimore"? When you are out with your friends getting pizza at Iggie's and you see a member of the Ace of Cakes show outside the window, then you mention it on the blog, and then she comments afterwards! Please keep rockin' this town, Mary Alice, and all y'all at Charm City Cakes. That's Smalltimore.

And that’s it. I can’t really sum up 78 months worth of posts in one post much less one paragraph, so I’m not even going to try. But I will say that I have met a lot of interesting and talented people in this Baltimore food blog community, and made friends and shared experiences I am lucky to have. Keep reading their food blogs, because they have forged into directions I had only thought about once in a long while, and many have been able to profit off of the experience (some of them have actual books you can buy now). I am horrified at the thought of forgetting somebody and not going back to correct it, with this being in my final post and all. So instead I thank all of you in the Baltimore food blog community as a whole. Y’all are awesome (yes, I meant "awesome" :D ), and you make me hungry.

I finish the blog very fortunate to have even had the money to do this. There are so many people in this country and in this world who just go hungry, who don't have access to anything healthy and have to worry about whether or not to buy food for themselves and their families, and here I am blogging about what I ate last week downtown. Reflecting on that kind of puts some things in perspective for me.

I’ve also learned (in large part on my own) a lot that I did not know, and probably would not have made the time to know were it not for this blog. Eats around the Beltway that the food reviewers don’t often look at when they’re focusing on the finer and kitschier dining options in the city. Specific foods in specific parts of the country that I’d never even known existed (from three different kinds of Native American frybread, to what a New York chocolate egg cream actually is, to how to make an honest-to-goodness sabayon for your Seattle sea scallops, to how long it actually takes to boil crawfish Louisiana-style). Ditto for the world (from Papua New Guinea to Tanzania to leading 2010 World Cup contenders. I’m looking at you, Uruguay). The variety of festivals in the Baltimore area that are a cheap way to explore the area’s cultural diversity (and food), the original motivation for this blog in the first place back when it started as the Charm City Snacker. The silliness of live-blogging a cooking competition show in real time, MST3K-style.

And of course, this:

Ah yes, Aunt Sandy's infamous Kwanzaa cake video. You didn’t think I’d end the blog without slipping that in one more time, did you?

I am incredibly lucky to have undergone this experiment, and I thank everyone who has been a fan these past 6 ½ years, and the hardworking people who make and serve the food I’ve talked about.

So what does the future hold for me? Danged if I know. Work, family, hopefully some romance here and there, definitely some food. I will say this: I am heading to New Orleans for a conference in May and getting some delicious food there, and hopefully in my down time seeing the Southern Food & Beverage Museum (particularly their Maryland exhibit - they do indeed have one). Plus I’ll be eating locally and growing locally more often than I have in the past. Most exciting, however, is a trip to Dublin for my birthday (the one in Ireland). I normally would not do this or even bother to scrounge up the money, but it’s one of those "big" birthdays and I wanted to do something special. Again, I’m incredibly thankful and lucky that I even get to do this.

Apart from all that, I will just continue cooking food, growing food, investigating recipes from my own backyard and from around the world, but without telling cyberspace about it (alright, I might mention a few of these things on Twitter, but not on here). Before I decided to finish the blog, I got a hold of my Great Great Aunt Florence’s old recipe book. I had thought of working through each recipe and seeing how it turned out (there are two crab cake recipes in there, plus one for a Dream Whip Cake). Maybe I should write a blog about it?

Nah, done that already ;)

And so, this is John, signing off for the last time. Don't worry - I'm not taking the blog down. It's staying up for the foreseeable future, and probably longer than that. I will check and moderate the comments for a while and maybe add a few jump breaks to some of the longer posts (now that they've bothered to add that capability when I need it the least). Oh, and I should direct you to the newly-indexed State-by-State page to the right. But I’m not posting anymore. Seriously, I’m done. I am pooped. I will miss this blog, but I’m really looking forward to missing it. And finishing it. Really.

Now what better way to finish than with one of those crazy food haiku?

Time to close up shop.
Bawlmer Snacker is complete.
Now, what’s for dinner? :)

(No the smiley face doesn’t count as an extra syllable! It’s still a haiku. Sheesh.)

Revisiting: My First Restaurant Review

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:52:00 +0000

For my last restaurant post (and my penultimate post of all), I went back to Tapas Teatro. I used to go here often but sadly have not gotten around to this place lately. It hasn't changed: still bustling, still ready with the delicious sangría, still with a dizzying array of tapas for the hungry theater-goer (or the guy who stumbles in off the street).

I re-read my first Tapas Teatro post from way back in September of '06 before heading there, and I have to admit: I like how my writing style has evolved (specifically away from the style I used to write in). I don't know. It does seem like I'm being extra-descriptive, something I really don't bother to do anymore. An example from that post:

When the waiterss came back, I ordered a Guiness [sic] (a favorite beer of mine) and one of my favorite dishes, their battered fried vegetables. A little bit about these veggies: the chefs take onions, eggplant and asparagus and fry it in what seems like a tempura-like batter. The chefs at Tapas Teatro then serve it up hot with a spicy, smooth mango-jalapeño salsa (actually, it's more like a jelly), with pieces of red pepper on the sides. The presentation on a square white plate is also gorgeous.

After another wait, in which I was brought some Italian bread with olive oil mixed with softened baked garlic (mmmmm, garlic), the waitress brought out the veggies and my beer. I bit into the onion first. It was a little soggier than usual, but still tasty. Everything else was nice and crispy, not soggy at all (well, as not soggy as fried eggplant can be). And the sweet and spicy salsa was a perfect complement.

I can't explain why but I want to smack the guy who's writing this. But then again, I've always been self-critical.

Well, my tastes have definitely evolved since then. I've switched form Guinness in a bottle to the much hoppier craft beers (mmmmm, hops). But I admit that I was a little bit disappointed when I didn't see that same tempura veggie dish on the menu. I was looking forward to that. Not a big problem, mind you, since what I ordered along with my friend Eric (sadly the hubby is out of town) was still very good.

So what did we eat during this visit?

True to form, we ordered a variety of things. We started with the fritura de mariscos plate, a bevy of tender and wonderfully crunchy fried calamari, bass and shrimp. Normally I might just order this one thing and that would be enough for me. But no, there was more.

For a little bit of red meat, I ordered the bistec a la brasa, a small but juicy piece of Angus beef with a "piquillo pepper sauce" and a parsley aioli. I don't eat too much in the way of steak, so this was an indulgence for me.

Believe it or not, my favorite part of the meal was something I don't particularly enjoy: fennel. I have nothing against it, but I just don't usually find very inspired versions of it. However, this fried fennel with garlic aioli was a nice surprise: crispy and even a little juicy with a flavorful crunchy breading. The aioli was a delicious sauce to go with it. Alongside this dish was the remolachas dish, made of beets and arugula on top of chêvre. Again, delicious.

Not pictured was our final dish, the plato de España: an arrangement of different Spanish cheese, sausage and ham: Manchego, Cantimpalo and jamón serrano. This was a nice way to end our dinner - no dessert for us, as we were just too full. And this was also a lovely way to end this blog: one final post about a restaurant I haven't gotten to in ages, and am reminded why I need to get there again.

There we go, my last normal post. There is just one left, and it's going up tomorrow!

Revisiting the Beltway: One Last Trip around 695 (for the blog, that is)

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 11:06:00 +0000

As you may know, I finished the State-by-State project I've been posting up here every Sunday morning for the last few years. For my final Sunday post, I have decided to revisit a previous project one last time: my Snacking around the Beltway series. Due to crazy gas prices (which haven't really abated) and a total lack of time - in part exacerbated by said new project that lasted the last couple of years - I stepped away from it after examining every few exits around the Glen Burnie section of the Beltway (more or less Exits 1 - 8).

For this post, I summarize a few key spots I have visited throughout the rest of the Beltway. Yes, I'm squeezing Exits 9 through 44 into one longish post. This is, I admit, an inadequate way to finish it up, but it is better than nothing.

As I did in my January 18, 2009, Final Assessment post of the original series, I will again divide the Beltway up into six sections:

the "Glen Burnie" section of the Beltway (south, Exits 1 through 8A) - I've already explored this one in more detail, so I'm not really coming back to it in this post.
the "Catonsville" section (southwest, Exits 9 through 16B)
the "Pikesville" section (northwest, Exits 17 through 22)
the "Towson" section (north, Exits 23A through 30B)
the "Essex" section (northeast, Exits 31A through 38B)
and the "Dundalk" section (southeast, Exits 39 through 44)

This will not be a sweeping assessment of eats around the Beltway - I am exploring one, maybe two at the most, restaurants in each aforementioned section. But these few restaurants hopefully do show the diversity of old and new eats off the Beltway, and will encourage you to further explore for ones I left off on your own.

The Glen Burnie Section (south, Exits 1 through 8A)

As I said, I have a few posts about Beltway eats in Anne Arundel County. I will refer you to those, with one caveat: the Afghan place across the street from the Glen Burnie MVA is now a Hip Hop Chicken (map here). I haven't visited it yet.

The "Catonsville" section (southwest, Exits 9 through 16B)

It's kind of silly to say I've "revisited" this part of the Beltway. This is where I grew up: Lansdowne, which was home for my first 20-odd years, and Arbutus, Catonsville and such, where I got to (and still go to) frequently. That said, I haven't really visited the newish eating establishments here lately: the new Middle Eastern place in Arbutus (Punjab Kabab & Sweets, map here), the frozen yogurt place along Maiden Choice (And what is up with this new fro yo trend? Seriously, I don't get it), and the new Lansdowne Station shopping center, home to a Boardwalk Fries, an Italian place (Three Brothers of Lansdowne, the only Baltimore location of sixteen across the state; map here) and, notably, a new Chinese/American/sushi buffet. That last part - sushi buffet - should send shivers down anyone's spine.

The place in question is the Teppanyaki Grill Supreme Buffet (map here) off Exit 10, near the Office Depot. My mother told me that she took my sister here a few months ago and thought it would be a nice place to go get a sit-down meal. Not nice as in "dressy" nice, but nice as in "Oh, you don't see us so often, it would be nice to spend some more time with you, and your sister liked this place" (full disclosure: my youngest sister, in her 30's, has autism, and it's not easy to find places that she likes beyond a set few places, so for her to like any place with Chinese food is in itself amazing to my family).

The place isn't my idea of "inviting": despite the many tables and booths, it seems quite crowded. The mostly dimly lit interior doesn't help on that score. Certainly though, the people there seemed to enjoy themselves, particularly the children's birthday party in the separate (and loud) meeting room next to the dessert buffet.

The Teppanyaki Grill has a bevy of the stuff you'd expect to find at a Chinese/Japanese buffet: various fried "Chinese" things, some maki rolls on ice which seemed freshly made at least (with massive amounts of wasabi sitting next to them), a section of "American things" just in case your stubborn Uncle Floyd won't eat "Asian" stuff, and large salad and dessert bars in case you are ever-so-slightly tempted to eat something healthy.

Yum.

For the price, however, this can't really be beat: all-you-can-eat for all of $7.19 plus tax ($10.39 for dinner instead of lunch; kids eat for less and very young kids eat for even less). That said, it is a buffet, and as massive buffets go it is pretty average. You may be thinking "Well what did you expect?" In a word: this. I expected what I got, so I wasn't exactly disappointed. But all the same, I don't usually enjoy this sort of thing, so I probably won't head back. It didn't make me sick - that was a plus.

Thank God, that had me worried for a second.

The "Pikesville" section (northwest, Exits 17 through 22)

So much to choose from, so little time... And money...

Unfortunately I don't get around to Pikesville much these days. The last time I visited was to hit up the Seven Mile Kosher Supermarket off Exit 20 (map here) for some matzah meal a year or so ago. A few years before that, I was a panelist at the Great Tastes food show, as one of many panelists discussing food blogging in Baltimore. I had mentioned that I was hopeful that Baltimore would see an increase in the number of West African restaurants in the area, since Charm City is fortunate to have a relatively large and increasing Nigerian-American (and overall West African) community. Afterwards, somebody suggested to me that I try out Peju's Kitchen and Lounge off Exit 17 in Woodlawn (map here). I hadn't gotten the chance until recently, when I finally made the trip for take out one night. Actually, it ended up being the very last restaurant I will have visited for this blog. I mean, I don't exactly do these in order here.

Peju's with its large black awning occupies the large corner in the Security Plaza strip mall across from Woodlawn High School. The plaza also features a South Asian clothing store and several halal buffets and groceries, plus a store-front Islamic center, a driving school, a handful of store-front churches and a halal Chinese restaurant (I've heard of kosher Chinese places, but a halal one is new to me, and certainly fills a niche needing to be filled). The slightly rusty (not rustic) exterior of the whole building complex belies the gorgeous warm amber interior of Peju's, which serves not just West African specialties like jollof rice (of course), fufu and puff-puff (the West African answer to the donut. Mmmm, donut), but various Caribbean specialties. The warmly-lit bar and lounge area open onto the main seating area in the interior. In other words, this ain't Teppanyaki Grill Supreme Buffet (see above).

Since I was out running errands and had to get home, I opted for take-out. Though my eyes alighted on Caribbean specialties like jerk chicken and curry vegetable dishes ($10 each, more if during dinner), I eventually opted for the more Nigerian jollof rice with beef (also $10, also more if during dinner). The jollof rice was certainly better than my one attempt to make it a few years ago, and I loved the thick tangy, slightly spicy tomato sauce that went with it. The two slightly tough pieces of beef I got had a nice flavor, but clearly they were a side if anything: the star of this meal was the big, heaping mound of soft, tangy jollof rice. A few sweet fried plantain pieces finish off this meal. I will have to go back for more.

The "Towson" section (north, Exits 23A through 30B)

While I hardly get to Pikesville or Woodlawn, I often pass through Towson since I live so close by. The problem here is that I never get a chance to stop anywhere. The downtown Towson area has seen a few new places pop up over the last few years even as places like Towson Commons have shut down. Yes, many old favorites like Kyodai, Kathmandu and Strappazza (just to name a few) are all still in that downtown area. One that has been around for a while but I haven't had the chance to visit until not long ago was the Towson Hot Bagels (map here), recently voted Best Bagel in Baltimore. Is this the influx of New Jersey and New York kids at the University making this assessment? Seriously though, it's an efficient set up. It has to be, since there are so many of these college kids in there! The bagels are indeed good: chewy and filling and lovely. I got an everything with cream cheese the one time I went there with some friends from out of town.

A few storefronts have seen some changes across the street from the library on York Road (map here: they're all close by): the Indo-Chinese place is now straight up Indian (India Cuisine), and I still haven't gotten to the Chinese place next door (The Orient Restaurant) or the 7 West Bistro Grille around the corner, all conveniently nestled not too far from Exits 26 and 27. One place I have gotten to is the Phò Dat Thành (map here), the phò place near the Melting Pot, and one of three in the Baltimore area (with locations in Laurel and Columbia). This once was a "pan-Asian" restaurant serving Chinese, Japanese and Thai food. It finally settled on Vietnamese. While they have various stir fry options available, you will probably want to go for the phò: a good, large standard bowl of phò at not a very steep price.

The "Essex" section (northeast, Exits 31A through 38B)

Sadly, I don't get around to this part of the Beltway that often anymore either. I really should just stop between Exits 38B and 39 off North Point Blvd at the Prima Foods (map here). This is Baltimore's premier stop for all your Greek ingredient needs, including their barrels of olives that you scoop yourself. Closer to Route 7 and CCBC Essex lies places I have yet to get to, notably the Pizza Rustica (map here) at the intersection of ~~crazy and crashy, er,~~ Rossville Blvd and Pulaski Hwy near Exit 35 (seriously, why is that intersection so accident-prone?).

Ever since I last visited for the Beltway Snacking project a few years ago, I knew that Baltimore's favorite pit beef joint - and apparently the über-annoying Guy Fieri's - was in this area. It did not dawn on me just how much closer Chaps Pit Beef (map here) is to 895 than the Beltway, so much so technically it shouldn't really be in this post. But screw it, it's only a few miles away from Exit 35, so it's going in anyway.

For the few Bawlamorons who haven't been to this place - I admit, I was one of them until I went for this post - and for those outside the city who still aren't quite sure what "pit beef" really is, Chaps is not all big and flashing, and is even kind of easy to miss if you're not paying attention. Plus, there isn't a large parking lot. It is one of those places that stays small and puts out a quality product. Okay, a lot of quality products: it's not just pit beef but various types of barbecue. The menu is as complicated as any BBQ joint I've seen in this or other parts of the country. But I went specifically for the pit beef sandwich, medium rare (about $6). The meat is smoky, soft and juicy, and yes, you must bite down to get the slices of pit beef off the sandwich (but hey, that's pit beef for you). Don't forget the many toppings along the window: horseradish, tiger sauce (horseradish mayonnaise), hots and a pickle chip belong on any pit beef sandwich. I can't imagine eating pit beef without horseradish. I just don't want to.

Isn't it better to imagine a nice juicy pit beef sandwich slathered with a big ol' blob of horseradish instead?

The "Dundalk" section (southeast, Exits 39 through 44)

Since family, work and friends are all in other parts of the area, I almost never get to Dundalk anymore. And like with the Rosedale / Hamilton area it is easy to find pit beef in Dundalk. Even easier since Merritt Blvd lost the wondrous Weenie World, one of my favorite hot dog places around the Beltway. In its place is the Bullpen (map here), with the tagline "You can't beat our meat" (errrrrmm...). Like Chaps and the nearby Bada Bing Bada Beef (which I did get to last time), this is also a pit beef and BBQ joint, and I will have to try it out next time I'm back down that way.

As with my much-delayed visits to Peju's and Chaps, I did finally get to the Boulevard Diner (map here). Guy Fieri also stopped by here (my God, how many of these places has Guy Fieri infected with his presence anyway!?) for his DD&D show. The Boulevard is your quintessential diner - nothing much different about that, except for the massive illustration of Ray Lewis (W0000000000T!!!!!) in the entryway. Inside, it's no-nonsense but friendly and quick service. And it has all the diner classics: the Mediterranean stuff, the burgers, the meatloaf, the desserts, and the all-day breakfasts. I hadn't eaten lunch that day but was in the mood for pancakes - not many, but pancakes all the same.

I have my fat group, my carb group and my sugar group!

I got the short stack of two massive pancakes ($5) with two sausage patties (an extra $2). I can't think of much else to say: they were typically tasty diner pancakes. The sausage was a little gristly but nothing I haven't enjoyed eating before. And of course, I bathed the whole thing in butter and syrup, as you are supposed to do with diner pancakes. Yum.

Post-Script

Had I decided to continue the blog - and had gas prices fallen again - I might have liked to get around the Beltway again. I'm not sure I would've had the time, though: the one thing I remembered while doing the research for this post was how much time it took the first time around. So revisiting these various joints around 695 is just something I will have to leave to others. Every exit has something worth eating (and probably something that is best left alone). Search it out, folks. I may not be writing about it, but I will certainly be searching for it nonetheless.

Places I visited

Boulevard Diner (diner) - 1660 Merritt Blvd, Dundalk, MD 21222; Phone: (410) 285-8660

Would I eat there again? Yes
Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Yes, why not?

Chaps Pit Beef (pit beef & BBQ) - 5801 Pulaski Hwy, Baltimore, MD 21205; Phone: (410) 483-2379

Would I eat there again? Yes
Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Yes, and I'd have to

Peju's Restaurant and Lounge (Nigerian / West African / Caribbean) - 1724 Woodlawn Drive, Wodlawn, MD 21207; Phone: (410) 277-9779

Would I eat there again? Yes
Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Sure, especially since it's the only Nigerian restaurant in the area.

Phò Dat Thành (Vietnamese) - 510 York Rd, Towson, MD 21204; Phone: (410) 296-9118

Would I eat there again? Yes
Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Maybe

Prima Foods (market / Greek) - 51 Kane St Baltimore, MD 21224; Phone: (410) 633-5500

Would I shop there again? Yes
Would I go out of my way to shop there again? Sure!

Teppanyaki Grill Supreme Buffet (buffet / Chinese / Japanese / American) - 3551 Washington Blvd, Lansdowne, MD 21227; Phone: (410) 242-5887

Would I eat there again? Probably not
Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Um, no

Towson Hot Bagels (bagels / breakfast) - 16 Allegheny Ave, Towson, MD, 21204, with locations in Timonium and Canton

Would I eat there again? Yes
Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Hmmm...

Places to visit later (though I must leave others to write about them)

The Bullpen (pit beef & BBQ) - 1099 Merritt Blvd, Dundalk, MD 21222; Phone: (410) 288-3529

Hip Hop Fish & Chicken (fried chicken / fast food) - 6604 Ritchie Hwy, Glen Burnie, MD 21061, with various other locations in the area; Phone: (410) 766-1515

India Cuisine (Indian) - 321 York Rd, Towson, MD 21204; Phone: (410) 583-7770

The Orient Restaurant (Chinese / Japanese) - 319 York Road, Towson, MD 21204, with locations in Bel Air and Perry Hall; Phone: (410) 296-9000

Pizza Rustica (pizza / Italian) - 8805 Pulaski Highway, Rosedale, MD 21237; Phone: (410) 682-8640

Punjab Kabab & Sweets (Pakistani / Indian) - 5313 East Dr, Arbutus, MD 21227; Phone: (410) 737-7773

Seven Mile Supermarket (kosher / Jewish) - 201 Reisterstown Rd, Pikesville, MD 21208; Phone: (410) 653-2000

7 West Bistro Grille (American / bar) - 7 W Chesapeake Ave, Towson, MD 21204; Phone: (410) 337-9378

Three Brothers of Lansdowne (pizza / Italian) - 3611 Washington Blvd, Lansdowne, MD 21227, with sixteen locations statewide; Phone: (410) 536-1080

Best Of: Posts

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:02:00 +0000

As I've done with the restaurants I've visited and the recipes I've interpreted and/or created, I tried to hone down my 1,700+ posts into 10 favorites. I failed utterly. So below, in chronological order, are my favorite 25ish posts of this blog. Okay, I know you're thinking "John, damnit, man, winnow this down a bit!" To which I say, "Well, I would but this blog only has a few more days to go, so what the heck, why not do more?" Besides, I've never been all that decisive anyway. So here, in chronological order, are my favorite posts from The Baltimore Snacker.

"Trailer Park Cooking Special with Jolene: Pinto Bean Fudge" (published December 10, 2006) - Why the hell doesn't Jolene Sugarbaker, the Trailer Park Queen, have her own cooking show on LOGO yet? Or at least the Country Music Channel?

A spray of hons - not in the post mentioned below. I just liked the photo.

"Baltimore Festivals: Festival-a-Go-Go! Part III - Honfest" (published June 10, 2007) - Not my most interesting writing, but I am amused by the people I snapped shots of while there.

"Artscape - in haiku" (published July 25, 2007) - My first Artscape trip. / Felt the urge to blog about / it all in haiku. Blogging in poem format has been one of the sillier things I've done, and I get a kick out of it. Other silly notable examples include one memorable trip to Rehoboth Beach (in haiku), one live blog of an episode of The Next Food Network Star season 5 (also in haiku format) and 2008's Great Tastes Show (not in haiku this time, but enclosing rhyme quatrains!)

"Amsterdam Trip Part Vijf: Wagamama" (published March 28, 2008) - Ever since some friends living in London introduced me to Wagamama during a New Year's visit in 2006/07, I've been eager to try them out wherever I can find them. I dragged my friend Jim to the one in Amsterdam when we visited a few years ago. Since then I've been waiting for them to expand their stateside offerings to just more than the three they have in Boston.

"NFNS4 Live-Blogging: Finale!" (published July 27, 2008) - Today we have a ridiculous bevy of cooking challenge shows, from celebrity wanna-be chefs to amazing food truck races to CUPCAKE WARS!!! (the phrase "cupcake wars" should not exist). Way back when there were really only three to speak of - Top Chef, Iron Chef and the Next Food Network Star - I enjoyed snarking over the Top Chef show in live blog format. I enjoyed it so much in fact that I decided one day in June 2008 to do the same to season 4 of the Next Food Network Star. Yes, the same season that gave us Aaron McCargo and his long-forgotten Big Daddy's Kitchen, silly man Adam Gertler and the incredibly perky!!!1! Kelsey Nixon (now on the Cooking Channel, still incredibly perky!!!1! too). And runner-up Lisa Garza? She is a restaurateur in Dallas.

"Rebuilding the Enchanted Forest" (published July 15, 2008) - When I finally got to Clark's Elioak Farm in Ellicott City, a flood of childhood memories came rushing back. So many of the iconic monuments that had once lay decaying Life After People-style somewhere off Route 40 were now in a farm in Howard County that anyone with a few bucks could go visit and recapture some of that youthful magic that Baltimoreans of a certain age lost when the original Enchanted Forest burned down in 1990. Plus there are baby goats, because, well, baby goats. I kid you not.

"Cochinita Pibil" (published August 3, 2008) - Ah yes, that favorite Yucatecan cousin to pork barbecue, which I have eaten so much of in Mexico and the US. I tried to recreate it using a Rick Bayless recipe, with satisfying results.

"Semi-Homemade Halloween Craziness 2008" (published October 27, 2008) - Watch as pseudo-chef-lebrity Sandra Lee dazzles as a bevy of various historical queens for her 2008 Halloween special. Thrill as she gets drunk off crappy cocktail after crappy cocktail, and makes some sort of strange ham ball appetizer. Oh yes, and somehow I interject RuPaul into all of this. She actually topped herself in 2011 with this hour-long Alice in Cray-Cray-Land Halloween special, which I gave the same treatment a year later.

"I should not be allowed into Wegman's, like, ever" (published November 25, 2008) - I got a little pissy after a pre-Thanksgiving visit to Wegman's.

"Snacking around the Beltway - Final Assessment" (published January 18, 2009) - I didn't rank any particular Beltway Snacking post as a favorite. How could I? Each was a piece of a larger project that just can't really be parsed apart. The final assessment is a nice summary of the whole project and really sums up my attitude towards it.

I must have written my best stuff in 2009 from the looks of it...

"Kitchen Experiments: Popping Sorghum" (published March 19, 2009) - Easily my most popular post with those who don't follow me on a regular basis (31 comments as of this writing), it seems like my initial failed attempt to do this attracted a lot of people trying to do the same. All because of Andrew Zimmern's Ethiopia episode of Bizarre Foods. My recent follow up post was much more successful.

"How to Pack Beer and Wine into Your Luggage" (published June 3, 2009) - Back before New Belgium hit the Chesapeake region, I had to resort to this to get it at home. Also works with other beers we can't get back here.

"Georgia on My GPS Part 3: Moon River Brewing Company / Savannah Candy Kitchen" (published June 27, 2009) - Dang, I did a lot of traveling that summer of 2009, didn't I? When I was visiting my sister and her family, now firmly ensconced in Savannah, we hit up the Moon River Brewing Company for some grub. Apparently, it's haunted. I didn't see anything. I was too busy with my microbrew sampler to notice.

"LP Steamers... and several local food bloggers" (published July 26, 2009) - Crabs, friends, colleagues, crabs, oysters, beer, crabs...

"On 'Julie & Julia' and the act of food blogging" (published August 14, 2009) - I think Julie & Julia - the legendary American chef who made French cooking accessible and really the first true food blogger in America - affected a lot of food bloggers in different ways. The post ended up being more about Powell's observations in an article in The Atlantic about how the movie "Julie" is not the real life Julie. She also writes a bit about food blogging being a narcissistic venture. That's not meant in a bad way, but I had to agree with her that it is, in part, exactly that for all of us - otherwise, why write about what you are doing? I still haven't gotten around to making boeuf bourgignon, but that's a task for another day.

"Moon Pie vs Whoopie Pie: The Taste Test" (published October 1, 2009) - The Yankees have truly invaded, as the favorite dessert of Maine has swept across the country in spectacular fashion. I remember prior to 2008 I thought a whoopie pie was some kind of Moon Pie. Maryland is still Moon Pie country, but I had to taste the two to find out the difference. I must admit I have eaten a larger share of whoopie pies since, though a good Moon Pie is rarely something to pass up.

"Bacon Cook-Off: Bacon & Pancetta Wot" (published June 3, 2010) - Thanks to Dara Bunjon for this experience. This was fun. I was in a bacon cooking contest at the Great Grapes Wine Fest with Kathy "MinxEats" Patterson and Kit "Mango & Ginger" Pollard. I combined two things that just don't get seen together - pork in various formats and Ethiopian food (Ethiopians for the most part do not eat pork - not Jewish, Muslim or Orthodox Christian Ethiopians). The result was delicious. I think I came in second or something. I won some wine from Boordy.

"Food Network vs Cooking Channel" (published July 31, 2010) - Here I lay out why I pretty much stopped watching the Food Network and made the switch to the eminently more informative Cooking Channel (both made by the same folks): one emphasizes its personalities, the other its food. Update: I barely watch the Food Network anymore, but often cannot get away from the Cooking Channel. Here's to Nadia, Ching-He and Chuck, and yes even the aforementioned Kelsey the Perky!1!!! and Bobby Dean trying to slim down Mama Paula's recipes.

"Food Truck Crawl on the Miracle Mile in LA!" (published May 25, 2011) Move over, Portland! LA has some awesome food trucks, too, serving up everything from Korean-Mexican fusion tacos to samosas to hot dogs to frybread, and soooo much more. And what better place to shill all this stuff than across the street from the gorgeous LA County Museum of Art?

"Snacking State-by-State: Illinois V - She Fed Me... with Science!" (published June 2, 2011) - I could do a list of my favorite State-by-State posts alone. This project easily lasted about a third of the blog's entire lifespan, and most of the posts in the last year have been specifically tied to this series. Why did I choose this post instead of the one where I bought myself a nice 12" cast iron skillet to make Chicago deep dish pizza (also Illinois), or the one where I peeled crawfish to make a buttery, silky étouffée (Louisiana), or the one where I taught myself how to make poi of all things (Hawaii)? I chose this post because it taught me a thing or two about molecular gastronomy. Using a free sample of tapioca maltodextrin, I turned olive oil into something almost dry and powdery. While this experiment didn't go quite the way it should have, by the time I got to the ensuing mashup recipe I made a truly successful nutella powder. I'm going to have to explore this stuff some more.

"Snacking State-by-State: Maryland I - Crab cakes like mah great-great-aunt used tah make, hon" (published August 28, 2011) - After digging out my Aunt Florence's hand-scrawled ledger book filled with recipes (some were probably not hers, others probably were), I had to try out one of her two crab cake recipes, which ended up tasting just like one my mother ate often as a little girl. And I got to go back in time with food.

"Wedding in Provincetown I: Civil Marriage is a Right" (published September 20, 2011) - Sure, same-sex marriage is now legal right in my own backyard, but my friends Alan & Eric didn't have that luxury when they decided to finally tie the knot a few years ago. They wanted to go to where it all first became legal: the Bay State, and the gayest, most lesbiany city in America, Provincetown. It really was a beautiful wedding in a lovely gay resort I had never visited before, and hopefully can again. But when the time comes (meaning when I land myself a man. Still looking...) I probably won't be going all the way to New England to do it. I won't have to.

I didn't have a lot of favorites from 2012 it seems. A few of those are covered in the recent best of recipe post. But a few of the posts I remember fondly from the last twelve months include:

"Snacking State-by-State: North Carolina I - East Is East, West Is West, Never the Twain Shall Meet" (published March 11, 2012) and "Snacking State-by-State: North Carolina II - It's All About the Lexingtons" (published March 14, 2012) - Out of all the barbecue recipes I've done for the State series and not, I choose these two together because with this I learned how to convert my slow cooker into a food smoker. Honestly, it can be done. This is best for the things that have to smoke for a very long time. You can also transform your oven into a food smoker, as I did for these Kansas City and Memphis ribs (Missouri and Tennessee respectively). Plus, it's pork barbecue!

"Austin City, Unlimited Part I - Of Barbecue and Barbacoa" (published June 5, 2012) - I went to Austin for a conference and came back with a few extra pounds, as would anyone. While I didn't find the heat that bad (Palm Springs in August: now that's bad, and I lived with that sort of heat for several summers in my life), I was happy to get indoors nonetheless and experience some of the delicious Texas barbecue and Mexican / Tex-Mex barbacoa the city had to offer. Someday I will return, Austin, oh yes.

That was difficult - as many posts as I have mentioned above, it was still pretty tough to winnow down the list to just a few of these favorites. But this is a good representative sample of the stuff I wrote that I remember most fondly from these past 6 1/2 years, and it works for me. Besides, this post is long enough as it is.

Best Of: Restaurants

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:38:00 +0000

I have had a lot of great experiences eating out these last few years, and it's difficult to winnow this list down as well. What were my favorite eating out experiences during The Baltimore Snacker? Well, I could not list all of them, but I tried to list about 20-to-30-ish in the Baltimore area (plus a handful of others elsewhere). They're in alphabetical order by type of cuisine, and I try to do one of each type of eating establishment for variety. Also note: yes, I am missing a lot of places, in a lot of neighborhoods. This reflects my favorites. That doesn't mean yours isn't any good. Believe you me, I may not have even gotten to eat at your favorite in all the years I've been writing this blog.

Favorite African: Dukem (Ethiopian - Mount Vernon, with another location in Washington, DC; featured in the post "Dukem #2", published December 17, 2006) - Always a good place for some filling beef wot and lamb fitfit. Get an Ethiopian lager or stout while you're at it.

Honorable mention: The Yabba Pot (vegan/soul food - Station North/Charles Village - apparently it's now closed); Peju's Kitchen & Lounge (Nigerian / West African / Caribbean - Woodlawn); I'm still meaning to try Tam Tam (Senegalese - Rosebank) on York Road.

Favorite African-American/Southern/Barbecue: TIE: Reginald F. Lewis Museum Café (Little Italy/Downtown - first featured in the post "Not a Festival - Reginald F. Lewis Museum", published July 10, 2007) and Miss Shirley's (various locations and food truck - first featured in the post "Food Truck Fight!!!!!", published June 26, 2012) - The café at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History is one of the best museum cafés I've ever eaten at: some of the tastiest fried catfish and macaroni and cheese in the area. As for Miss Shirley's, they have lovely grits, especially with the unexpected addition of mascarpone. Fascinating.

Honorable mention: Andy Nelson's BBQ Restaurant (Cockeysville - surprising enough, I've never blogged about this one either); Blacksauce Kitchen (food truck, often at Waverly farmer's market - not blogged about this one either. I'm slackin'...)

Favorite American/Eclectic/"New American" (the last of which could be anything really, since nobody knows what the hell it means): The Food Market (Hampden - first featured in the post "The Food Market in Hampden") - Chef Chad Gauss used to be at the City Café, which had some wonderful food while he was there. Sure the food there is still pretty good, but Gauss definitely took the best stuff with him to his new Hampden location. It's pricey and super-busy, so go on a weeknight, preferably during Restaurant Week.

Honorable mention: City Café (Mount Vernon); Owl Bar (Mount Vernon); Mount Vernon Stable (Mount Vernon); Rocket 2 Venus (Hampden)

Favorite Baked Goods: Iced Gems Baking (cupcakes - Reisterstown & food truck; first featured in the post "Iced Gems Baking", published May 13, 2010) - Love their English rose cupcakes - with real rosewater, I might add - and their vanilla chocolate, chocolate vanilla and vanilla vanilla offerings.

Honorable mention: Oh What A Cake! (Columbia); Oooh So Sweet (Mount Vernon); SugarBaker's Cakes (Catonsville); Yia Yia's Bakery (Essex)

Favorite Brewpub: Heavy Seas Alehouse (Little Italy - first featured in the post "Random Bites: December Edition", published December 26, 2012) - My sister and her husband just loved this place when they stopped here from Savannah over Christmas. So many good recommendations from the waitstaff, and so many good beers, made right in Halethorpe, I might add.

Honorable mention: The Brewer's Art (Mount Vernon); DuClaw's (various locations, including Arundel Mills, Bel Air and Bowie); Pratt Street Ale House (Downtown); Dogfish Brewpub (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware)

Favorite Burger: Alonso's (Roland Park; first featured in the post "Exit 25: MD-139 (Charles Street, to area colleges)", published February 22, 2008) - This was a tough one to winnow down, and the ones in the "Honorable Mention" category were justthisclose to being at the top. But I have to go with the easy choice: their one pound burger is definitely one to take home and finish later, but it's still a yummy burger.

Honorable mention: So, sooooo many: City Café (Mount Vernon); Gino's (Towson); Marie Louise Bistro (Mount Vernon); Owl Bar (Mount Vernon); Shake Shack (various locations, including Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, and Downtown, Washington, DC); Sláinte (Fells Point)

Favorite Candies: Rheb's Candies (Violetville; first featured in the post "Rheb's Candies", published December 8. 2007) - Family lore has it that my grandmother worked there for a short time in the 50's. Such wonderful candies they have there, all homemade, hon.

Honorable mention: Log Cabin Chocolates (Fallston)

Favorite Central Asian/Middle Eastern: The Helmand (Mount Vernon; first featured in the post "The Helmand", published September 23, 2006) - I wasn't sure how to formulate this category. Where to put the Helmand: South Asian? Central Asian? I settled on this. Or I could just create a category just for Baltimore's favorite Afghan restaurant. Wonderful pilau, shawerma and my favorite dish of course, the kaddo borawni. This was the second restaurant I ever blogged about, by the way.

Honorable mention: The Kabob Hut (Towson), Orchard Market & Café (Parkville), Alladin Kabob (Mount Vernon)

Favorite Chinese (Americanized or otherwise): TIE - Asian Court (Ellicott City - first featured in the post "Asian Court", October 1, 2011) and Golden Gate (Catonsville/Arbutus - first featured in the post "Exits 12B-C - MD-372 (Wilkens Ave., East and West)", published September 12, 2007) - Asian Court is one of the few (but becoming more common) places to find food that would be recognizable as "Chinese food" in China. Wonderful dim sum. Golden Gate is a more Americanized Chinese place, with the reliable old orange chicken (my favorite of theirs), though they, too, are starting to make more "Chinese Chinese" dishes available to the public.

Honorable mention: Mandarin Taste (Towson); Benny Der's Golden Dragon Inn (Randallstown); Zhongshan Restaurant (Downtown)

Favorite Crab Cake: G & M (Linthicum; first featured in the post "G & M", published April 5, 2007) - Yes, I went there. I chose a favorite crab cake place. I've had other good ones in this city but there's a reason why G & M keeps making Top 5 lists all over Bawlmer: big ass crabcake with so little filler it'll amaze you how they got it so big. Complete with cole slaw and those bright red pickled apple slices that are so ubiquitous in Charm City.

Honorable mention: Faidley's (Lexington Market); Lansdowne Inn (Lansdowne - No, it's not the best crab cake, but it holds a very special place for me since my father often walked there from the house to get himself and Mom crab cakes. Again, not the best crab cake in the area, but they are a sentimental favorite of mine. Plus we held Dad's wake there after his funeral. We had spaghetti that time though. Again, sentimental favorite.).
Avoid: Royal Farms Crab Cake (seriously, Royal Farms?)

Favorite Deli: Attman's Delicatessen (Little Italy/Corned Beef Row - first featured in the post "Trekkin' around Little Italy and Corned Beef Row", published October 13, 2008) - A Bawlmer institution that I've been lucky to know since childhood, when my father would drag my sister and I there to get a few pounds of kosher dogs, lots of bologna and corned beef. Oooooh, I can still taste it.

Honorable mention: Trinacria Foods (Downtown); Pastore's Delly (Parkville)

Favorite Diner: Towson Diner (Towson - first featured in the post "Exit 26A and B: MD-45 (York Road, to Lutherville and Towson)", published March 6, 2008) - Snappy, friendly service and good, filling pancakes, Reubens and the like. Still haven't ventured to try the mile-high cakes yet. So much cake.

Honorable mention: Bel-Loc Diner (Parkville); Broadway Diner (Highlandtown); Boulevard Diner (Dundalk)

Favorite Farmers' Market / Local Food (Farm-Affiliated) Store: 32nd Street Farmers' Market (Waverly; first featured in the post "Waverly Farmers' Market", published June 7, 2008) - Open every Saturday (except, maybe, in a snowpocalypse), they've got good stuff there - not just the myriad of fresh veggies and fruit but so much more! Everything from buffalo (Gunpowder Bison) to meat pies (Curry Shack) to milk, butter and so on (South Mountain Creamery).

Honorable mention: I-83 Farmers' Market (Downtown); Broom's Bloom Dairy (Bel Air); Gunpowder Bison (Monkton)

Favorite Gay/Lesbian Bar: The Club Hippo (bar/gay & lesbian - Mount Vernon; first featured in the post "The Hippo", published October 11, 2006) - With a wide selection of beers on tap (DeClaw, Dogfish, New Belgium, Leininkugel, Shiner, Natty Boh, all the usual suspects) plus a big dance floor (that I never use 'cuz I can't dance, and don't ask me) that doubles as the scene for many a drag or leather competition, this is my go-to place in Mount Vernon. See it fill up Monday nights for RuPaul's Drag Race or Wednesday nights for BINGO!

Honorable mention: Grand Central (across the street - are we really everywhere or just at the corner of Charles and Eager?); Nellie's Sports Bar (Shaw/U Street, Washington, DC); DC Eagle (Washington, DC)

Favorite Hot Dog: Haute Dog Carte (hot dogs - Mount Washington; first featured in the post "Haute Dog Carte", published September 3, 2010) - Hands down. Just the "regular" dog is special enough, but those special dogs? Oh my.

Honorable mention: Ann's Dari-Creme (Glen Burnie); Weenie World (Dundalk - now closed)

Favorite Indian/South Asian: Indigma (Mount Vernon; first featured in the post "Indigma", published September 2, 2007) - Oh, this was a tough one. There are so many good Indian places in and around Baltimore these days it's difficult to choose. But you gotta hand it to Indigma: they suffered a massive fire and bounced back bigger than ever. Their buffet is one of the most interesting, though not terribly pricier than the others.

Honorable mention: Mughal Garden (Mount Vernon); Mango Grove (Columbia); Indian Delight (Catonsville); Kathmandu Kitchen (Nepalese - Towson); Alladin Kabob (Mount Vernon)

Favorite Irish Pub: Sláinte Pub (pub/Irish - Fells Point; first featured in the post "Sláinte Pub and the Amazing Last Minute Goal", published June 23, 2010) - Yes I go there for the soccer. And I stay there for the food (Irish bibimbap and Friday $1 oysters, anyone? Plus their fish and chips are definitely worth a look or two) and the Guinness. They do have other beers, too.

Honorable mention: Mick O'Shea's (Downtown); An Poitín Stil (Timonium)

Favorite Italian (non-pizza): TIE: Sotto Sopra (Italian/Sardinian - Downtown; first featured in the post "Sotto Sopra", published June 13, 2008) and Chiapparelli's (Little Italy - last featured in the post "Tidbits: Boys of Summer Edition", published August 29, 2010) - Have had very good service in both places. At Sotto Sopra the food is real Sardinian home cookin'. Can't afford Opera Night, but I try to eat cheap anyway. Chiapparelli's for Restaurant Week is also a beautiful thing.

Honorable mention: SOOOO many! Amicci's (Little Italy); Vaccaro's (various locations); Saint Anthony Festival (Little Italy, held every August); Grano (Hampden); Birroteca (Hampden/Clipper Mill)

Favorite Japanese: Minato (Japanese - Mount Vernon; featured several times, including "Minato the Threequel", published September 1, 2007) - My go-to place for sushi and friendly service. Their Maryland roll is fascinating, especially on $7 special maki roll night. Try not to miss happy hour.

Honorable mention: Chiyo Sushi (Mount Vernon); Chiu's Sushi (Harbor East); Sushi Hana (various locations); Kyodai Rotating Sushi Bar (Towson)

Favorite Korean: Jong Kak (Korean - Koreatown/Charles Village; first published in the post "Jong Kak", published April 20, 2008) - My friends and I don't even have to say where when one of us suggests "Korean". The barbecue is always filling and flavorful, the pajeon never too greasy, and the panchan goes well with a nice crisp bottle of Hite beer.

Honorable mention: Honey Pig (Ellicott City); Nam Kang (Koreatown/Charles Village); Suzie's Soba (Hampden)

Favorite Local Grocery Store, Hon, Ethnic or Otherwise: Geresbeck's (supermarket - Middle River; first featured in the post "A Dangerous Love Affair with Geresbeck's Bakery", published October 18, 2007) - Their cakes are just wonderful, and the smearcase is legendary. And don't forget some chocolate top cookies. Yes, I'm specifically raving about their bakery here. Yum.

Honorable mention: Eddie's of Roland Park / Mount Vernon (Roland Park and Mount Vernon); Graul's Market (various locations); Punjab Groceries & Halal Meat (Waverly); Milk & Honey (Mount Vernon)

Favorite Mexican: TIE: El Nayar (Catonsville and Elkridge - first featured in the post "El Nayar", published June 16, 2009) and R&R Taquería (Jessup/Elkridge - first featured in the post "Random Bites: December Edition", published December 26, 2012) - It's tough to find authentic Mexican in this area, but thankfully it's becoming easier! El Nayar's taco plate is some of the more authentic I've had in the area, while R&R has the best cochinita pibil in Baltimore hands down.

Honorable mention: El Salto I and II (Brooklyn Park and Parkville); La Tolteca (Bel Air and Churchville); Tortillería Sinaloa (Fells Point); Mari Luna (Mount Vernon and Pikesville)

Favorite Pit Beef: Chaps Pit Beef (Armistead Gardens/Hopkins Bayview - I have not yet blogged about this, though watch this weekend) - Yes, we should bow to the king here - Chaps Pit Beef is a local legend, and it should be: wide selection of pit beef and BBQ, though I have to zero in on the pit beef. Just plop some horseradish and "tiger sauce" on it and a little bit of hots. Woh-ho-ho. Lansdowne is really getting built up these days. But right near the new Wal-Mart and the Home Depot is a long-standing SoWeBaltCo (Did I just make up a new term?) tradition: that wonderful little pit beef truck with juicy pit beef and lots of horseradish and barbecue sauce to go with. If only I was in the area more often when it's there.

Honorable mention: Pit beef truck (Lansdowne - again, a sentimental favorite of mine); Bada Bing Bada Beef (Dundalk - first featured in the post ); Wild Wolf Beef Shack (Arbutus)

Favorite Pizza/Pizza and Subs: Vito's Pizza (Cedarcroft/Lake Walker; first featured in the post "Vito's Pizza", published April 8, 2009) - Good pizza of all kinds, since the owner - from Naples - knows what he's doing. Delicious.

Honorable mention: Pasta Mista (various locations, including Canton and Towson - New Yorkers who live down here swear by it); Iggie's (Mount Vernon)

Favorite Tapas/Small Plates: 13.5% Wine Bar (Hampden; first featured in the post "13.5% Wine Bar", published August 24, 2009) - A job hunt at the time didn't deter me from one of my favorite Hampden eateries. Their wall o' wine is intimidating unless you just stick to cocktails or beer. They have wonderful selections of cheese, pizzas and many different finger foods.

Honorable mention: Tapas Teatro (Station North/Charles Village - this was, in fact, the very first restaurant I ever blogged about).
Avoid: La Tasca (Inner Harbor- warmed-over frozen mixed veggies from a bag - yum. Easily the most bleh, half-assed tapas I have ever had. But that's what I get for eating at a chain restaurant in the most touristy part of the city)

Favorite Thai: Thai Restaurant (Waverly; first featured in the post "Thai Restaurant", published April 14, 2010) - the fried crab wings (yes, crab wings) alone are reason to go there. The pad thai is good but explore their many other offerings, will ya?

Honorable mention: Thai Café/Thai-Gour Café (Glen Burnie); Thai Landing (Mount Vernon); Thai Heaven/Thai Paradise (Catonsville)

Favorite Vegetarian/Vegan: Mango Grove (Columbia; first featured in the post "Mango Grove", published February 16, 2008) - It's not often I will go out of my way to eat vegetarian food, but when I do, I prefer Mango Grove. Two words: bread pakora. And the dosa? Lovely.

Honorable mention: One World Café (Homewood/Roland Park - try those vegan carrot cake muffins); The Yabba Pot (Charles Village)

Favorite Vietnamese: Pho Miss Saigon (Glen Burnie - first featured in the post "Exit 3B - MD 2 South (Ritchie Hwy to Glen Burnie)", published June 11, 2007) - Good filling phò and not that pricey.

Honorable mention: Mekong Delta Café (Downtown - Seemed to be closed for a while but now it's back open); Pho #1 (Woodlawn); Phò Dat Thành (Towson); Saigon Remembered (Belvedere, er, Timonium)

Favorite Wine/Beer/Liquor Store: The Wine Source (Hampden; featured several times, including "Baltimore Beer Week Continues...", published October 14, 2009, "Get this wine - but I DARE you to close it back up!", published July 14, 2008), and "Sake, Sake Everywhere (Post #999)", April 17, 2009) - They have always been so knowledgeable about any wine that this non-wine person might ask about. Wondrous selection of beers, too. Also sample the cheese and charcuterie section while you're there.

Honorable mention: Beltway Fine Wine & Spirits (Parkville); Wells Discount Liquors (Cedarcroft/Lake Walker); Honeygo Wines and Spirits (White Marsh); The Wine Market Shop and Bistro (Locust Point)

Also worth noting...

Favorite Dearly Departed Restaurant: Zodiac Restaurant (American - Station North [now closed]; last featured in the post "Last Call at the Zodiac", published August 9, 2008) - For a quick bite before a show at the Charles Theatre or (now relocated) Everyman, I loved this place for its goofy decor, its line of vegan desserts and very non-vegan entrées (I so fondly remember their hamburger, and the mashed potatoes even more so), and its apparent hauntings which I had never experienced. Since they shut down operations in 2008, apparently the Club Charles next door carries some of their same menu offerings. The Zodiac still exists, though not as a restaurant: it's now a comedy club. Maybe that ghost is having fun pushing patrons down the stairs again?

Favorite Coddies: I hate coddies. Never liked 'em. I have no favorites. There, I said it.

And now, just a handful of favorite eats out in other parts of the country and the world...

Aroma (Chinese/Malaysian - Soho, London, England, UK; featured in post "Aroma", published January 6, 2007)

BCD Tofu House (Korean - various locations, including Los Angeles' Koreatown; featured in the post "From Bulgogi Tacos to Avocado Salsa: A Day of Eating in LA", published May 26, 2010)

Bojo (Indonesian - Leidesplein, Amsterdam, Netherlands; featured in post "Amsterdam Trip Part Drie: Little Bites Here and There", published March 25, 2008)

Bool BBQ (Korean/Mexican - food truck, Los Angeles; featured in the post "From Bulgogi Tacos to Avocado Salsa: A Day of Eating in LA", published May 26, 2010)

Casa Maya (Mexican/Yucatecan/Maya - Mentone, California; first featured in the post "Casa Maya", April 7, 2007)

The Castaway Restaurant (American/brunch - San Bernardino, California; first featured in the post "Easter Sunday Eatin' Part 1: Castaway of San Bernardino", published April 9, 2007)

Duplex Diner (American/gay and lesbian - Adams Morgan, Washington, DC; featured in the post "Adams Morgan for Capital Pride", June 17, 2011)

Meskerem (Ethiopian - Washington, DC; first featured in the post "Day at the Smithsonian / Meskerem (or, "Hey, where did all the Ethiopian restaurants go?")", published December 31, 2008)

Moon River Brewing Company (brewpub/American/Southern - Savannah, Georgia; first featured in the post "Georgia on My GPS Part 3: Moon River Brewing Company / Savannah Candy Kitchen", published June 27, 2009)

Pig & Fish (pub/American - Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; first featured in the post "Tidbits: Rehoboth in August Edition", published August 6, 2011)

Rudy's Barbecue (barbecue - Austin, Texas; first featured in the post "Austin City, Unlimited Part I - Of Barbecue and Barbacoa", published June 5, 2012)

Shake Shack (hamburgers/shakes - most locations in New York, New York, with locations in Washington, DC, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; first featured in the post "Weekend in New York: The Food", published July 17, 2009)

Wagamama (Japanese/ramen - various locations, mostly in the UK and continental Europe, with three stateside locations, all in Boston, Massachusetts; featured in several posts, including "Wedding in Provincetown Part II: Back to Boston", published September 23, 2011)

Best Of: Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:24:00 +0000

It's difficult to winnow down a list of what seems like hundreds of recipes, mostly not from my own brain, down to just a few. As I will do with my favorite restaurants and favorite posts over the next week, I will try to do just that. I wanted a top ten but the smallest list I could make up was twenty. Plus, I still feel as if I've left out way too much.

In alphabetical order, here are my twenty favorite recipes of the blog, plus one or two that I never wrote about to begin with. Very few of these are my own recipes, but when they are I'll note it.

Allergen-Free Crumb Cake (American/allergen-free - featured in the post "Food Ethnography on a Budget: Allergen-Free III: Crumb Cake", published March 23, 2010) - I don't have any food allergies that I know of, but when I wanted to see how those with them do eat our favorite desserts, I was struck at how amazingly buttery a crumb cake can be without butter, eggs, milk, gluten, soy or tree nuts. Check out Cybele Pascal's Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook for this recipe. Your friends will probably never know it's allergen-free at all.

Asado (Uruguayan - featured in the post "World Cup Buffet: Asado (URU - Uruguay)", published July 5, 2010) - I'm unfamiliar with the foods of South America. What better time to familiarize myself with them than the World Cup? While the next one doesn't come up for another year and a half (hello, Brazil!), at least we can revel in the magic of Uruguay's 11th trip with one of the country's favorite things: meat. I still haven't bothered to find the recipe for suprema Maryland, a type of milanesa-style chicken found, surprisingly enough, in Uruguay.

My Aunt Florence's Crab Cake (Chesapeake - featured in the post "Snacking State-by-State: Maryland I - Crab cakes like mah great-great-aunt used tah make, hon", published August 28, 2011) - For a short while, I wanted to do a new blog project after the state-by-state one where I wrote about my experiences interpreting my great-great Aunt Florence's many recipes. This sole recipe is the result, one of two of her crab cake recipes. Because, well, crab cakes. Delicious, crab-(as-opposed-to-breading-) filled crab cakes

Bacon & Pancetta Wot (American/Ethiopian-style - featured in the post "Bacon Cook-Off: Bacon & Pancetta Wot", published June 13, 2010) - From the Great Grapes bacon cook-off in 2010, I created a recipe for a decidedly un-Ethiopian wot with several kinds of pork. Delicious, but it'd never play in Addis Ababa. And it amazes me that I took no photos of this.

So I'm using this lovely one taken at Great Grapes by Lyndsay Polloway. Bacon and injera. It's just wrong, isn't it?

Bread Pudding with Vanilla Bourbon Sauce (Cajun - featured in the post "Snacking State-by-State: Louisiana IV - Bourbon? Vanilla? Butter? Yes, please!", published August 10, 2011) - This was such a decadent bread pudding, and so reminiscent of one I had in New Orleans the previous year, that I had trouble not gobbling the whole thing down all at once. Instead, thankfully, I froze some for later, especially with that hard sauce.

Chincoteague Single-Fried Oysters (Chesapeake - featured in the post "What to do with a quarter peck of oysters", published May 7, 2008) - Don't you just love cornmeal-fried urshters you shucked yourself, hons? I sure do.

Cochinita Pibil (Mexican/Yucatecan/Maya - featured in the post "Cochinita Pibil", published August 3, 2008) - In Mexico and the US, I've enjoyed eating cochinita pibil whenever I can find it. But in Maryland it's not easy to find it, so get a pork butt, some achiote paste, bitter orange juice and banana leaves. It's time to slow cook some cochinita pibil!

Crawfish & Shrimp Étouffée (Cajun - featured in the post "Snacking State-by-State: Louisiana III - What you say? Étouffée!", published August 7, 2011) - Buttery, silky, crawfishy. About all I can say about it. Next time though I hope to find actual Gulf Coast crawfish for this recipe.

Domino's No-Fail Quick Fudge (chocolate and vanilla) (candy/American/"back-of-the-box" - featured in the post "All Night Fudge-athon!", published December 6, 2006) - One of my first recipe posts, this one is usually no fail for a reason. Even better, I left the chocolate out of half of the batch and made vanilla and chocolate fudge. That was one memorable cookie swap.

Double Chocolate Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (cake - featured in "Post #666: the Recipe of the Beast", published April 26, 2008) - For my "hexakosioihexekontahexaphilic post" I made the most chocolately devil's food cake I could. And it was damned good.

Eastern North Carolina-Style BBQ (Smoked in the Slow Cooker) and Cole Slaw (Southern/barbecue - featured in the post "Snacking State-by-State: North Carolina I - East Is East, West Is West, Never the Twain Shall Meet", published March 11, 2012) - I guess I just have a thing for pork. But Carolina pork barbecue smoked in the slow cooker? Blasphemous, you say. But others have found a way to do it, by golly!

Fleur de Baie Caramels (candy - featured in the post "'Fleur de Baie' Caramels", published July 25, 2009) - This was my attempt to make sea salt caramels, re-interpreting someone else's recipe for fleur de sel caramels with one specifically Marylandish touch: Old Bay. Freshly made they had a very subtle Old Bay flavor, so I rolled them around in more Old Bay. Waiting a few weeks proved to me that this was a mistake, as the subtly flavored ones became more strongly flavored, while the ones I rolled in Old Bay became - how did I put it in my August 4 follow-up post again? Oh yes - wince-inducing.

Fried Soft Shell Crab Sandwich (Chesapeake - featured in the post "Snacking State-by-State: Virginia II - More of that Bounty of the Chesapeake", published October 21, 2012) - In exploring the seafood of the Commonwealth, I made a soft shell crab sandwich not unlike my maternal grandmother's, only immortalized by John Shields in his Chesapeake Bay Cooking (his recipe came from a crusty old feller in Virginia, but it was more or less the same).

Lidia Bastianich's Tomato Sauce (Italian - featured in the post "Lidia Bastianich's Tomato Sauce", published October 2, 2008) - I saw Adam "Amateur Gourmet" Roberts make this at the Baltimore Book Festival not long before I put up this post. While I like mine a little thicker (I just simmer it longer), it's still a good go-to basic Italian sauce.

Murgh Makhani (Indian - featured in the post "Snacking State-by-State: New York II - "Murgh" is the word!", published February 29, 2012) - One of my all-time favorite things to eat is murgh makhani, or butter chicken. And now, thanks to Julie Sahni and this state-by-state project, I can appreciate just how complex and laborious a process it is to make it!

Nana's Dressing (American - featured in the post "Nana's Dressing", published January 22, 2007) - My late Italian-American grandmother - whom we called "Naa-naa" (not "Naa-nuh" or "Nah-nuh") - made a fierce stuffing. It was not, in any way, Italian. It was still good. And no, she never deep fried it on a stick.

Um, Miss Paula? Hellooooooo...

Nataing (Cambodian - featured in the post "Food Ethnography on a Budget: Cambodia II - Nataing, Crispy Rice Cakes and Jícama Pickle", published November 11, 2009) - When I got the idea to do a snacking culture-by-culture/country-by-country series in 2009, I started with Cambodia, and found an amazing coconut milk and paprika pork dish from Elephant Walk Cookbook author and Cambodian-American chef Longteine "Nyep" De Monteiro (co-authored by Katherine Neustadt). I made it again for a blogging party it was so good, and now I have a hankerin' for more.

Pombe Ya N'Dizi (Tanzanian - first featured in the post "Food Ethnography on a Budget: Tanzania II: Pombe Ya N'Dizi", published January 25, 2010) - From the same series, I decided to make wine - traditional Tanzanian banana wine, to be exact, as written by Dorinda Hafner in her cookbook A Taste of Africa. After several months, it ended up more like a banana liqueur than a banana wine, with a good bit of sediment at the bottom. A pretty potent banana liqueur to be honest, taste-wise and proof-wise. It was kind of a precursor for that crisp Mr. Beer pale ale that I tried to make just a bit more interesting by adding extra hops and wild rice when I explored Wisconsinian cuisine late last year.

Shrimp and Grits (Southern/Lowcountry - featured in the post "Snacking State-by-State: South Carolina II - True Shrimp and Grit", published July 11, 2012) - Ah, the buttery, silky smooth taste of grits smothered in shrimp and three kinds of dairy products. ***Ecstatic Homer Simpson Sound***

Smith Island Cake (Chesapeake - featured in the post "Snacking State-by-State: Maryland IV - Once on Smith Island", published September 7, 2011) - I don't know if many Marylanders have eaten the state dessert, and I know most of us haven't tried making it. I did both. It was very satisfying. All those super-thin layers of cake glued together with a chocolate ganache filling is something everyone should experience at least once. Or twice. Hell, at least thrice a month or so. But no more, or it's not special.

Plus...

Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce (briefly mentioned in the post "Anatomy of a Thanksgiving Dinner (or, I STILL have leftovers)", published November 29, 2007) - Before I found this recipe in the Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann, I had no idea just how wonderful freshly-made cranberry sauce could be, with citrus, red wine, sugar and lots of cinnamon and cloves. Now I can't imagine a holiday season without it.

State-by-State Redux: X of X - A Julia Child recipe that does not feature butter, and an Ina Garten recipe that makes up for it

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Here it is, the last State-by-State post after more than two years of this project chugging along. And for this final State-by-State post, I am visiting some American classics that I haven't done for this series, and surprisingly even much in the history of this blog, which you know by now is also ending soon. I thought it was imperative to visit some of these classics by using recipes from the Queen herself, Julia Child. Oh, and also Ina Garten.

Snacking State-by-State Redux X of X: The United States

Official Name: United States of America
Nickname: none
Founded: July 4, 1776
Capital: Washington, DC
Other Important Cities: There are a lot of 'em. Can we just leave it at that?
Region: North America
RAFT Nations: All of them, except Moose (upper Canada)
Bordered by: Canada (north), Arctic Ocean, Bering Strait & Russia (northwest), Pacific Ocean (west), Mexico (south), Gulf of Mexico & Caribbean Sea (southeast), Atlantic Ocean (east)
Official US Foods and Edible Things: none
Some Famous & Typical Foods: see the previous two years worth of posts for this. Also: apple pie, barbecue, hot dogs, hamburgers, fast food, and so on

Of all the famous chefs in American history, it's pretty safe to say that none rivals the importance of Julia Child. I mean, did the Smithsonian Institution put James A. Beard's kitchen on display in the American History Museum in Washington? I've been a few times, and I just don't get tired of it.

Child was, among all chefs, a pathbreaker in that she introduced the American public to the pleasures of an intimidating cuisine (French, not American) in as accessible a way as possible. From her Mastering the Art of French Cooking to her long-standing partnership with PBS, her many books and television shows, and her co-founding of the American Institute of Wine and Food, Child left an important and lasting impression on American food [Smithsonian National Museum of American History (Behring Center), no date]

For my final State-by-State post, I am showcasing one of Child's more American recipes: the ever-popular meatloaf. Yes, she had a recipe for meatloaf, which she considered it a cousin to the French pâté: "Since they are so closely related, I consider the one a variation of the other" [Child 2000: 53]. I had never thought of meatloaf that way, but I guess it is. But I also did change this one up, not so much fiddling with the master so much as using a version that was "pre-fiddled with". You see, I realized when planning this final post that I had used so many different meats over the past two years for this series: beef, chicken, pork, lamb, fish, shellfish, even buffalo, but not the one all-American bird that deserves extra attention in such a series: the turkey. I left out any turkey recipes! Yes, that idiotic bird that Benjamin Franklin would have made into our national symbol had the bald eagle not swayed other people instead.

Fortunately, I found a recipe that swaps out the pork in Child's recipe for turkey plus precooked rice. I'm not sure of the actual provenance of this recipe. Various sources attribute a turkey meatloaf to Mark Ladner of Del Posto restaurant, though I don't think this is the version in question. I did find Child's meatloaf with the turkey and rice swapped in for the pork on, of all places, the CD Kitchen website. Poster "AmandasMom971" [2012] provides the measurements for what is, otherwise, Julia Child's recipe. To her credit, she does call it "Julia Child's Meatloaf" and doesn't pass it off has her own.

To further complicate things, I swap out the beef in her meatloaf for that tried and true "meatloaf mix" of beef, pork and veal. Mixing all of those together still gave me some quite pleasant results.

To go along with this turkified version of Child's meatloaf, I thought I would add two important sides: mashed potatoes - for what is meatloaf without mashed potatoes - also from Child's Julia's Kitchen Wisdon: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking [2000], and a recipe for one more recipe that I have never made for this series or this blog, but has become an important part of the American food landscape: macaroni and cheese. This time, however, I go with Ina Garten and her "adult mac & cheese" featuring tomato slices, Gruyère and cheddar. A hearty and wonderful macaroni and cheese on page 202 of Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family-Style cookbook [Garten 2002]

The Recipes: Julia Child's Meatloaf (with Turkey) and Mashed Potatoes, with Ina Garten's Grown-Up Macaroni and Cheese

First, Julia Child's meatloaf that you will certainly not hate.

The Recipe: Julia Child's Meatloaf (with Turkey)

Assemble the following:

* ground beef (or in this case, "meatloaf mix", about $7 per lb at Whole Foods. Child calls for two pounds of beef, but I settled for 1 1/2, which worked for me)
* turkey (about a pound, about $5 at Whole Foods, mixed with...
* white rice (I just got this in the hot food bar at Whole Foods while I was shopping for the other things)
* toasted bread crumbs (nothing faincy here, just a few toasted slices of plain old white bread pulsed in the food processor)
* onions (three that I got the day before at Waverly - I got about six in all for $2
* beef broth (I swapped that out for chicken broth á la Better Than Bouillon. Yet another animal added to the mix
* eggs (in case you decide not to swap beef for chicken broth, this will help add chicken to your meatloaf anyway)
* Cheddar cheese ($5 for a block of the XXX Sharp Cheddar from Yancey's Fancy. I got this at Wegman's. This surprised me, since I've never heard of cheese in a meatloaf. But Julia Child put it in there and I'm sure she knew what she was doing. Don't forget to grate it)
* garlic (had it - again, I used the garlic paste from Trader Joe's that I had in the fridge, but stuck the head of garlic in the photo)
* salt & pepper
* various spices: oregano, thyme, paprika, allspice and bay leaves (had them all)

You will also need oil to sauté the onions, and a tomato sauce to pour over the meatloaf. Look for more on that below.

First chop the onions and sauté them in a skillet.

Mix your bread crumbs with the onions.

Add the meatloaf mix...

...the turkey and rice (yes, that is rice)...

...the grated Cheddar and the eggs...

...and your chicken broth, salt, pepper and herbs and spices, holding off on the bay leaves which go on top of the whole thing.

Child suggests cooking a little bit of it in the skillet and tasting it to make sure it's right. It's stuff like this, folks, that explains why her kitchen is in the Smithsonian.

Push it into a meatloaf pan (I used one with holes in the bottom and another pan underneath to catch all the juices) - Child suggests greasing it with butter (natch), though I used baking spray instead - and top it with the bay leaves. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 90 minutes (until the juices run clear) at 350°F.

While that is in the oven, make the tomato sauce for the meatloaf. Child suggests the sauce on page 30 of her book, which uses fresh ones. I used canned San Marzanos instead ($4 per 28 ounce can), with chopped onion and basil, and reduced until thick.

Ninety mintes later, the meatloaf should be springy...

...and the sauce should be reduced and very intense.

Child's mashed potatoes go wonderfully with this: just boil some potatoes, add cream and/or milk alternating with butter. I just used a hand masher.

The Recipe: Ina Garten's Grown-Up Macaroni and Cheese

As for Garten's luxurious macaroni and cheese (which, unlike the meatloaf, I halved), you should gather the following ingredients:

* macaroni (I got the Barilla variety for about a buck and a half)
* Cheddar (here I thought I'd run out of Cheddar. I still have a ridiculous amount left over)
* Gruyère (I got the cheaper, mild kind at Whole Foods, about half a pound for $7)
* milk (fresh from the South Mountain Creamery stall at the farmers' market at Waverly)
* flour (had it)
* tomatoes (a few Romas from the supermarket)
* butter (had it)
* nutmeg, salt and pepper (had them all)
* bread crumbs (more than enough left over from the meatloaf)

Start by grating your cheeses.

Boil your macaroni in a large pot.

Melt that butter!

Once melted, whisk in your flour (exact measurements in Garten's recipe on page 202 of the Family Style cookbook)

Add the milk and whisk some more, then remove from heat.

Next, whisk in your shredded cheeses...

...and your nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Drain your macaroni and add this to the mixture, coating thoroughly.

Pat it all down into an oven-safe dish.

Then mix the bread crumbs with a little more melted butter.

Slice the tomatoes and place on top of the macaroni and cheese.

And then spread the bread crumbs over everything. Yes, all over everything.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for about 35 minutes.

Though the meats were not exactly the ones she recommended, Julia Child's meatloaf still turned out to be lovely. It's done for me what homemade sauce did for me for spaghetti: it made it taste good again. As for the mac & cheese: it was good, though distinctly second fiddle to the meatloaf. But a hot bowl of the mac & cheese alone (and it must be hot - lukewarm really doesn't bring out the flavors all too well) is still a nice thing on a cold day.

- - - - -

And that's it! Fifty states, one territory, one federal district, plus several regions and an all-encompassing "America" post, and my Snacking State-by-State series is now - pardon the wording - history. I have enjoyed learning about all the different ways of eating all over this country over the past two years and a handful of months.

I've either learned or re-learned how to pick apart a lobster (Maine), a crawfish (Louisiana), a King crab (Alaska) and a shrimp (Florida). I sought out easier ways to shuck oysters (Delaware, Mississippi and Virginia) and clams (Rhode Island). Mind you, I already knew how to pick blue crabs (Maryland), duh, and Dungeness (Washington) was something I remembered from back in California.
I learned that Youtube is a great repository for how-to videos, on everything from frying bison testicles (Wyoming) to making Mr. Beer home brew as interesting as possible (Wisconsin), to making sushi rice (California), to mixing up your own Korean potato salad (District of Columbia) and so on.
As far as my own state's food goes, I've learned just how much more Southern we are in our culinary history (note: panfried chicken, Smith Island cake) than we are Northern, though we still have that.
I was also reminded that Lady Baltimore cake (South Carolina) has nothing to do with Maryland, no matter how hard John Shields or myself want it to be.
I've learned a few new-to-me culinary terms:

bizcochito (New Mexico)
buckeyes (Ohio)
chislic (South Dakota)
curtido (District of Columbia)
funeral potatoes (Utah)
halušky (Pennsylvania)
hot chicken (Tennessee)
johnny cakes (Rhode Island)
knoepfla (North Dakota)
mofongo (Puerto Rico)
musubi (Hawaii)
pemmican (Montana)
pork roll (New Jersey)
purloo (South Carolina)
sofrito (Puerto Rico)
St. Paul sandwich (Missouri)
tapioca maltodextrin (Illinois)
tourtière (New Hampshire)
wojapi (Nebraska - this one and pemmican are both Native American dishes)

I now know how to smoke pork butt (North Carolina) in the slow cooker, as well as beef brisket (Texas), and how to smoke pork ribs (Missouri & Tennessee) in the oven.
I learned how expedient and how expensive mail-ordering foods can be when you just cannot buy them locally - ahem, huckleberries, anyone? (Idaho)
I learned that Miss Paula may claim that gooey butter cake for Savannah, Georgia, but they were making it in Missouri long before she caught wind of the idea.
I still never got to make steamed crabs from Maryland or Virginia, Jamaican jerk chicken from New York, or apple pie from all over the country, but I do think I covered most of the bases.

And that closes the textbook on this culinary exploration of America. It has been enriching, exhausting, expensive and fattening all at the same time. And with that, I can now go to the supermarket secure in the knowledge that I don't have to root out any specific ingredient for any blog-related reason, anymore. And to quote the master herself one final time, Bon Appétit!

Sources:

"AmandasMom971" (poster). "Julia Child's Meatloaf". CD Kitchen, posted 2012. Copyright CDKitchen 2005-2013, all rights reserved.

Child, Julia. Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking. David Nussbaum, collaborator. Knopf: New York, 2000. Reprinted 2009.

Garten, Ina. Barefoot Contessa Family Style: Easy Ideas and Recipes That Make Everyone Feel Like Family. Clarkson Potter: New York, 2002.

Smithsonian National Museum of American History (Behring Center). Bon Appétit! Julia Child's Kitchen at the Smithsonian. Rayna Green and Paula Johnson, content and curatorial for website, Nancy Growald Brooks, editor (full list of website and exhibition credits can be found here). Copyright 2002 - present, Smithsonian Institution, all rights reserved.

Some information also obtained from the United States Wikipedia page and from the Food Timeline State Foods webpage.

Revisiting: My First Blogged-About Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:33:00 +0000

Waaaaay back in 2006, not long after this blog, I was mostly writing about restaurant visits and festivals around town (again, the original reason for starting the Charm-City-cum-Baltimore Snacker blog. It look a few months for me to get around to attempting a recipe. This surprises me now, since the blog has lately evolved into an almost completely review-free blog, now a mostly educational blog on American cuisine. But it took me until December of '06 to post my first attempted recipe (note: I did write about my grandmother's Thanksgiving dressing, but I didn't actually write about my attempt at making it, so it doesn't count). I finally did this for a cookie swap, when trying to make one of my favorite fudges: penuche, or brown sugar fudge. But I wanted to take advantage of all the modern conveniences available to me, so I found a microwave recipe (which has long since vanished from the internet).

I got microwave toffee, not fudge.

So I thought it would be apropos for one of my final recipes to try this again, 6 1/2 years after first doing so. The results were much better, as you will see below.

This time I used a recipe from the Eagle Brand website. No, I'm not shilling for them (and if I was starting to do that now, I'd be starting kind of late, no?), but it is a good recipe. And the best part: it worked!

For this recipe you only need three ingredients (exact measurements in the recipe):

* sweetened condensed milk (which makes me want tres leches cake now)
* butter
* brown sugar (two cups, either light or dark. They never specify which)

It is also a good idea to have enough parchment paper to line the 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 square pan that you will pour the molten fudge into.

Combine the ingredients in a bowl. As you can see, I added a few things: a dash of nutmeg, a smidge of cinnamon...

...and a few drops of vanilla extract.

Next, you need to microwave it for ten minutes. You have to be careful here, because you must stop it every two minutes and stir. Boiling it continuously for ten minutes will... well, I don't really want to think about that. This is after two minutes, by the way.

This photo is what it will look like after six minutes.

And here it is after the full ten minutes, a-boilin' fiercely. Please don't splash this on yourself. Ouchie.

Next, you must take a mixer and beat it for about five minutes on a low to low-medium speed (I used the #1 setting on mine).

Spread it in your parchment-lined square pan...

...and place in the fridge until hard.

In the end, I got actual fudge! Not toffee, but fudge. In retrospect, I can't say for certain what went wrong that first time. Did I just not follow the directions? Or perhaps I was following woefully inadequate directions? The first recipe is gone, so I will never know. But microwave penuche can be done. You just have to make sure you have the right recipe, and are following it the way it's written!

And now for some big news...

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:03:00 +0000

I mentioned this weekend that I had some big news coming up, and so here it goes.

I’m ending the blog.

Not right now, but soon. Like "in a few weeks" soon.

After six and a half years of posts about food around the city, around the Beltway, around the country and around the world, I feel that I’ve done everything I want to do with it. Oh sure, there are a whole lot of other things I could do with it: there will always be new potential projects to start, foods to be grown, silly Sandra Lee videos to riff on (hey, I bet there are some of Guy Fieri, too), etcetera. But I will leave those things to others.

If you’ve been paying attention, I have been dropping little hints here and there, specifically in the types of posts I’ve been doing (revisiting the sorghum popping thing, for example? One more post of live blogging silliness?).

I myself am satisfied with what I’ve done, and I don’t feel like becoming just the latest of thousands of bloggers who peter out, post a few things one month, nothing for two or three, then in a rush of renewed enthusiasm post five more things the next month and then nothing ever again. I’m giving The Baltimore Snacker a proper send off.

Don't worry; I'm not taking it down. I will leave it up. And why not? Again, I'm proud of the effort I've done. Why not leave it there in cyberspace?

So, over the next two weeks, I will finish up the State-by-State project I’ve been working on since late 2010, and put up a few posts of “remembries” and lists of favorite things. In a sense, if you can think of my first post as my first freshman English 101 essay, think of the next two weeks of posts as my dissertation. (Okay, silly analogy but still...)

Or if you're really patient and just want to skip to the end, check back on March 12. That will be the last last day.

State-by-State Redux: IX of X - Americanized Chinese Cuisine Revisited - Tso many dishes, Tso little time...

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 14:07:00 +0000

Chinese food in the United States is typically, at best, "Chinese" food. This is changing, of course, as more Chinese immigrants are opening more restaurants with authentic Chinese cuisine (or maybe they've been here all along, but everyone else is now patronizing them more often). But "Chinese" food has evolved into something uniquely American, shaped by the first immigrants to the West Coast in the 19th century, and to points all over America today (mostly from Fujian province). And different communities from the Chinese diaspora master different food feats in different parts of the world - shredded beef in the UK, for example, or ma po tofu in Japan [Lee 2008]. In the US of A, that Chinese dish that's gripped the nation is named after General Tso.

Snacking State-by-State Redux IX of X: Americanized Chinese Cuisine

What is it? Traditionally, a unique mix of Chinese cooking techniques and American ingredients, here since the 1840's. Since then it has evolved into something not terribly recognizable in China, but instead is peculiarly American. More recently, actual "Chinese" Chinese food has crossed the Pacific in the form of dim sum and other dishes that a Chinese tourist would actually recognize.
Where did it come from? See above

General Tso's chicken is not a real thing in China, but that doesn't stop Jennifer 8. Lee from seeking it out. In her book The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food [2008], Lee analyzes the origins and state of Chinese food in America, from fortune cookies (actually based on a Japanese cookie) to chop suey to the ubiquitous General Tso's chicken. Lee's quest to find this last dish took her all the way to a remote village in Hunan Province to find the origins of this dish, one which few Chinese chefs - scratch that, no Chinese chefs - had actually heard of. As Lee notes:

The refrain was consistent: "We don't have General Tso's chicken here" or "We've never heard of it." Even after I showed them pictures of the dish on my digital camera, they would frown and look at me blankly, then helpfully suggest another chicken dish, often the local specialty, mala or kung pao. One waitress at a three-hundred-year-old restaurant pressed me to try another dish associated with a famous Hunan personage: "This is what Mao Zedong and his circle ate when they used to come here."

But nothing they offered ever resembled our crispy General Tso's, nor his American cousins: sesame chicken, lemon chicken, sweet-and-sour chicken. In fact, any batter-dipped, stir-fried chicken dish was hard to come by in this urban corner of Hunan. [Lee 2008: 68-69]

The closest Lee ever got was the home village of Zuo Zongtang, the 19th century local leader and statesman for whom this dish - the same one that has nothing to do with him whatsoever - is related. There a distant modern relative to Zuo was befuddled by the photos Lee had of General Tso's - Zuo's - chicken on her phone. Her informant did offer to cook dog, however - the kind "raised for eating" and not for pets. Lee was, of course, taken aback: "I pictured how Americans would react to General Tso's puppy on their take-out menus" [2008: 73].

Lee never finds what we call General Tso's chicken, but that hasn't stopped Chinese-American chefs from trying to recreate this uniquely American dish. How "American" is it? Lee's schoolmate from Beijing University, Wang Wei, tells her why it's so American:

"It has broccoli. Americans looove broccoli. They add broccoli with everything." She continued: "Americans like chicken. You can go to a supermarket and you buy chicken breast, chicken legs, chicken drumsticks, chicken wings, boneless chicken. All different types of chicken," she said, gesturing to various parts of her body..."It's very American. It's all-American: very big pieces of chicken, fried and sweet." [Lee 2008: 74]

Since Lee can find no recipe for General Tso's chicken, I had to look elsewhere. After finding many much healthier and more typically Chinese-style General Tso's chicken (Ching-He Huang's recipe being the most notable), I wanted something more typical of the Chinese fast food takeouts that Jennifer 8. Lee and myself are more familiar with. I found that in Diana Kuan's Appetite for China blog (which she just turned into a cookbook). Kuan is also familiar with Lee's aforementioned book, and tried to find out more about it herself. Kuan tries out various versions of the dish before perfecting one that is as authentic as she can get it, deep-frying those chicken pieces with a whole lot of cornstarch.

It is Kuan's version of the General's chicken that I interpret below. Unlike most recipes I have done, this time I am pretty much following this one to the letter, save for the addition of broccoli, which she doesn't specifically mention in her recipe.

The Recipe: General Tso's Chicken

To make Kuan's version of Zuo's chicken, assemble the following:

* chicken (Kuan calls for a pound of chicken thighs, boneless; I went for 1.5 lbs of chicken thighs, bone-in, and went from there. I don't buy a lot of chicken, so I justified the expense of the less expensive thighs at the Whole Foods. Actually I don't think they had boneless)
* cornstarch (I bought a new canister, about $1.50, because I needed a lot of it - about a cup and a half, instead of the usual one or two teaspoons)
* sugar, salt & pepper (had them all)
* dried chiles (had this too)
* garlic (this too)
* sesame seeds (yup)
* green onions (getting pricier these days, about $1.50 a bunch)
* oil for frying (I had some of that high heat point rice bran oil from H-Mart)
* Though not pictured, I also added broccoli, as Jennifer 8. Lee's friend mentioned. Because Americans LOVE broccoli! Okay we don't all love it, but I am used to broccoli in my General Tso's chicken, so in it goes.

You will also need to marinade the chicken. For that, assemble:
* sesame oil (had it in the fridge)
* soy sauce (I had this too)
* egg whites (discard those yolks, folks)

And for that famous sauce, assemble:
* chicken stock (I used that Better Than Boullion in the fridge)
* soy sauce
* hoisin sauce (got a new jar for about $2)
* rice vinegar (same)
* chile paste (I used the garlic chile paste from that Washington Dungeness crab recipe)
* more sugar, more soy sauce, and more cornstarch

It takes about six chicken thighs to yield one pound of meat. Remember that when shopping.

Mix the marinade ingredients - the sesame oil, the egg whites and the soy sauce.

Marinade the meat for at least ten minutes.

Next, assemble the sauce ingredients.

Mix together in a bowl and set aside.

And mix salt and pepper into the massive amount of cornstarch. You will coat the chicken in this.,

Heat your oil in a wok until at deep frying temperature

To prepare your marinated chicken for frying, plop each piece in the cornstarch mixture...

...and shake off the excess.

Fry several at a time for about five minutes, turning once.

Drain on a paper towel.

When done frying, reserve the oil (okay, dump it somewhere to cool down until you can just dispose of it), wipe out the wok and quickly fry your chiles and garlic in oil.

Add your sauce for a minute or so...

...and then your chicken to coat.

I added the broccoli bits until no longer frozen (I did also nuke it in the microwave to expedite the process). Serve with scallions and rice.

Granted, the next time I may just be lazy and buy it ready-made. Still, now I can make General Tso's tasty chicken at home. It wasn't as sweet as I'm used to, but I've actually found orange chicken to be the really sweet one. When I order Chinese I usually go back and forth between orange and General Tso's chicken. What's good about this one is that it isn't stringy and all "mystery meat"-ish like the kind you sometimes buy at a Chinese take-out place. It's tender, somewhat crispy (less so when you reheat it - pop it in the oven and not the microwave if you are concerned about that), and just sweet enough. Plus, it's satisfying to know that you made it yourself without opening a packet of seasoning or a big-ass can labeled "Chun King".

- - - - -

Well, this feels pretty strange, y'all, but the next State-by-State post is it - THE LAST one! I thought for a while about how to sum this up. Unlike my Beltway Snacking series a few years ago, where I wrote a long summary, for this I'm just making an all-American meal instead. Next week you will find out what it is, but more importantly who wrote the recipe: the most quintessentially American of chefs herself.

Also: as noted yesterday, look at the blog on Tuesday morning (February 26). I have a big announcement to make about what I'm up to next, now that this State-by-State series is fast approaching its end.

Sources:

Kuan, Diana. "General Tso's Chicken". Appetite for China, posted August 30, 2011.

Lee, Jennifer 8. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. Twelve Books: New York, 2008.

Some information also obtained from the Food Timeline State Foods webpage.

What will he do next???

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 21:03:00 +0000

Look here on Tuesday for some news about what I'm doing next with The Baltimore Snacker! I've live-blogged about food competition shows, driven around 695 in search of local food, sought out area festivals, and learned about the foods of America and various cultures right in mah own kitchen, hon. Hmmm, what'll he think of next?

In the meantime, look for a State-by-State post tomorrow about that most American of foods, Chinese take out (I'm serious: that stuff does not exist in China). To tide you all over, here's a Sandra Lee classic: another cocktail, this time, um...mango lassi???

Will there be a run on Berger Cookies now?

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:16:00 +0000

Berger Cookies is closed - hopefully only for the time being - due to their not renewing their business license. Or a family illness. Who the heck knows? ABC 2 News notes:

The company’s website, bergercookies.com, was also “closed.” The following message, in dark red, was posted for all to see Friday:

“Online order processing is currently unavailable due to family illness. We will update the site and official Facebook page as production and ordering are back online to keep you informed. We appreciate your well wishes and patience during this time.”

Let's hope they can get operations up and going soon. We can ill afford to lose this Bawlmer classic.

Kitchen Experiments: Popping Sorghum (and Amaranth) Part II

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 21:15:00 +0000

Now that I have a bit more time to do stuff, what with recent blogging projects done (again: PHEW), I thought I would give the sorghum popping experiment from a few years ago one last revisit. As you (and the various commenters who have visited) may remember, this experiment did not go too well for me: popping it in a still or shaken pot yielded few kernels, and using the hot air popper just caused a big mess of, again, mostly unpopped, slightly toasted sorghum kernels. I say "slightly" because most were blown out of the hot air popper before I knew what hit me. (Scratch that: the sorghum hit me. Literally.)

Based on research I've done lately, including from links provided by several of the commenters in the first post, I've come to a few conclusions about what went wrong:

Some folks had suggested adding moisture to the seeds. Perhaps the seeds I used were kind of low quality and a bit desiccated already.
Maybe use a dome popper. One gentleman from Texas said he and his have been popping it for a few decades, and he uses this method.
Another commenter from Georgia notes that of all the things she tried, putting the sorghum in a deep pot with the lid on got her the best results, specifically if you turn down the heat in the last munite way low.
Growing your own sorghum might work out well for you. Check out the many mail-order non-GM seed companies (one list is here, or else just do a Google search).

Thanks to Andrew Zimmern, sorghum popping has become just enough of "a thing" that some companies have begun specifically selling it and posting helpful videos on Youtube. Just Poppin was a site whose folks posted once or twice, and had some videos that were useful. Two in particular stood out for me. In the first one, they use two teaspoons of olive oil in a pot and (I never caught the exact measurement but it looked like) 1/4 cup of sorghum.

For the second one, they show how to dry-pop it. And as I discovered too late for my other experiments, one key here is to use a vessel that is not dark on the insides. Yep, as great as cast iron is, this is one time you need to put it away, unless it's one of those enameled ones that is beige or something on the inside. Mine is not.

With those ideas in mind, I set out to give a proper finish to my sorghum popping experiment. The goal: to get as much as possible, and to note which conditions led to that.

The sorghum I used in this experiment was a brand new bag of Shiloh Farms Sorghum Grain. This stuff is not as easy to find as I remembered - even many of the natural food markets were out of stock of this stuff (though they do normally carry it), but I did find it eventually at the Natural Market in Timonium, where I figured their big shelf of whole grains had it nestled in there somewhere. In fact, they had a few bags of it.

Oh, and this time I took photos.

I had started with a bag that was a few years old, with pretty lackluster results, prompting my search for fresher stuff. Maybe one or two kernels popped out of an entire 1/4 cup. There is my first thing I learned: use fresh ones.

I set up a few experiments on my stovetop. I gathered the following things for this round of experiments:

bag fresh sorghum (here: Shiloh Farms brand)
olive oil
1/4 measuring cup and teaspoon
long wooden spoon
cast iron crock pot and deep sided stainless steel pot (this latter one yielded the best results)

Though several people have had success with the dome poppers, I opted not to buy one. My reason: knowing my luck, it will work for everyone but me, so I will just save the $30 to $40 and not buy a new one after all. However, if you do decide to try a dome popper, make sure it is one that circulates the sorghum. The ones that blow from the bottom, from what I have read elsewhere on the internet, don't yield the best results. Also note: the blow hot air poppers typically blow from the bottom.

Experiment 4a: Popping 1/4 cup sorghum in a crock pot with oil while stirring

For this, I waited until the oil was starting to shimmer. I had the heat up to middle intensity...

...and dumped in a quarter cup of sorghum. It may not have been as "shimmering" as I needed, because it didn't start popping for at least 20 seconds.

I might have also used more oil than I needed. I wonder if maybe I almost "deep-fried" the sorghum, in a sense?

At any rate, I wound up with very few popped kernels of sorghum.

Experiment 4b: Popping 1/4 cup sorghum in a crock pot with no oil while stirring

For the next quarter cup of sorghum, the only difference was a lack of oil. The results are on the right: substantially more sorghum kernels popped than with the oil. With that, I decided I would likely have the most luck by leaving out the oil and just dry-popping the sorghum.

Experiment 5a: Popping 1/4 cup sorghum in a stainless steel pot with no oil while stirring

One problem remained: a large number of kernels simply burned instead of popping. It was then that I re-watched the second video, and noticed that the Just Poppin' folks specifically recommend using a stainless steel pot for popping sorghum without oil. Apparently the blackness of the cast iron just holds too much heat.

After all these years, you might be surprised that I do not, in fact, own a stainless steel stock pot. I do now. Seventeen bucks at Target.

First, heat your pot for a minute or two on medium. Dumping the sorghum into a cold pot will not help pop your sorghum. Shake the pot to distribute the sorghum evenly, and turn down the flame to low.

The kernels started popping pretty quickly, and with constant stirring I got lots of sorghum hitting me in the hand.

The result is the bottom plate: over half of the kernels popped, though the ones that didn't really didn't, becoming even more scorched than with the other methods.

Experiment 5b: Popping 1/4 cup sorghum in a stainless steel pot with no oil, lidded with no stirring

I also tried popping sorghum with the lid and no stirring, just maybe occasionally shaking the pot.

With this method, it is again important to make sure everything is evenly distributed.

With the lid on, I got a few kernels and a lot of smoke.

Still, this method gave me results that were better than those in the cast-iron skillet, though I also got a lot of scorched kernels.

Experiment 6: Popping amaranth in a stainless stell pot with no oil, while stirring and not stirring

One final thing I tried was popping amaranth. I understand that you can do this as well, and whatever the case it is easier to do. As with the sorghum I found a video for it, courtesy of Oldways and the Whole Grains Council, neither of which I knew existed but both of whose existences do not surprise me.

Not so hard, is it? It's even kind of adorable.

Apparently, amaranth is easier to find in the Baltimore area than sorghum. It is particularly easy to find in bulk. The Natural Market in Towson and MOM's in Timonium carry this in bulk. I got this one at MOM's.

For the amaranth, make sure you even it all out at the bottom of the pot. Note: I really am using waaaaaaay too much in this photo. This is a quarter cup. But it still started popping immediately.

I got a significant amount of popped amaranth. It was kind of adorable, almost like "Barbie Popcorn".

I also tried covering the amaranth and not stirring it. This time I only did an eighth of a cup. Again this was too much.

And again, lot of tiny, tiny popped amaranth seeds.

Conclusions

So I have finally found that I have had the most success with popping sorghum if I do the following:

use small amounts of sorghum (and amaranth for that matter)
dry pop it instead of using oil
use a light-colored vessel, specifically a stainless steel pot
constantly stir it instead of leaving it to pop all on its own
heat the pot first, keep it on medium until the kernels get to popping, and then turn down the heat to low.

Now that I've finally found success with popping this stuff, my next goal is to find out what else I can pop. I've seen videos for rice and wheat on the internet. This deserves the old college try, doesn't it?

Live Blogging: Chopped - Make No Mistake

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 02:57:00 +0000

I haven't live-blogged in a while, and I'm now feeling bitchy enough to critique that intense "create it in a heartbeat" cooking competition show Chopped. I originally thought this was a finale to the Chopped Champions program. I don't think this is the case, so I may be live-blogging a new episode. So here I am, ready to live-blog the "Make No Mistake" episode of Chopped! This ep featuring four former first-round losers was aired on Sunday, when most people were watching various characters get killed off on The Walking Dead, Downton Abbey and The Grammy Awards. So it's not new new, but it is one of the newest.

Let us proceed. Just as soon as Face-Off is over.

10:00 This is not a show for those of us with ADD.

10:01 Let's meet our former losers: first up, fireman-cum-chef John. Messes up buffalo wings. Dude.

Chef Monica: I remember her! She got ingredients she had never used. Oopsie.

10:02 Chef Owen didn't put anything on his plate? Really??? Maybe he'll actually get stuff on his plate this time.

10:03 Chef Marja gave her least favorite dish: raw dough! Hold the cookies.

10:04 And now the goodies: mix pulpo (octopus), chioggia beets, fava beans and pickled garlic. Hey, not so bad. At least there's no cotton candy or gummy fish.

10:05 I should have had beer with me. I now remember one reason why I never liked this show: SOFASTPACEDOHMYGODDDDDD!!!!!1!!!

Hey, at least Monica is playing for a cancer charity.

MY mother never shelled fava beans :p

10:06 Aaaaaand tonight's douchebag judges: Chris Santos, Amanda Freitag and Geof Zakarian!

10:08 Y'know, I think Ted is actually semi-excited at the thought of the pasta being done in time.

10:11 I bet they include these VitaMelts in a future Chopped challenge.

10:12 There ya go, John, multitask for us. Just don't julienne a finger or something!

In general, what they're making looks god. I just hope some of our intrepid chefs know what t do with this stuff ***COUGHMONICACOUGH***

10:13 This is actually mildly exciting.

Aaaaaand already we may have an appetizer round loser. Shoulda grabbed those julienned beets, John, or really hope everything else sucks.

10:15 One man's "carpaccio" is another man's "carpaccio-style pulpo".

10:17 So overall the dishes are creative and not bad. Man, I was hoping for some suck. We might have some with all that sesame oil in Marja's dish though.

10:20 Gee, I'm finding this is not terribly interesting an exercise. Something a bit sillier, on the level of The Next Food Network Star or Top Chef might be more fun to do.

10:24 And so Marja packs her knives and goes again. We hardly knew ye and yon fava beans. FFFFFFFFFFFF.

10:25 Okay, a slightly weirder set of ingredients: wild boar roast, nopales, sweet potato chips and açai berry juice!

10:26 I did not realize that boar was dry. See I wouldn't have known that were I in that situation. Not a fan of nopales I might add. Too slimy for my tastes.

Oh shite, will John know to scrape out the spines? Doesn't matter: they've apparently been de-spined.

10:27 Liking the idea of that salad of Monica's. Doubting John's plans for the nopales.

10:29 Interesting. Frenchifying the nopales by treating them as green beans.

10:30 Is she using the boar to thicken the sauce??? No. What is she doing? SCREW IT JUST SLICE THAT SHIT AND PLATE IT!

10:31 Okay, what did John forget this time? The açai. Sigh. The judges really are pulling for him though.

10:36 Oh John. So sad what happened to ya. But apparently his is not the only one that sucks. Monica's is not terribly edible either. Let's see about Owen.

10:37 So dumping sweet potato chips on a plate is not acceptable to you Americans? Bah!

10:38 Maybe they could just send 'em all home...

10:39 Good point: give John a few extra minutes and he might finish the whole thing.

10:40 And the next Chopp-ee... after these commercial messages. Wah waah.

10:42 My God, how many of these cooking competition shows are there???

10:43 MONICA goes home??? Seriously? Again they went with the taste.

10:44 Frenchy?

10:45 The dessert round includes tangerines, cranberry sauce, chocolate chip cookies, and.. gorgonzola dolce??? I know what John's leaving out this round...

10:47 Learning by baptism with that ice cream there. And of course the French guy adds wine!

10:49 When life gives you little bits of lemons, er, gorgonzola ice cream, grab shot glasses. Wait, gorgonzola ice cream?

10:49 The judges' reactions to the kitchen drama are priceless, by the way. Not so douchey as in the early episodes of this series.

10:52 That moment when you realize that turkeys actually have heads: priceless.

10:54 And now for the assessment - Gorgonzola parfait: seductive, successful, mellowed. Gorgonzola ice cream and cranberry CCC crumble: almondy, oddly delicious, beautiful. Hey, way not to f*** up, guys!

10:56 Can we just fast forward to the winner? I'm getting sleepy.

10:59 And so John heads home after making his best dish. Congrats to the French guy!

Conclusion: Not sure if I would want to live-blog this program again. It pretty much follows the same formula, doesn't it? Still, the show has gotten better since it first started. The judges always seemed to be assholes, gratuitously so at that. Now they're cheering on our intrepid chefs. But for live-blogging, it really doesn't work. Ah well.

State-by-State Redux: VIII of X - The New England and Northeastern States Revisited - Youse call this pizza!?

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:28:00 +0000

As I cross the Mason-Dixon for the final regional post for this series, I think I finally have a handle on just what constitutes "Northeastern food". A lot of it is tied to New England, but even when it isn't (New York, New Jersey and so on), immigrant foods come quickly to mind, for example: Irish, Puerto Rican, Jamaican, Portuguese, Polish, German, Jewish, Chinese, among many others. And of course, Italian.

Snacking State-by-State Redux VIII of X: The New England and Northeastern States

What are the Northeastern States?: always includes the New England states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut) and upper Mid-Atlantic states (New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania); sometimes includes Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, West Virginia and northern Virginia
Important Cities: Arlington, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Charleston, Dover, Harrisburg, Hartford, Manchester, Montpelier, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Springfield, Trenton, Washington, Wilmington
Regions and Subregions: Appalachia, Mid-Atlantic, New England
RAFT Nations: Chestnut (southern West Virginia, northern Virginia, District of Columbia, central Maryland, southeastern Pennsylvania), Crabcake (Chesapeake Bay coastline, Susquehanna River), Clambake (Delaware & eastern half of Delmarva penninsula, Philadelphia area, New Jersey, New York City, southern and coastal New England, coastal New Brunswick and the Canadian Maritime provinces), Maple Syrup (northern West Virginia and western Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, northern New England, southern Québec, New Brunswick); Wild Rice (Great Lakes coast of Pennsylvania & New York, southern Ontario)
Foods the Region is Best Known For: Ethnic European immigrant foods throughout the major cities and coastal areas (especially Italian, Irish, Polish, German, Russian, Jewish, Portuguese in New England); Canadian / French Canadian and WASP / "Yankee" foods in parts of New England (including clam and lobster chowders, sweet cornbreads, pies, baked beans, Whoopie pies); maple syrup, fiddlehead ferns, pizza; Appalachian foods in western Pennsylvania, western Maryland, West Virginia; foods of the Upper South in states below the Mason-Dixon Line (especially spoonbreads, less sweet cornbreads, fried chicken, etc); oysters, blue crabs; multicultural offerings in the largest cities (metro areas of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington / Northern Virginia)

New Yorkers are rabid over their pizzas, or as they call them, "pies". And they are quick to let you know that they do not approve of your pies. (Now let's see y'all try to make a crab cake, but I digress). Apparently there's something in the water in the Big Apple - not my words, folks - that makes the pie crust up there so tasty! So I set out to make an actual New York-style pie crust.

As you'll see, I am no good at getting them flat, so I wind up with something super puffy instead. Perhaps this might be due to my dividing the dough and making two smaller pizzas. You see, the other pizza was not a New York-style pizza, but a New Haven (as in Connecticut)-style clam pizza. Yes, I'm trying to cover all the bases in the Northeast, and these two pies seemed like a reasonable set of bases to steal.

Note that you can find the typical tomato and mozzarella pies in New Haven, but the clam pizza is what they are best known for. Not sure how the two are different? Here's a comparison.

Classic New York style pizza pie (I got this information from J. Kenji López-Alt [2010], who laid out in gory detail the basics in making a classic New York-style pizza pie):

A slow-simmered tomato sauce. It's easiest just to make this one yourself.
Grated block of mozzarella cheese - never the soft, fancy kind. Plus, exactly as he put it [2010], "you must grate it yourself". Never ever buy the pre-shredded kind. Why? Because pre-shredded mozzarella is typically covered in potato starch or cornstarch to help avoid clumping (yum, corn in my cheese. It really is in everything). Freeze the cheese for a few minutes after grating and apply just before baking for best melting.
Pizza crust contains sugar. Just a little for sweetness.
Once baked, the crust should be crispy on the bottom and chewy just above that. The outer rim of crust should be a little higher than the middle.

While most pizza chefs do not do this, López-Alt found a lot of success in getting the tastiest dough not by using the ever-versatile Kitchen Aid, which can be used for absolutely anything short of finding life on Mars (scratch that: they probably have an attachment for that, too), but instead his food processor. Zuh? López-Alt explains why, according to Peter Reinhart's American Pie:

[Reinhart's] method is to mix together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil, and warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer, knead it slowly for a couple minutes, then allow it to rest for a few minutes in a step called an autolyse. Autolysis allows time for flour to absorb water, and for the gluten-forming proteins to shorten themselves through enzymatic action, allowing them to be more easily aligned and stretched with subsequent mixing.

The dough is then kneaded again until enough gluten is developed to pass the window-pane test [taking a small ball of dough and stretching it between your fingers until you get an almost translucent "window-pane" through which you can see your fingers if you tap them right behind it], allowed to rise overnight in the refrigerator, then shaped, proofed, rolled, and baked. [López-Alt 2010]

When you make pizza dough in the stand mixer, however, the flavor is kind of off - not bad, but not "New York-flavored pizza". López-Alt reasons that the culprit is something that you simply can't control for with the Kitchen Aid: a dough ball of minimal size with maximum exposure to air. Instead, as he and his sources suggest, the food processor pulses everything together much faster with far less exposure to the air. His results when he tried the food processor method? The dough not only passed that window-pane test but tasted much more like a typical New York pizza pie.

Classic New Haven style clam a-pizz (what a Nutmegger typically calls "pizza") is a bit different, in a few key ways, as Roadfood's Michael Stern [2010] spells out in his typically rapturous description of a-pizz from Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven:

The crust is Napoletana-style, as Stern puts it (I love how he puts this, by the way): "thin but not brittle, with a real bready flavor. Cooked at high temperature on the brick floor of the ancient oven, it is dark around its burnished gold edge, and there is a good chew to every bite" [2010]
No mozzarella. Though they do eat mozzarella on many different types of pizza, these New Havenites will just shake their heads if you try to put any of that on a clam pizza. A little grated Romano isn't so bad though [Gourmet 1995]
Use clams that are fresh as possible. I didn't shuck my own, but instead of the "Chicken of the Sea in a can" I wanted at least some good clams from New England, so I got a tub of some frozen ones caught in Massachusetts.
Also spread some cornmeal on your pizza peel (the big wooden paddle you will use to slide your pizza onto your pizza stone) This will help it slide off the peel easily, so you won't actually have to peel it off [Gourmet 1995]

I did have one problem in making these pizzas, as you will see below: I have never been able to get nice, thin crust. It always puffs up like an elephant ear for me. This will likely have to do with dividing half a recipe of pizza dough into two smaller pieces of dough, and stretching them out as much as possible, then not poking any holes in the bottom. Still, my end result was satisfying.

This recipe from Gourmet magazine [1995] ended up as the basis for my New Haven style clam pizza. I followed López-Alt's [2010] to make the New York style one, as well as his pizza dough recipe.

There are two final things you will definitely need if you want as close a New York or New Haven style pizza as possible (I have alluded to these above): the pizza peel and the pizza stone. The peel (about $10 to $20 typically - don't spend more) when covered with cornmeal will make the uncooked pizza slide easily onto the other thing you need. This is a pizza stone (anywhere from $15 to $30 - I borrowed my mother's cheap one from Aldi's which still worked fine). This can be the round kind you buy in many supermarkets today or even unglazed quarry tile from the Home Depot (check out Marye Audet's Green Living Tips column at the TLC website for how to get great pizza stone tiles at Home Depot for all of five bucks [2012]). You will want this because it distributes the heat evenly and ensures a crisp crust. You don't want to use a pizza pan for this, but bake directly on the stone. And you must make sure to put the pizza stone into the oven before you turn on the heat! Let the stone heat with the oven. If you try to put it into a hot oven, it will shatter.

The Recipes: Traditional New York Pizza and New Haven Clam Pizza

First, we start with the dough.

The Recipe: New York Style Pizza Dough

For this good all-around pizza dough I assembled the following, all of which I had on hand. Exact measurements are in López-Alt's recipe, which I halved:

* hard flour (bread flour works best - do not use a soft, cake flour. You're not making cupcakes here)
* dry active yeast (I had a packet on hand. For his full recipe, you'll probably use a whole packet)
* olive oil
* sugar (just a little - again, not making cupcakes)
* kosher salt
* water

You should also have a gallon ziplocked bag in which to store the dough, and extra flour (this time it can be soft) to flour the surface. A rolling pin isn't a bad idea (though it is technically cheating), and something to poke holes into the crust (which I did not use, but really should have) - that would keep it from rising as much as it did on me, though getting it thinner would've helped too. And that one's totally on me.

I went ahead and tried the food processor method for making the dough - something my sister may not forgive since she often makes the dough in her Kitchen Aid. First you add together the flour, sugar and salt.

Then add the yeast.

Pulse it together until mixed.

Next add the olive oil...

...and the water.

And combine until the dough starts to ball up.

I had to add a little extra water in the end.

Punch it and roll it into a ball. Mark it with a B. Oh, sorry, childhood flashback. Scratch that last part.

Put it in a ziplocked bag to let rise overnight in the fridge.

This is what I had when I put it in the refrigerator.

And this is what I got a day later. When I was ready to assemble the pizzas, I put the dough in the oven while it was off to rise just a little bit more. I got some nice bulk there.

As you can see, my pizza dough doesn't exactly pass the "window pane test". This will have ramifications in getting my dough thinner. Perhaps it needs to rise more? Or maybe I just need to knead it better? Anyway, I was working on a schedule here, so I would have to live with this effort.

I divided the dough to make my two mini-pizzas, and got ready to assemble.

That was actually the difficult part. The easy part comes in assembling your pizza pies. First, the New York style.

The Recipe: New York Style Pizza

First, the sauce - again, López-Alt's recipe, which I did not cut in half this time. I figured I'd save the rest, or use it as spaghetti sauce. It makes a very nice spaghetti sauce.

* tomatoes (canned San Marzanos will work nicely here. I wanted the whole ones - about $4 for a 28 ounce can)
* butter (had Kerrygold. Don't twist my arm by making me eat the good Irish butter)
* olive oil (had it)
* sugar (same)
* dried oregano (had it too)
* garlic (and this)
* onion (very cheap from the store)
* chili flakes
* basil (I bought a little plant grown locally - okay, the Shenandoah Valley, so relatively locally - that is on my windowsill right now, for about $4

Crush your tomatoes, or blend them in the blender or with a hand blender (finally busting out the one I bought reduced at Super Fresh when they were closing down)

Grate your garlic on a grater, or else very finely mince it.

Next, melt your butter together with your olive oil in a saucepan.

Once melted, add the garlic and brown but don't let burn.

Add the maters and all other ingredients (I only added most of the basil here, and held off until the last few minutes to add the rest, to make it even more "basil-y"). Note: when adding your onion, you will not mince or chop it, but cut it in half and just throw it in.

Let simmer for at least an hour, or until reduced by half.

Again, I added the last bit of basil at the end.

Spoon out the onion when ready to use.

When ready to begin assembling the pizza, put your pizza stone into a cold oven. Then turn it to about 500°.

For the New York style pizza itself, you need

* the sauce you just made, plus
* the dough you just made, and
* pre-packaged mozzarella cheese - neither the shredded kind nor the fresh kind. I used Polly-O, which set me back about $4 to $5

Grate your block of mozzarella into a bowl.

Pop it in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. This will help it to melt at just the right time in the oven.

Now for the dough. Flatten it on a floured surface...

...and stretch it out as best you can. Mine kept on tearing here and there (again, looks like something got lost in the translation, but happens to me even with pre-bought pizza dough). I may be impatient, and perhaps I just didn't have enough dough (or the dough wasn't elastic enough) but with hand-stretching this is as stretchy as it got for me.

So I broke out the rolling pin. I still could only get it to about 8 - 10". So I wasn't exactly going for mini-pizzas, but I got mini-pizzas.

Spread cornmeal all over your pizza peel.

Plop the dough on top of it, and spread tomato sauce over the dough, leaving about an inch margin around the sides.

Cover that with the mozzarella.

Slide the pizza off the peel and onto your pizza stone (here is where the cornmeal really helps).

And bake for about 12 to 15 minutes.

You will probably get a pizza that isn't nearly as puffy as this one.

From the side, the cheese and sauce melted together nicely. And while the flavor and texture of the dough were to my liking, again the thickness was a notable setback.

The New Haven style pizza - again from Gourmet magazine [1995] - is a bit different, but even easier to assemble. I used the

The Recipe: New Haven Style Clam Pizza

* pizza dough (the other half of the dough I made earlier. Of course, already stretch this out and put on a cornmeal-covered pizza peel).

* Oh yes, you need a little more cornmeal.

* garlic (chopped - actually, I ended up using the garlic paste from Trader Joe's)

* olive oil

* dried oregano

* Romano cheese (not mozzarella. You will grate this yourself. This wedge was about $7 per pound, and cost me about $4)

* chopped fresh clams (about $6 for the frozen New England kind. Try to avoid the stuff in a can.)

Mix together the olive oil and garlic, and then chill. Awww yeah.

Spread the garlic oil on your flattened, stretched out pizza dough.

Top all over with clams and some of the clam liquor.

Sprinkle on top the oregano...

...and the grated Romano cheese.

Bake, again, at 500° for about 15 minutes.

And again, it came out not exactly round or flat.

However, I was again pleased with the texture and flavor of the dough. The topping was just as satisfying.

So my first attempt at making both New York pizza and New Haven clam pizza wasn't completely a bust. The New York style's tomato and cheese really were as I have remembered many a pizzeria-bought pizza pie: deliciously chewy cheese on top of a tangy, intense tomato sauce. The New Haven clam pizza was something new for me: the garlic and clams meld together wonderfully on top of a soft bed of dough. And speaking of which: the only thing that went against me was the dough. I should have worked harder at making it thinner. But it tasted and felt delicious (I guess the food processor method works). However, if thickness is my only problem then I'll take it.

- - - - -

That's the last regional post for this series. We have two more to go in this series. The last one will deal with an All-American Classic (or two). But first, a side trip to the local Chinese take-out for, believe it or not, another All-American Classic. At least it should be, since like most Chinese takeout dishes, next week's dish cannot be found anywhere in actual China.

Sources:

Audet, Marye. "DIY: Make a Homemade Pizza Stone for $5 Dollars". "Planet Green" column, TLC, 2012. Copyright 2013 Discovery Communications, LLC, all rights reserved.

Gourmet. "New Haven-Style Clam Pizza". March 1995. Posted on the Epicurious website. Copyright 2012 Condé Nast, all rights reserved.

López-Alt, J. Kenji. "The Pizza Lab: New York Style Pizza at Home (Or How I Became a Food Processor Convert)". "The Pizza Lab" column, Serious Eats. Posted October 29, 2010.

López-Alt, J. Kenji. "New York Style Pizza". "The Food Lab" column, Serious Eats. Posted October 29, 2010.

López-Alt, J. Kenji. "New York Style Pizza Sauce". "The Pizza Lab" column, Serious Eats. Posted October 7, 2010.

Stern, Michael. "Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana". Roadfood. Posted June 29, 2010.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia and from the Food Timeline State Foods webpage.

Getting the urge to live-blog again

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:28:00 +0000

Though a few posts have yet to go live, the cooking portion of my State-by-State project is completed. It's so nice to go into a supermarket without looking for specific ingredients so that I can make some unfamiliar though lovely trout recipe from Big Sky Country. Same with cookbooks in the library: I don't have to search out cookbooks on Hawaiian, Cajun or New England cuisine anymore. Now I'm just looking up what I feel like, after two years of recipe research. It's very liberating.

So over the next few weeks, I will be revisiting some of the projects that have come and gone on this blog, just for old time's sake. Starting up: a live-blog of Chopped on Tuesday at 10 - their "Chopped Champions" finale. Yes, I know it's already aired and you guys know who won, but I don't, so like NBC would say "It's new to me!"

I haven't been following this show at all so I will be giving a fresh perspective on our champions since I've never heard of them and never seen them in action before. I admit, the show (particularly the chefs) used to annoy the hell out of me, not to mention the show's propensity for looking for only two types of chef: those working in New York City and those working near New York City. It's gotten more interesting lately, the contestants have gotten more geographically diverse, and the judges have gotten less douchebaggy.

So anyway: next Tuesday I'm doing a live-blog of the 10pm showing of Chopped Champions on the Food Network. Just for funzees. Interested in following along? Tune in then.

State-by-State Redux: VII of X - The Deep South and Southern States Revisited - The Pudding Is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 13:28:00 +0000

We continue to examine food below the Mason-Dixon Line with a dessert so important in the South that it pops up in some form in every generically Southern cookbook I have encountered, hands down. That and on the side of your typical box of Nilla Wafers.

Snacking State-by-State Redux VIII of X: The Deep South and Southern States

What are the Southern States?: always includes the former Confederacy (Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia); usually includes Kentucky, and West Virginia; sometimes includes Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Oklahoma and southern Missouri. The US Census also includes Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands in its "South Atlantic" Census region, though these territories are not culturally part of the South.
Important Cities: Alexandria, Annapolis, Asheville, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Charleston (SC), Charleston (WV), Charlotte, Dallas, Dover, Houston, Jackson, Jacksonville, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Norfolk, Orlando, Raleigh, Richmond, San Antonio, Savannah, Tallahassee, Tampa, Tulsa, Washington
Regions and Subregions: Appalachia, Cajun Country, Chesapeake Bay, Deep South, Gulf Coast, Lowcountry, Piedmont
RAFT Nations: bison (central Texas, Oklahoma), chile pepper (western Texas), corn bread & BBQ (northeastern Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, southern Missouri, northern Louisiana / Mississippi / Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, central Georgia & Florida), chestnut (northern Georgia, eastern Tennessee & Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, southern West Virginia, District of Columbia, central Maryland), clambake (Delmarva peninsula), crabcake (Chesapeake coastline of Maryland & Virginia, Atlantic coasts of: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida), maple syrup (northern West Virginia, western Maryland)
Foods the Region is Best Known For: Southern cuisine - typical dishes include: fried chicken, greens, biscuits, corn bread, Brunswick stew, seafood dishes (catfish, crawfish, blue crab and oyster), okra, many kinds of barbecue, pimento cheese, Moon pies, Appalachian foods (stack cake, pickled ramps), sweet tea, juleps; Coke, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper; banana pudding, pecan pie, chess pie, red velvet cake; Cajun cuisine (gumbo, étouffée, jambalaya); Cuban cuisine (Florida), Tex-Mex & Mexican cuisine (Texas & Oklahoma), multicultural cuisines (major cities throughout the South), African-American cuisine (throughout the South)

When the rest of America thinks of Southern cuisine, it typically thinks of either of two things: fried chicken and barbecue (both of which I have explored in various posts before - fried chicken from Maryland and Tennessee, and barbecue from Missouri, Tennessee, Texas and both halves of North Carolina). But there's a third thing that is so quintessentially Southern that it deserves just as much notice: banana pudding.

Banana pudding is ubiquitous throughout the Southern United States, even in my marginally Southern corner of the country. Still, I was actually surprised at just how ubiquitous it is. I flipped through several cookbooks trying to find potential banana pudding recipes. Every cookbook had at least one recipe for it, and sometimes several.

I grew up eating banana pudding. My mother, a busy homemaker in the 80's and 90's, did take shortcuts: sliced, slightly ripe bananas and vanilla wafers covered with box vanilla (and occasionally chocolate!) pudding. It was a favorite dessert while I was growing up. For this post, I originally thought it would be nice to interpret Mom's recipe.

She told me she got it from the side of the box.

Hmmm...

So off to the box I went. As I said above, I did also look at various cookbooks, but went with the box anyway. The recipe I found included something that my mother's banana pudding never included: meringue. This is not an unusual topping. In fact, many of the recipes I saw include a meringue topping. To my surprise, so does the official recipe on the side of the Nilla Wafer box. This is something my mother apparently missed. She also missed the recipe for custard from scratch!

But I'll be easy on my mother. She didn't have the time to make it from scratch or add the meringue. Heck, it's not like she had to even make it for us at all.

One thing I decided to add to zhuzh this up, since Southerners (and otherners) will go to great lengths to re-interpret their favorite dessert in any way they can: Bourbon.

The Recipe: Bourbon Banana Pudding

To make this banana pudding, with Bourbon, I used the actual recipe on the box (Nabisco, date unknown).

* vanilla wafers (a box costs about $4.50 these days)
* bananas (a bunch ran me about $3)
* sugar (had it)
* salt (same)
* eggs (had them too. Separate the whites from the yolks)
* flour (had it)
* milk (same)
* salt (had this too)
* vanilla extract (I bought an extra bottle just to be on the safe side. You can never have too much of this stuff)
* Bourbon (not part of the original recipe; I added about 3 tablespoons to the custard)

Start by putting a layer of vanilla wafers on the bottom of a dessert pan.

Next cut some of your bananas - about half of what you have - on top

Then layer more wafers, then the rest of the sliced bananas, and finally the rest of the wafers. Use the whole box. Go on, do it.

Once done, assemble your custard. In a double boiler (actual or makeshift), mix together the sugar, salt, egg yolks (set aside those egg whites), flour and milk with a whisk over low heat.

Constantly stir for several minutes until it begin to thicken.

Once thickened, whisk in your vanilla and Bourbon.

Mix until blended.

Pour the custard over the banana-wafer mixture and set aside.

Now for those egg whites. Whip them until form soft peaks. Yes, I'm using an old, analog egg beater. Bet you haven't used one of those in a while.

Add sugar and continue to whip until you get stiff peaks instead.

Spread the meringue over the rest of the dessert, sealing the sides to make sure as little of the banana filling peeps out as possible.

Bake in a 350° oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.

It will be nice and browned on the top.

I don't know if my mother has ever had the kind with homemade custard or meringue. She must have at some point. Well regardless, she has now, and she liked this. Full disclosure: I made this on New Year's Eve (yes, I did this two months ago, and typed up this post a few weeks ago from when it posted), and brought it for the family to share while I sat in front of the TV to watch the Twilight Zone marathon and stuff myself with mini-quiches, pigs in a blanket and itty bitty samosas. And then I got to have delicious, delicious banana pudding. Mom was supposed to have some surgery on the digestive tract soon after, so this would have been her last meal for about a month. Then the surgery got postponed, so she got to eat some more. A lot more. But we helped her. A Steel Magnolia can't be expected to eat the whole damn thing, now can she?

- - - - -

We slowly inch towards the Mason-Dixon Line now, as we move out of the South to revisit the food of New England and the Northeast.

Sources:

Nabisco. "Original NILLA Banana Pudding". Date unknown. Copyright 2013 Mondelēz International. All rights reserved.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia and from the Food Timeline State Foods webpage.

State-by-State Redux: VI of X - African-American Cuisine Revisited - From Dr. George Washington Carver's recipe collection to yours

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 13:02:00 +0000

Dr. George Washington Carver is best known to America's schoolchildren as the inventor of scores of peanut products for home and hearth. That's where most school curricula stop. It must be known, however, that Carver was a maestro of much more, and was one of America's leading botanists and agriculture scientists of his time. In her book The African American Heritage Cookbook [1996, 2005], Carolyn Quick Tillery explores many of Carver's historic recipes, generally a reflection of Southern cuisine, and specifically of African-American cuisine

Snacking State-by-State Redux VI of X: African-American Cuisine

What is it? Foods traditionally cooked by African-Americans in the South, often overlapping with the cuisine of the South in general.
Where did it come from? African-American cuisine (also known as "soul food" since the 1960's) is a combination of cooking techniques and ingredients (sorghum, okra, rice) brought from West Africa, plus ingredients from Europe, the Middle East and Native America. Again, African-American cuisine shares many similarities with Southern cuisine in general.

As pointed out by food author Celia Barbour for O Magazine, African-American cuisine (or "soul food" as it was first called in the 1960's) is traditionally a cuisine of "[e]ating organically, sustainably [sic] and locally" [2010]. A culinary tradition that was grown out of resourcefulness, specifically in the South. She first had the idea of it being excessively fattening and unhealthy.

Like most culinary traditions, African-American cooking was long a balance of wholesome and unwholesome elements. The good ones kept the bad ones in check, until this equilibrium was upset by the processed and fast food industries. In the past few decades, traditional dishes have been supersized and made with nontraditional ingredients, and meals that were formerly eaten only on special occasions have been marketed as everyday fare. (It was hard to gorge on fried chicken when you had to first catch, slaughter, gut, and pluck the obstinate bird; quite another matter when it came in a bucket for $6.99.) Processed foods also recalibrated taste buds: "normal" came to mean excessive amounts of fat, salt, and sugar. It was a toxic mix. [Barbour 2010]

The truth, as she found out, is somewhat different.

I leafed through a book called Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America, by Frederick Douglass Opie, a professor of history at Marist College. I learned that for thousands of years, the traditional West African diet was predominantly vegetarian, centered on things like millet, rice, field peas, okra, hot peppers, and yams. Meat was used sparingly, as a seasoning. [Barbour 2010]

That includes, specifically, the many vegetables, nuts and fruits that African-Americans and others throughout the South grew wherever they could find room to grow it. As for George Washington Carver, professor at Tuskegee Institute, he was an authority in growing these many varied crops: okra, snap peas, black-eyed peas, corn, collard greens and mustard greens, garlic, onions, etc., etc.

Carolyn Quick Tillery [1996, 2005] collects many of Carver's recipes for the modern chef and historian. For more historical context, as she notes, so many African-American sharecroppers were forced to grow cotton and not food on the land outside their homes, being forced to buy whatever food they needed from the plantation's commissary at sky-high prices, keeping them poor and dependent upon them.

Upon his arrival [at Tuskegee], Washington observed that the common diet of sharecroppers was fat pork, corn bread, and, on occasion, molasses. When they were without fat pork, sometimes their only food was the corn bread, served with black-eyed peas, cooked in plain water... Washington urged [the sharecroppers] to ask for a small plot of land on which to grow food and raise chickens. [He] showed them how to maximize production of the plots or to live off "nature's bounty" where no plot could be obtained... In addition to showing subsistence farmers methods of increasing their yield, Carver, an accomplished cook, shared recipes and preservation methods with their wives, and as a result, the women began to participate as well. [Tillery 1996, 2005: x-xi]

As Tillery found out while researching her book, she found that "the first Tuskegee students grew their own vegetables" [Tillery 1996, 2005: 124]. George Washington Carver himself noted in his Up With Slavery his relationship to agriculture:

When I can leave my office in time so that I can spend thirty or forty minutes in spading the ground, in planting seeds, in digging about the plants, I feel that I am coming into contact with something that is giving me strength for the many duties and hard places that await me out in the big world. I pity the man or woman who has never learned to enjoy nature and get strength and inspiration out of it. [Washington Carver, quoted in Tillery 1996, 2005: 125]

I've tried to fancy up most of these last ten recipes in this State-by-State series, but this time I'm keeping leaving it un-zhuzh'd, so to speak, and doing Carver's recipe straight up. You can find the following recipe for collards and cornmeal dumplings (with exact measurements) on page 127 of Tillery's African-American Heritage Cookbook.

The Recipe: Dr. Carver's Collard Greens with Cornmeal Dumplings

* collard greens (Duh. I was in Whole Foods when I bought these. Since George Washington Carver's foods would have been, by default, "organic" by modern standards, I went ahead and bought as much, $3 per bunch for two bunches. Had I bothered to go to the farmers' market first, I would have found the same ones for about $2 a bundle. Wah waah.)
* ham hock (the recipe says you can also use a turkey wing. One package was about $6 at Giant)
* onion (just one, about half a dollar)
* dried chile pepper flakes (had one laying around)
* jalapeño (a few cents for just one)
* garlic powder (had garlic salt, which meant I didn't need to use actual salt. But I did use...)
* seasoned salt (or in this case, Old Bay. I rarely miss an opportunity to use this for something)
* sugar (had it)
* pepper (same)
* bacon (had that too)

Start by sautéing your bacon in a heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven.

Meanwhile, wash your collard greens and chop up. I took my kitchen shears and minced them up in their bowl.

After chopping your onion and chile, sauté them with your bacon.

Then throw in a ham hock and fill the pot with water until the ham hock is about covered.

Bring the water to a boil...

...covering it with the lid for half an hour.

Then add your collard greens and any other ingredients.

Continue to cook them for at least an hour.

Dr. Carver also added cornmeal dumplings to his collard greens. To do this, gather the following (I actually had all of these laying around, except for the milk, about $1.30):

* corn meal
* eggs
* milk
* bacon grease
* flour
* baking powder

Mix the dry ingredients together...

And add the eggs and milk.

Stir until lumpy.

When the collard greens are almost done, drop by large spoonfuls into the boiling collard green liquid, and cover for five minutes...

...like so.

Already nice and dumpling-y.

I don't eat collard greens often. This is a recipe I should be making more of. The collard greens burst with so many different flavors, from the greens themselves to the bacon and ham hocks. This with the delicate, salty dumplings make this a meal in and of itself. You don't need anything else with this. It is its own meal.

- - - - -

Dr. Carver's collards are part and parcel a quintessential example of both African American cuisine and Southern cuisine. Again the two are intertwined. And next week we examine the South some more with another dish that I grew up eating, done up a way that I never ate it.

Sources:

Barbour, Celia. "The Origin of Soul Food". O Magazine, July 2010. All rights reserved.

Tillery, Carolyn Quick. The African-American Heritage Cookbook: Traditional Recipes and Fond Remembrances From Alabama's Renowned Tuskegee Institute. Citadel Press: New York, 1996. First paperback edition 2005.

Some information also obtained from the George Washington Carver Wikipedia page and from the Food Timeline State Foods webpage.

Baltimore Restaurant Week: The Wine Market

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 19:33:00 +0000

The winter version of Baltimore Restaurant Week is almost over once again (though several restaurants, including the one below, have extended it for a week! Check with them for details). And it's been a while since I've had the pleasure of doing a Restaurant Week post. So after my meal last night at the Wine Market in Locust Point, I figured I'd hunker down and write one more Restaurant Week post.

The Wine Market is one of those restaurants that I've wanted to go to but just haven't gotten around to going to yet. My attention often gets diverted to the Harris Teeter when I'm in the McHenry Row area. I finally got the chance to head in last night, walking through the gauntlet of wines and beers that you can buy and bring in with you. I got a Loose Cannon ($5) at the bar while waiting for my friends to show, and then joined them at the table when they got there, ready to see what we could get for $30.13 each.

Alan and Eric splurged on a nice red wine that Eric got in the wine store. I had a sip, and learned how to swirl the stuff around in preparation for sniffing it. I'm not a wine person, but even with the various tastings I've been to, I've never done this. It really does change things!

So, unlike our usual practice of each ordering something different and trying the things we have on each others' plates, we pretty much opted for very similar meals. A few of us ordered the oyster first course.

These were the cornmeal fried oysters in a bacon beurre blanc (normally $10). Just four juicy, tender oysters in a wonderful crispy breading. Not much else to say about it. I was satisfied.

For the second course, we all ordered the Grilled Piedmont steak (locally raised in Maryland, normally $27). I rarely get steak, so this was a rare treat for me. I ordered it medium rare, and got treated to a juicy thick (read: thick) steak. This came with a sprinkle of Brussel sprouts, mushrooms and a sizable slab of root veggie gratin to round it all out. I couldn't place the vegetables in the gratin, but it tasted fine nonetheless.

For our final course, we once more all ordered the same thing: a pumpkin crème brulée (not sure of the regular price). I love me some crème brulée and this one was nice, though not the most memorable one I've ever had. It had a pretty mild pumpkin flavor along with that nice sweet crunchy burnt sugar top. Still, a lovely little dessert that I would probably order again.

Overall this was a good Restaurant Week experience. Again, the Wine Market is extending their Restaurant Week menu through to February 10 (hopefully celebrating a possible Ravens win in the Super Bowl maybe??? I'll say no more: I do not want to jinx this). Make sure you stop by there this week for more delicious food either for lunch or dinner.

Food: Transforming the American Table, 1950-2000

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 22:22:00 +0000

I stopped in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History today and saw, completely unbeknownst to me, a new ongoing exhibit surrounding Julia Child's kitchen (a most permanent set of artifacts on the first floor). The new exhibit, Food: Transforming the American Table, 1950-2000, examines the massive changes in the American food and wine landscape since 1950. Key sections on display include, among others: the influence of immigrants in the American food landscape (from Italian, Mexican and Chinese to Middle Eastern, Indian, Jamaican and Thai), an examination of food co-ops, fast food technology, the influence of agribusiness on how food (and how much of that food) gets to our table, soul food, the local food movement and cookout culture in suburban America. Grills, place mats from In-N-Out, cookbooks by James A Beard and Steve Raichlen, wine making equipment from California and a donut making machine from Krispy Kreme are just some of the exhibits on display. And yes, the entire Julia Child exhibit is part of this new exhibit. Also fascinating is the lengthy dining room table in the middle of the exhibit with various food pyramids and maps embedded into them in turntables that several kids really enjoyed turning. It's very cool. Go see it, and then get some food in DC while you're at it.

Anyone else remember these mugs from McDonald's?

State-by-State Redux: V of X - The Midwestern States Revisited - I'm Forever Frying Fritters...

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 12:26:00 +0000

In our final foray into the Midwest, I try to wed some of the Midwest's most quintessential foods together: corn, flour, wild rice and frying (it's not just for the South anymore). I was, at first, at a loss, but Marcia Adams and her Heartland cookbook came to my rescue once more.

Snacking State-by-State Redux V of X: The Midwestern and Prairie States

What are the Midwestern States?: always includes: Missouri, the Great Lakes States (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota) and the Prairie States (Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas); sometimes includes: Oklahoma, West Virginia and (western) Pennsylvania.
Important Cities: Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Des Moines, Detroit, Fargo, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Omaha, Pierre, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Topeka, Tulsa
Regions and Subregions: The Great Lakes; The Prairie States
RAFT Nations: bison (most of North & South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, northern Missouri, southern Minnestoa, southern Manitoba), chestnut (parts of southern Ohio, West Virginia), corn bread & BBQ (Missouri, Illinois, southern Indiana, parts of southern Ohio & eastern Iowa), maple syrup (Ohio, western Pennsylvania, northern Indiana & West Virginia), pinyon nut (western South Dakota, Nebraska), wild rice (Michigan, southern Ontario, eastern North Dakota, southern Manitoba, northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Illinois & Indiana, parts of northern Ohio & Pennsylvania)
Foods the Region is Best Known For: hearty "heartland" fare; pioneer and Native American dishes; Eastern European, Scandinavian, Southern European, German and Amish fare; sauerkraut; corn, wheat, soy, beef; BBQ (Missouri) & chili (Ohio)

For the Midwest, I wanted to find a recipe that could encompass as much of this vast region as possible. Midwestern foods that pop in my mind after the last two years of this project include corn, wheat and wild rice. I found the perfect recipe early on in Heartland: a dessert corn fritter, eaten with powdered sugar and maple syrup (in the Illinois section of her cookbook, page 14). Her cakey and light "Bishop Hill Corn Fritters" are named for the small utopian community in northwestern Illinois:

The Bishop Hill Colony, a communal Utopian community close to Galesburg, began disintegrating in 1861, when the colonists started dividing up the common property into individual holdings. The town declined but is now in the process of being restored by its 166 citizens, mostly descendents [sic] of the original settlers. [Adams 1991: 14]

The project continues today.

Of course, I did not follow Adams' recipe to a tee. I threw in some wild rice just for variety

The Recipe: Bishop Hill (Illinois) Corn Fritters, with Wild Rice

To make these fritters, exact measurements on page 14 of Heartland, assemble these ingredients, most of which you probably have on hand:

* corn (the original recipe does call for canned corn, though frozen or fresh can be substituted. This organic can from Wegman's was really not too much more expensive than a regular one, so I bought this one instead)
* flour (had it)
* sugar (same)
* baking powder (yup)
* butter (uh huh)
* salt and pepper (that too)
* eggs (same)
* equal amounts of milk (just a quart for about $1ish) and water
* oil (for frying - I used a combination of peanut oil and rice bran oil)
* wild rice (this I had on hand; leave it out if you don't have it. I added about 1/2 cup)
* maple syrup and powdered sugar (had both)

Boil some wild rice according to package directions.

While that's going, beat some eggs. That's one of those old-fashioned egg beaters. Bet you haven't seen one of those things in a while, have you?

Add your water, butter and milk...

And stir in the corn. Make sure you've drained the corn.

Add the dry ingredients and wild rice, and stir enough to moisten.

Heat your oil to deep frying temperature (about 350°F to 375°F) and drop in your fritters in spoonfuls, and fry about two to three minutes a side.

Drain on paper towels, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve hot with maple syrup. Reheat in the oven if you need to. It's just not the same in the microwave.

Adams meant it when she said "delicate and cakelike" [1991: 14]. These things are just absolutely luscious. Plus, I felt guilty eating them. Come on: fried fritters doused in powdered sugar and maple syrup? Who wouldn't feel guilty eating this?

- - - - -

The next region we will visit is the South. First, we take a detour into African-American cuisine, an integral part of the Southern food landscape, by looking at one historic, home grown recipe from George Washington Carver himself.

Sources:

Adams, Marcia. Heartland: The Best of the Old and the New from Midwest Kitchens. Clarkson Potter: New York, 1991.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia and from the Food Timeline State Foods webpage.

Kathy Patterson has a new book!

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 14:01:00 +0000

I know I've done a piss poor job of advertising the ventures of my fellow food bloggers. That said, I do want to give a shout out to Kathy Wielech Patterson (Minx Eats) and husband Neal Patterson. If you've been paying attention, my fellow Bawlmer blogger and hubby have a book out on the best food finds in the area! The Food Lover's Guide to Baltimore showcases the best in food that Charm City has to offer. Plus, Kathy has always been fun to read. You have seen her Top Chef recaps, yes? And while I don't have one in my grubby little hands yet, I will be getting one soon. It's not that pricey on Amazon, so really it's a steal.

Check here for a list of launch events, including signings and such. Congrats, y'all!

Wait - how the hell are there already used copies available???

Snacking State-by-State has its own PAGE!

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:43:00 +0000

For a while, I have wanted to index all the entries from the State-by-State series. Using the "Snacking State-by-State" label DOES give you all of them, but the problem is that it gives you ALL OF THEM.

Now, just look to the right, and you can find an (unsearchable but still scrollable) index of all the posts from this series. Now that said series is almost done, it includes pretty much everything I've done for this state series, indexed by state, region, cuisine, principal ingredient, and a few other things such as "techniques" or "city-specific dishes" (Philly cheese steaks, Nashville hot chicken and Horseshoe sandwiches are all in that section).

Soon I hope to have a Beltway Snacking index up. With gas prices the way they are, I don't really plan to go back to that again, but it would be nice to have. For now (or if I end up not getting around to it) the index of posts by groups of exits should suffice.

Find the State-by-State Index Page here.

A Tale of Two Fishies (and Chips)

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 01:54:00 +0000

Last weekend I had the pleasure of eating two very different types of fish and chips, one pretty haute and one pretty hearty.

For the first one, I found myself in Fells Point, ready for a weekend of rooting for those Ravens, hons (RAVENS IN THE SUPER BOWL W000000000T!). My original intention was to head to my favorite Irish soccer bar Sláinte, where I knew they had a fascinating blueberry "Ravens" cheesecake. But I got sidewinded first as I passed by Bond Street Social, whose warmth and large, inviting bar drew my attention. Bond Street Social has an interesting selection of draft beers, including some of my favorites (Dogfishes and Heavy Seases), not to mention the cocktails, sangrías and wines. I ordered myself a 90 Minute and considered ordering some food. The stomach won over and I pored over the menu. The menu of somewhat pricey food. Pricey food that I knew would likely be in sorta small haute cuisine portions. After much deliberation, I settled on the Social Fish and Chips ($18!!!) which consisted of four tender large fish nuggets in crispy, delicious batter, each nestled on top of an "Old Bay tater tot" (that's the chip), with lovely crispy globs of "salt and vinegar slaw" between them. The food overall was lovely in flavor, texture and presentation. That said, while I am not the kind of person who demands big portions, I was kind of hungry when it was all done. So know that you are paying for a delicious, high quality and smallish portion of fish and tater tots.

I needed some of that Sláinte cheesecake. It went fast, especially with that Loose Cannon to wash it down.

The next day I headed to Arundel Mills, and after a day of shopping for some clothes and window shopping for kitchen items, I stopped in the DuClaw for a little lunch and a little beer. I mean little in only the most cursory way, as the Venom and Chips ($14) I ordered - named for the Venom light amber ale they have on tap - was so massive that the couple seated at the bar table next to me had to comment on its size. They probably saw my buggy eyes when I got it. I paired that with their extra hoppy Serum Double IPA.

But back to the fish: two humongous pieces of cod in tempura batter, extra crispy and crunchy - so much so that it easily slid off the hot, slippery cod. This wasn't such a problem since the breading was a meal in itself. And these fries were actual fries - not bad, but seriously playing second fiddle to that fish. Likewise, this was paired with a sweet and tasty cole slaw, though again it's the fish that stood out. They also brought out some Old Bay per my request.

I did not leave hungry.

While I would eat each again, which of the two would I seek out first? I have to confess it is DuClaw's. The crunchiness of the fillet won me over, despite all else. I will have to order this again, with a Serum Double IPA.

Using Pi for Cake!

noreply@blogger.com (John) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:30:00 +0000

Those of you on the Facebook may have seen by now the below photo making the rounds from the page "I fucking love science" (seriously, that's the name of the page). This is absolutely awesome. Anybody care to try this? This photo is completely theirs and not mine. That and I think it's looking at me.

How to cut a cake into four equal pieces (with one smooth cut). From the Facebook page "I fucking love science."