Entries Tagged 'produce' ↓

A steak carried home from Iowa SHOULD be eaten immediately; but sometimes life intervenes:

I hope I wasn’t patronizing on the phone about defrosting, but I am so proud that my system works as well as it does.

1.  Defrost slowly, in the fridge, with the plastic freezer bag opened (to allow some evaporation) but the meat still in it.  (This step is just because this is how I’ve done it.  It may be that going directly to step 2 and thawing that way makes more sense.)

2.  After a day or so, remove from bag and place on rack, like a cookie cooling rack or maybe a roasting rack adjusted flat, over a plate.  Return to fridge for two to three or more days.  Turn the meat in the fridge from time to time, because although it is on a rack it still will be moister on the underside than on the top.

3.  Look at it from time to time and when it is looking a bit dried out on the surface, cook it.  If its looks scare you, smell it; it will smell like beef, not spoiled at all.

4.  The purpose of this is to reduce the watery nature of thawed meat.  You are drying it.

Love,

Dad

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/dining/28truf.html?_r=1&ref=dining&oref=slogin

 ”The truffles from Chuckey are not the first American-grown Périgord truffles. They are, however, the first American grown black truffles to excite some of the country’s top chefs, like Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, John Fleer and Jonathan Waxman.”

Provence truffles

A group of bérets carries on heated discussions around mysterious pouches. As you approach the terrace, the air becomes more fragrant.

Why Roots Matter More

For food evangelists — consumers who might shop at a co-op or who can explain terms like eco-gastronomy, food miles and the food shed — a local label is sometimes more important than an organic one. That group, which market researchers say make up about 10 to 15 percent of food shoppers, are most likely to spend time in the store pondering whether an organic pepper from Chile is better than one grown in a nonorganic field less than 250 miles away.

from modern girls kitchen

Yes, my friends, well before the advent of “the Blackberry”, there was the real blackberry (as in the fruit, for those of you with your eyes and ears fused to your cell phone/electronic calendar/automated memory bank/substitute brain).

Trips and Meals Fit for Truffle Snufflers - New York Times

 Spending the dead of winter in Provence might not immediately appeal to foodies until they factor in black truffle season.

The Amateur Gourmet reviews truffles via graphic novel form

It occurs to me at the end of this post that I didn’t, in fact, tell you what a white truffle tastes like. How to describe it? It’s really the smell that gets you–the smell is pungent and earthy and unlike anything else you’ve ever smelled. See, wasn’t that helpful?

from a study - Yahoo! News

Elderly people who reported eating at least 2.8 servings of vegetables a day compared to people who ate less than one serving a day saw their rate of memory loss and other mental decline slow by 40 percent over six years, the researchers found.

Chef Todd Humphries talks about his love of fungi

My passion for mushrooms and truffles began a few years ago back in New York while I was working for Gray Kunz at the St. Regis Hotel. As Sous Chef, I prepared dishes inspired by the forest, from a simple risotto with wild mushrooms and tomato coulis to a refined ragout of black winter truffles with salsify and chervil. It was there that I was introduced to hunting mushrooms in the woods of the Hudson Valley, with other New York chefs. My love of foraging had begun.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe

“Farmers in many parts of northern Italy have called for the declaration of a state of natural disaster.”