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Food Thread: The Bitterness Of Life, And Great Pasta

I went to a new (to me) Italian market about 10 minutes away. It's got the quaint name of "Uncle Giuseppe's," which masks the rather large size and comprehensive selection. It's really a regular supermarket with an Italian focus, including a very nicely stocked deli, and fresh pasta!

Which is cruel and horrible, because I am still a bit plump from my Paris sojourn. Yes; unlimited quantities of great bread and even greater cheese will do mean things to one's waistline.

Anyway, I walked past the fresh pasta and immediately thought of Pasta With Brown Butter And Sage, which I think is a marvelous and minimalist example of Italian cooking. If I feel fancy, and I lose another few pounds, I might add some good Italian sausage to the pasta.

But in the meantime I am staying true to a low-carb diet.

Well, sort of.

I did make a Rye-Sourdough boule yesterday, but only because we had guests. I swear I didn't eat much.

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Angostura Bitters is ubiquitous. it's on every bar that even pretends to make cocktails, and it's pretty good for what it does, which is to add that distinctive bitter aromatic tone to whatever you may be making. For me that is usually a Bourbon or Rye-based cocktail.

Well...a few years ago the brats gave me a nice selection of different bitters as a gift. All sorts of ones! Orange and lemon and a few weird ones. But nestled in the corner of the box was a small bottle of another brand of aromatic bitters, so I just passed that one by.

Until a few weeks ago, when my bartender mentioned that we were running low on Angostura! Now, that is a four-ounce bottle, and it has many hundreds of servings of bitters, so I wasn't particularly concerned. But I did trundle out the gift box of bitters, just to make sure that the potential catastrophe of a bitterless cocktail was prevented.

And damn! That little bottle of "Hella Aromatic Bitters" is spectacular! Better than Angostura, and also stupidly expensive! Almost twice the price of Angistura, and worth it. And for a cheap bastard like myself to admit that means something!

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Cocktail sauce. Lowly, everyday, run-of-the-mill cocktail sauce. You know; the stuff you buy in a bottle when you have a hankering for shrimp cocktail, or dump into a glass of tomato juice for a quick Bloody Mary!

And it's mostly crap. Ketchup, some horseradish, some Worcestershire sauce, and they charge five times what they should; from $2 for the house brand to $6 for the fancy brands.

So make it yourself! That's what I did last night (well, actually I delegated to the younger brat who was visiting). It tastes much fresher, has a better spicy punch, isn't sweet, and goes much better with the Gulf of America shrimp we had.

What? Oh...dump the shrimp into seasoned boiling water, turn off the heat, and then remove after two minutes into ice water. Trust me...you will never overcook shrimp again!

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At first glance, this article was just more of the maddeningly irritating conceit that most food sites have; blather on for five or six paragraphs before you get to the recipe, and on the way try to link to a few products to get a few bucks.

But this is a bit different! First of all, the cake sounds really good, especially since I have the last of some delicious pecans that a friend sent me. Second of all, the baker/journalist is a loon, but an appealing one!

I am going to try Bourbon Brown Butter Cake in the near future, and if it's good, I'll tell you all about it! And if it's bad, I'll tell you all about it!

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Talk about Cognitive Dissonance!

What the hell am I to do?

Maybe just burn it all down and start again?

Seriously...what temperatures do you folks keep your refrigerators and freezers?

I keep my freezers at the lowest temperature possible, unless I am making clear ice. And the refrigerators are always dancing on the edge of freezing, although that is a function of the crap thermostats that modern appliances have. My old refrigerator keep more consistent temperatures than my fancy new one.

Now get off my lawn!

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What? Texas Moron Meet-Up recipes?

Which ones?

BBQ Burnt Ends (Brisket)
Korean Pork Belly Burnt Ends
Butter-Braised Potstickers
Puff Pastry Wrapped Sausages
Pulled Pork Sliders
Santa Maria Tri-Tip
Chimichurri Sauce
Fennel & Arugula Salad
Jalapeño au Gratin Potatoes
Pickled Vegetables
Smash Burgers
Apple & Fennel Slaw
Spicy Corn Medley
German Potato Salad

Yes, that is a lot of cooking!

With Ben Had as the philosophical guru, Rancher Bob and his lovely wife, CowHorse Queen, Pete Bog and his lovely wife, Mrs. Pete Bog, slaved over hot stoves and hot grills and hot smokers and lots and lots of sharp knives for three days to feed the Morons who braved the wilds of Texas. There were others who helped a huge amount with prep and bringing interesting foods, and OH MY GOD! lin-duh makes a mean cookie!

It was absolutely a team effort, but those four did an immense amount of planning and shopping and cooking to feed the Horde, and for that...Thank You Very Much! It was delicious!

Perhaps we can work out a recipe list for those who are interested.

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I thought France would have good garlic, but the Frogs seem to have the same problem we have in the U.S. At least they don't import filthy garlic from China. Pork is great here, but no game, so send all of your extra antelope to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Who are those poor deluded souls We know who shakes their Manhattans! These are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.

$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 or fifty years, but it is worth it!