This is my much “loved” copy of “Classic Chinese Cuisine” by Nina Simonds.

Hot as it was this week, I decided I would make “Cold Tossed Sichuan Noodles” from this book. No way I was creating any more heat than necessary in the house. Plus it is a quick and easy to make dish.

This is actually a great weeknight meal, if the weather is intolerably hot or not. If you have these ingredients in your pantry it takes minutes to throw together the sauce, chop a few veggies, and boil the noodles. You can also make it with any other nut butter, if you don’t like Peanut Butter. Almond, Cashew, whatever.

Quite possibly the trickiest thing in this recipe is poaching the chicken, without making it dry or tough. Even many restaurants *cough*Pomelo*cough* can’t seem to manage this. If you bring it to a boil too quickly it turns into chewing gum. Ideally, you’d seal it in a cryovac bag with rice wine, ginger, soy sauce, and garlic and sous vide it. Lacking sous vide equipment, place the bone on breast in a pan large enough it can be covered with cold water. Add a splash of soy sauce and rice wine. Crush a garlic clove and a couple ginger slices and drop them in the water. Using medium heat, bring the water up to not quite a simmer. Cover and reduce the heat as low as you can. Continue to cook until the breast reaches 145 at its thickest point and the broth is clear. The dish would also be tasty made with tofu instead of chicken.

“Classic Chinese Cuisine” is one of the first cookbooks that opened my eyes and tastes when I was in college and had my first food service jobs. One of the first time I realized that if I followed a recipe from a cookbook, I could make something much tastier than many of the restaurants I had been going to. Chinese cuisine was my first enthusiasm, thanks to this book. “Cold Tossed Sichuan Noodles” is one the first recipes I remember making from it. Just between you and me, I checked out “Classic Chinese Cuisine” from the public library. It was due for return on April 22, 1989. I’m sorry if you have been trying to check it out. The “Cold Tossed Sichuan Noodles” were just so good, I knew I needed to make far more things from the book. It’s not something I’m proud of.

Swine Flu, eh.  Twitter, maybe.

But Carne Asada Fries?

Frankly, if you’re going this route, why not go all the way?  To me, Chorizo, rather than Carne Asada would be doing it up in style.

Edit: My friends over at Married…With Dinner dropped me a note to tell me Carne Asada Fries are something of a Southern California phenomenon.  A friend of theirs recently wrote up a blog post about the subject.  Check it out: Carne Asada Fries. Bong Not Included.

In case you’re wondering where this mad mash up of Canadian Poutine and Mexican food can be had in San Francisco, I spotted it last Friday as a lunch special at Carmelina’s Taqueria in the Millberry Union on the UCSF Parnassus campus.  Perhaps next week, I will risk life and limb for an in the flesh photo.

Iron Chef America

“Watch David Kinch battle Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America on Sunday, March 15. Chef Kinch challenges resident Iron Chef Bobby Flay on the popular Food Network cooking competition TV show.”

No, really, what did you say?  I seem to be having a hard time hearing.  I thought I heard you say Manresa Restaurant’s chef  DAVID KINCH was going to battle BOBBY FLAY on the Food Network’s show IRON CHEF.

Well, I know I’ll be setting the DVR when I get home tonight.

But if Kinch doesn’t mop the floor with that wannabe cowboy…

Persimmon identification, part two for Tiare.

The other sort of persimmon that it is possible you might run across is called a “Fuyu Persimmon”.  As you can see, it has a flatter shape than its cousin the Hachiya Persimmon.

Unlike Hachiya Persimmons, Fuyu Persimmons are edible when still crunchy and firm.  A lot of times you’ll see folks eating them out of hand like apples.  Being a weirdo, I like to peel both apples and persimmons before eating.

I’m trying to think of what other food they are most similar to and coming up a bit empty.  Maybe a bit like a crunchy pear, but sweeter and without the acidity?

Few other fun Persimmon facts:

All the persimmons on a single tree ripen at the same time, making them a very seasonal fruit.  Here in the San Francisco area, they are available from early November through Mid-December.

You can let Fuyu persimmons “ripen” until they are pudding-like and soft.

Technically, you aren’t letting persimmons “ripen”.  They are ripe when they are crunchy.  The technical term is “bletting“.  But really, you’re mostly letting them rot a bit.  Other than Persimmons, Quince and Medlars are also at their best after, ahem, “bletting”.

If you don’t have time to allow Hachiya Persimmons time to “blet”, you can just freeze them.  When they thaw again, they will be soft and their astringent character will be gone.

While I’m not someone who usually enjoys a meal of liver or spleen, I’ve always enjoyed a little bit of giblet flavor in things like dirty rice.

Lately, I’ve been adding a bit of chicken giblets to a stuffing I use for winter squash. Very tasty.

Anyway, so I was reading about this week’s chef’s dinner at Magnolia Brewpub and it said they were serving the turkey with Giblet gravy.

And frankly, I’m all about the gravy, stuffing, and potatoes at Thanksgiving.  I really don’t care that much about the turkey, except it is needed to flavor the gravy.

So…

I simmered 1/2 pound of chicken livers in chicken stock to cover with a bay leaf and a sprig of winter savory.

When the chicken livers were cooked through, I strained the liquid through a chinois and added more stock to make 2 cups.

Deglazed the Turkey roasting pan with a cup of white wine. Strained this through a chinois and added to Chicken liver cooking liquid.

Minced one of the chicken livers.

Made a roux based on 2 TBSP of butter.

Added liquid above to roux. Added minced chicken liver. Salt and pepper to taste.

Mrs. Flannestad exclaimed, “This gravy is great and I don’t even like gravy!”

Ahem, I then had to break it to her that it had chicken livers in it.

Definitely “Best Gravy Evar”!

Another of our favorite things is “pudding cake”.

I had a little pie pumpkin I bought around Halloween that has been sitting on the counter for a month now. Wanted to do something with it, but wasn’t up for full on pie.

On a whim, searched the internet for “pumpkin pudding cake” and found this:

Chocolate Pumpkin Pudding Cake

The instructions were a bit odd, but it was the only from scratch Pumpkin Pudding Cake I could find.  All the others called for things like boxed cake mix.  Only after it was too late into the process did I realize it was a vegan recipe.  I guess “VWAV” stands for “Vegan with a Vengeance”.  Sounds a bit menacing to me.

I’m sure they won’t be thrilled to be included in a post that involves chicken livers.

Well, so it goes.

Damn was the cake tasty though.

I was really surprised how rich and tasty it was without involving eggs or butter.

I know as grown up adults and non-shallow individuals we’re really not supposed to be all that attached to “things”. Still, being the person that I am, I do get attached to things. For example, at a recent event I didn’t get my exact stainless 28 oz weighted shaking tins back. How different are individual 28oz weighted mixing tins? Not very. (Well, to be honest the ones I got back seemed a bit flimsier than ones I brought to the event.) Still I was disappointed that I let it happen.

Other times I’m just particular, maybe obsessive, about brands. For example, I pretty much will only use DeCecco dried pasta. I started using it when I was cooking at an Italian restaurant. I like it. I see no reason to change.

(Vegetarians may want to stop reading now.)

One of my favorite steaks is the ribeye.

I prefer bone in ribeye, but tonight I was dining alone, so tough to justify a steak that big. And I like Niman Ranch’s steaks. Grass fed and corn finished seems to be the best of both worlds.

I grew up in the Midwest, where beef is king. My parents would often buy a “half a cow” and put it in the freezer.  We would eat cow parts for a long time. Summer sausage, steaks, you name it.  We ate a lot of beef. A few years back, when “grass fed” beef started being trendy, I had a grass fed steak in a restaurant. When I tasted it, I realized that this was the beef flavor that I had been missing. The flavor of pasture raised cattle, instead of the rich taste of corn fed, lot raised, beef.

But I still like the Niman-Ranch ribeyes a bit better than most of the purely grass fed steaks I’ve tried so far.  Mostly because they are easier to cook.  It is my understanding that the Niman Ranch cows eat grass or silage for most of their lives in pasture.  Which is good because cows have evolved to eat grass.  Then, shortly before their demise, they are plumped up for a month or two with feed to allow Niman Ranch to bring a fattier, richer, more marbled steak to market.  Compromise, I suppose.

Another thing I am fond of is cast iron. In particular this cast iron pan. When I was shipped off to college by my parents, the first two years I lived in the dorms and survived on cafeteria food and instant ramen made in my hot pot.

The third year, however, I moved out of the dorms and into an apartment.  I soon discovered that I had no cookware, the thermostat on our oven didn’t work (landlord never fixed), and that I only knew how to make one thing, scrambled eggs with potatoes and cheese.  Seeking to broaden my horizons and cookware selections, I headed down to the hardware store and purchased this cast iron pan.

“Why Erik,” you ask, “wouldn’t it have been better to get a non-stick pan, especially since you only knew how to cook scrambled eggs?”  To answer your question, yes, it would have been easier and a lot less messy.  I don’t think I got this thing well seasoned enough to cook eggs for about 5 years.  But that’s me, I didn’t give up and didn’t give in.  No non-stick frying pan for me.  Giving away a bit about my age, I’m gonna say that was about 1985.  So I’ve had this pan longer than I’ve known many of my best friends.  Not that friends aren’t great and all that.  But, if you take care of it well, you can always depend on a cast iron frying pan.

I previously mentioned that I enjoy the beers, but another alcoholic beverage I enjoy is wine.  A long time ago, being a pretentious git, I figured the best way to learn about wine would be to read The Wine Spectator.  At the time, big California Zinfandels were all the rage.  Producers like Sky, Mayacamas, Heitz, and my particular favorite Ridge.  I read about one of their wines, Ridge Howell Mountain Zinfandel and it was the first wine I had to have.  It was described as big, difficult, and needing someone of discerning taste to appreciate.  Obviously, this was a wine for me.

I searched and searched the wine stores in town and finally found a bottle of the Ridge Howell Mountain Zinfandel.  Can’t remember the vintage, but I’m guessing I spent most of whatever meager weekly paycheck I received at the time on it.  Unfortunately, it was one of those things.  I carried it around from apartment to apartment, state to state, and city to city.  Finally a couple years ago Mrs. Flannestad and I cracked it open.  It wasn’t corked, but with all that travel and turmoil it had probably aged faster than it would have in a nice cool wine cellar.  We should have drunk it about 10 years earlier.

I still really like Ridge’s wines, though they have bowed a bit to modern tastes and lightened many of their offerings.   The little blurb on the back of the bottle talking about making the wine and how long it will probably last in the bottle is always something I have enjoyed.  Three Valley’s is basically their table wine.

At around $20 a bottle, it’s a nice treat for those tough weeks at work.

Plus, it goes really well with a steak and a baked potato.

So anyway, there you go.  Things.  Things and memories accumulate over time.  It’s sad when either are lost.  But probably the memories are more important.

No, not the Steve Martin movie of the same name, (though “Tonight You Belong to Me” does bring back happy memories of the Flannestad wedding festivities,) instead we’re talking about the traditional Jamaican spice blend.

For some reason, I often see jars labeled “jerk” seasoning in grocery stores, not to mention, even more inexplicably, dry jerk seasoning.

Maybe I’m weird, but jerk seasoning really it is not all that hard to make, so to me, the idea of buying it seems crazy. Especially the dry stuff which must essentially taste like sawdust.

Main components of Jerk Seasoning.

Spice
Herb
Acid
Heat
Savory
Sweet

The Spice is almost always provided by the dried fruit of the Allspice Tree (aka Jamaica pepper,”Kurundu” Myrtle pepper, pimento, or newspice) whose botanical name is “Pimenta dioica.” Like all spices, it is best to buy this whole and grind it yourself. Once spices are ground they have a shelf life that can be measured in days. Whole, they can keep for months or years.

The “Herb” is usually just Thyme (aka Thymus vulgaris).

The “Acid” is traditionally provided by vinegar.

The “Heat” is traditionally from Scotch Bonnet or Habanero chiles.

The “Savory” is from Green or white onions and garlic.

And lastly the “Sweet” is usually from sugar.

So let’s play:

1/2 tsp. whole Coriander Seed
2 tsp. whole Allspice
1 tsp. Dried Winter Savory
1 tsp. Dried Chile Flakes
1 tsp. Whole White Pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Fresh Thyme
1/2 White Onion, roughly chopped
1″ Piece Ginger, thinly sliced against the grain
2 Cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
Juice 1/2 Lime
Juice 1/2 Orange
Splash Flavorful Rum (In Jamaica THE Rum is Wray and Nephew White Overproof Rum)
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
Drizzle Olive Oil

In a spice grinder (I use a bladed coffee mill) grind the dried spices until they are fine. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, lime juice, orange juice, and olive oil to the bowl of a blender or similar device (even a mortar and pestle). Add the ground spices and sugar. Process until it is a smooth paste.

Smear over your favorite meats or vegetables, allow to marinade for as much or as little time as you have, and grill or roast until cooked.

Jerk Marinated Roasted Chicken, Braised Soy Beans with Collard Greens, Flat Bread.

In regards ingredients, I don’t know why I started adding ginger. It’s been years (possibly decades) since I started making this recipe and can’t remember. Ginger is commonly used in Jamaica and the Caribbean, however I can find no traditional jerk recipes that call for it. I used Chile flakes instead of fresh peppers because that is what I had in the house this week. Using Citrus juice for the acid, instead of vinegar.

The best part, or maybe the worst part if you’re the sort of person who prefers the smell of hand sanitizer and cleaning solution to food, is that your house will smell like Christmas for several days after roasting jerk seasoned food. Beats the hell out of potpourri.

Further investigation has more or less confirmed that the Herb used for the Herb Grilling, was indeed Shiso. In an article called, “An inviting herbal accent” the LA Times describes, “It’s a captivating herb that’s sort of cinnamon-y, sort of basil-ish, kind of anise-like. You might catch a note of cumin or curry leaf, along with a hint of citrus.”

Sounds about right.

The wikipedia article on Perilla, or Shiso, also notes that the varieties used in different countries have varying characteristics and potencies. I kind of suspect mine was more the type grown in Vietnam or Korea, as it seemed quite potent, and the leaf edges weren’t as frilly as those I remember seeing in Japanese groceries.

I haven’t seen Shiso used too much in drinks. I know Scott Beatty of Cyrus in Healdsburg uses it in his “Beau Regards” vodka drink and I think I remember seeing it in one or another cocktail in “Food & Wine Cocktails 2008″.

One of the nice things about growing your own herbs is that many of them are enthusiastic growers and you will often have more than you can possibly use.

This leads you to do things that you normally wouldn’t do, if you were buying your herb portions in $4 plastic packages at the supermarket.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) is one of those enthusiastic growers.

A cool thing I like to do is build an indirect heat pile in the grill, hack down a bunch of lemon balm stems, rinse them in water, and then put the herb on the grill as an aromatic base. Salmon is particularly tasty this way.

Unfortunately, mother nature has other plans for salmon this year and the lemon balm isn’t quite big enough to hack down.

Another enjoyable pass time of mine is to go to the Alemany Farmers’ Market a bit late. While you sometimes miss high demand items and even whole vendors, you do get the benefit of late market discounts. Folks who’d rather sell their goods than pack it back up.

Last week when I was going past one of the Asian herb growers they were down to only mint and what I thought was shiso, so were selling them 2 bunches for a dollar. And they were big bunches. So I got a bunch of mint and a bunch of the other stuff.

One thing that always amazes me about Farmers’ Market produce is how much longer it usually lasts. If I buy one of those plastic packages of herbs, it seems like the mint doesn’t last much longer than the next day. In this case, I left the mint and other in the fridge for a week without water, and it was still perfect fine.

Anyway, so I had a big bunch of this herb that I got for 50 cents. We picked up a beautiful arctic char fillet, and I thought I would grill it on a bed of it.

Pulled the “shiso” out of the fridge and washed the leaves. Some were as big as my hand and they had a very strong scent. Kind of reminiscent of cumin seed. Flavor was similar with notes of cinnamon and spice. A bit weird, but what else am I going to do with it?

Built my indirect coals, covered the other half of the grill with the herb, and put the fillet on.

Amusingly, as the herb starts to smolder, it smells amazingly like another “herb”. And a pretty good quality of that herb, indeed. Jokes about “weed smoked” char proliferate. There is giggling.

Fortunately, the “weed smoked” Arctic Char turned out to be delicious. Served it with a fennel, orange, and mint “salsa”, Quinoa Pilaf, and Tree Oyster and feta stuffed summer squash. No unusually altered perception was noticed.

Photos courtesy of the lovely Mrs. Underhill.

Dearest Vegetarian Friends and Sympathizers,

As you may know, even though I am not a vegetarian, one of my pet peeves is bad vegetarian food. There is no excuse for much of the pathetically inedible and not tasty food which passes for vegetarian in the US.

I blame the hippies.

In any case, I recently dined at Enjoy Vegetarian Restaurant, which is very near where I work.

Enjoy Vegetarian Restaurant

It is a Chinese restaurant which features an amazing array of meat free and meat-like entrees. I’m also not usually a huge fan of the fake meat, but this stuff is really tasty. I had a delicious smoked wheat gluten dish with black bean sauce and Chinese preserved veggies. Yum! The toothy texture of the wheat gluten reminded me most of King Trumpet Mushrooms. In fact, vegetarian or not, this is really tasty Chinese food.

OK, it is true parking in the Inner Sunset sucks to all hell.

However, this restaurant is not far at all from the N Judah MUNI line, so suck it up and take public transportation.

Best,

Erik