Food Thread: Fatty Bones From Six Time Zones (Away)!

Yes... that is indeed two roasted bones, filled with delectable, fatty, unctuous marrow! As a first course for dinner, that is hard to beat. I have seen this in American restaurants, though presented differently: cut along the long axis.

Anyway, it's delicious, and something that I should be able to make easily. But I have tried a few times, and for whatever reason they turned out okay, but not delicious.

Any suggestions?

As Americans we have come to expect a certain efficiency in our daily lives. The deli guy is fast; the supermarket check-out is fast; supermarkets have everything, with almost infinite variety; we have within a short drive a huge number of stores that have everything we could possibly need.

And as pleasant as it may be to wander along a lovely small shopping street filled with tiny shops, it takes a lot longer and is empirically less efficient.

But... many of the foods available are of stunningly high quality and are significantly less expensive than their equivalents in the United States. Great lettuce greens for half what I pay, great bread that is ridiculously inexpensive, beautiful vegetables and fruit for less. I did notice that there are no bargains to be had at the butchers, but the quality of the meat is impressive. I made some pork chops last night that were glorious. The meat was marbled, and they were not trimmed to within an inch of their lives... the belly was left on, which goes a long way to forgiving the French for many of their sins!

Don't worry, I am not becoming a frog, but it is a pleasure to find such foods!

That is the deglazing of the pork chops! I seared them, then finished them in a warm oven. I deglazed with white wine, some minced shallots, and a sprig of thyme. When it was reduced a bit I added some Dijon mustard, then a couple of splashes of heavy cream. And that's it! Easy and delicious.

I love the tang of mustard with pork. And beef. And chicken. And lamb.

Maybe I just love mustard!

Those are Number 3s from Normandy. Yeah... the french classify their oysters from #5-#1, and they also add helpful descriptors like "small" and "large" and "flat" and "deep" and "salty" and "creamy." It makes sense, and it certainly makes ordering them in a restaurant a lot easier, although no less pricey than in America.

But I have a couple of fish stores within a few minutes' walk, and they have gorgeous-looking oysters for €15/2 dozen!

So what am I doing today? Yup. You guessed it! Buying an oyster knife!

That is lin-duh's first attempt at sourdough. Well, at least that is what I thought. On further examination and probing, she admitted that she was simply returning to the sourdough fold. Because damn! That is a gorgeous loaf.

You Texans are show-offs!

The Manhattan abuse is on hiatus... they just don't do cocktails very well here. But you aren't off the hook.

$1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty of fifty years, but it is worth it!

posted by CBD at 04:00 PM

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