Jacqueline Church's Blog

Posted by Jacqueline Church

Today's post is brought to you by the letter C. That's C as in Coffee and Culinary travel. Our horizons expand through the experience of travel. Good educators can bring that same broadening experience to you, via the classroom.

Whether you're saving dollars or minimizing your carbon footprint, if a trip to Italy isn't in your plans and you're near the Big Apple, why not take a two-day break and learn something new at the I.C.C. The quality of the offerings here are fantastic. I'm a fairly highy caffeinated gal and I've done my fair share of reading and self-study. What a revelation this course was! It wasn't just the caffeine that made my eyes pop and my jaw drop.

Though this class was taught by experts from Illy's Universita del Caffe in Trieste, this wasn't just a promo for the company. This was a thoroughly entertaining and educational course about coffee from its historical significance, through trade and scientific developments, through current events like fair trade and sustainable farming trends.

The diversity of the class in terms of experience with coffee, with food, with science was great. Less well executed curriculum would have failed where this one succeeded.

Bad Writer, Good Dog

A food writer, this food writer approaches product reviews with the best of intentions. I accept products to review only when I think I can do them a fair turn and fit in the review in a timely and traffic-building way. Sometimes, life intervenes.

Good Dog Coffee came to my attention when I was researching Shade Grown Coffee. They are a micro-roaster and roast your coffee to order. They sell Organic, Fair Trade, Shade Grown coffees from smal coops that help establish living wages and good working conditions.

They even label your coffee with a personal label. Imagine my surprise when my bags of coffee arrived with my own grinning mug on the label! And my own mug was grinning when I sipped these darkly roasted, guilt-free brews. You can find Good Dog Coffee here and they're on Facebook, too.

• Coffee with a Conscience, Shade Grown Coffee

Posted by Jacqueline Church

Quel Dommage - what a shame.

To read more about this Saveur this month has a great article here.

Many local cheese shops are hosting special tastings or meals even, featuring the cheese which may soon be only a memory.

If you'd like to learn more about other cheeses, I highly recommend the new magazine Culture: the Word on Cheese. The second edition has just been released and it's every bit as informative, fun, well-written and beautifully photographed as the first. On the topic of blues, the first edition has a great primer on blue cheeses, explaining the inoculation process, the varieties, their unique qualities and serving tips.

Here's a preview online: Culture, a sneakpeek.

You may notice an article on tea and cheese by none other than our Tea Sommelier, Cynthia Gold.

Another fun feature of Culture is the monthly centerfold - just like the centerfold of a men's magazine, we see a gorgeous two page spread photo, we learn of the likes and dislikes of the featured cheese, etc. Quite humorous and informative.

If you're buying cheese you'll want to protect it by properly wrapping it in cheese paper.

Should you find yourself with bits leftover of this or that, why not make a cheese spread?

Posted by Jacqueline Church

What I didn't know is how he has grown as a chef and manager into a real innovator, while keeping his newly honored character.

Read my Momofuku: Happy Temple of Pork article here then go to my blog and read about my interview with him. See: Keep your Oscar: I'll take my Character: David Chang.

See also: A little peach and a lot of character. David Chang gets (yet another) award.

Coming as I do from a managment consulting background, I can tell you a lot of what he's doing or trying to do, is spot on. Fostering retention and commitment and even gaining a recruiting advantage are all things that are enhanced by the kinds of efforts Chang describes.

It was a great fun chat, even if there was a PR person lurking behind the mute button!

Posted by Jacqueline Church

Our "cheesy friend" Jody sent us a box of cheeses from Dean and Deluca the other day. Trying the first few bites of the Coach Farm Triple Cream goat cheese absolutely gave me chills, it was that good. Thanks Jody!

Immediately, I had to tell you about it here, but what else could I write about it? Then it occured to me that I hadn't yet profiled an exciting new food magazine called Culture. Please read about it in this post, If You Think Cheese is Sexy, and find it soon at your cheesemonger or bookstore.

Researching the Coach Farm cheese I discovered that the farm carries the name of Coach Leather because that is who started the farm, the former owners of Coach Leather. I also learned they've won numerous awards for their cheeses. Having tried just one exquisite cheese of theirs I can not say I'm surprised.

But it doesn't stop there...guess who is married to the Coach Farm's owners' daughter? The son of this man, Armandino Batali. That's right, Mario Batali is married to the Cahn's daughter. Imagine those picnics?

Oh mama. Well if that doesn't do it for you, maybe the centerfold will, see CultureCheeseMag.com. If Winnimere only liked long walks on the beach...

Posted by Jacqueline Church

Read about Sandrine's to see what Alsatians are doing, with choucroute and sausage and more. The smallest region in France has the largest concentration of culinary stars. Something good is going on there.

The other sausage post this week was about our friends at Cochon and what they're doing with their Cajun versions of sausage and charcuterie.

For centuries folks learned to utilize and preserve every bit of meat they grew. After all, the pig took resources to grow and nurture and you had to really get every bit of value out of it when it was slaughtered.

Some artisans and chefs doing great things with salumi, charcuterie, hot dogs, and choucroute include:

• Donald Link and Stephen Stryljewski of Cochon Butcher
• Chris Cosentino of Boccalone and Incanto
• Armandino Batali of Salumi
• Raymond Ost at Sandrine's

Michael Ruhlman's newest tome, Charcuterie is said to be fantastic and based on his other books I have read, I would recommend it without having seen it myself first.

Spanish are known for some pretty perfect pig products, too. It's rumored that there's a Navarra promotion going on right now in Boston and NYC - it's just kinda hard to find out what that means. Ooops.

Here's a brief bit on them.

If you're in Boston:

• Salumeria Italiana in the North End
• Las Ventas in the South End
• Savenors

All those purveyors can provide you with wonderful charcuterie.

Posted by Jacqueline Church

Little late but wanted to share the news: Raghavan Iyer's book 660 Curries, which I told you about here, in Cooking with Ghee & Gratitude was one of the top picks for 2008 by NPR.

I can't tell you how delicious your house will smell and how much you will enjoy the food - you just have to see for yourself.

Cheers!

Posted by Jacqueline Church

This post on Aromatized wines and specifically, VYA Vermouth, is all about this long-neglected category of wines.

Martinis: what they are and ain't

I have always found one of the most enjoyable meals to be a simple martini followed by a rare to med-rare, dry-aged Delmonico. No less than my beloved Julia Child once attributed her longevity to red meat and gin. Need I say more? Okay, if you insist...

My uber-sophisticate friend Catherine and I established a tradition of celebrating new professional achievements with a steak dinner, leaving aside the places that ignore women or only treat them as decorative objects. Instead, we christened a few as favorites among the elegant, clubby steak houses in Boston. Grill 23 and Smith and Wollensky reign supreme. We know we are always going to be well (if sometimes over-) served. Likewise, we know we will always get both a perfect martini and a fabulous steak. And we will be no less respected than those two suits at the other end of the bar.

Again, a Manhattan is an acceptable substitution and Catherine's late father and my husband both master mixologists, helped us expand our horizons in this regard. Jim Cecil's trick was to add a splash of the cherry juice, Caleb refuses to give up his secret, but his are not to be trifled with either.

Martinis - the proper pre-dinner cocktail

Only a few make the list: a Martini, a Manhattan, a good Sherry or perhaps a glass of good Champagne.

A Martini should not be full of fruit, nor should it be chocolate. The current fad demanding all drinks in a Martini glass be called "Martinis" is simply a reflection of a relative lack of sophistication. So many young professionals striving to look cool at the networking social held at some swanky downtown venue.

The Kool-Aid generation came of drinking age coinciding with a huge over-production of Zinfandel. Serendipity and smart marketing took the surplus and created a new wine entirely aimed at the youthful drinkers whose palates ran toward the innocuous and vapid. A stroke of marketing genius gave these customers just what they wanted: White Zin.

It was that same palate that for years held captive our beloved Martinis. Now, thank heavens, true Martinis are back.

L'chaim!

Posted by Jacqueline Church

Do you cook from a recipe or not? For me, most often I consult it for rough proportions or to remind myself of the basic framework. Then I do my own thing. If it's something intimidating or something I've never made before, or both, I probably will have a recipe in front of me.

It's an interesting set of video clips with the legendary Nach Waxman. Chow.com has their wonderful "Obsessisves" video interviews with guys like Chef Chris Cosentino talking about offal. Nach Waxman is talking about our collective neurotic reliance on cookbooks and recipes. He has an interesting theory, it's worth a watch.

There's also a great site with videos, recipes and lots if not everything you might want to know about who is cooking authentic Italian cooking anywhere in the world hosted by the Virtual Group of Italian Chefs. They are on a crusade to save us, ladies and germs, from that scourge of the universe: bad Italian food! Yes! May the force be with them, I say.

If you want to look at this juxtaposed against my bastardization of Italian Wedding Soup, it might be good food for thought. Or not. But it'll be good food for your plate. Promise.

Oh, by the way, according to our other quirky encyclopedic chef friend and writer Chef James Ehler of Foodreference.com it's also National Pastrami Sandwich Day.

Take your pick. Enjoy!

By the way, All'onda in the title? That refers to the term literally translated as "the wave". It is the motion, in the bowl or plate that properly prepared risotto should make. Too often our risotto is too stiff and starchy or too soft and soupy.

Posted by Jacqueline Church

This article In Marrakesh, notes the interest in Morrocco and the culinary travel trend. Africa is one continent I have yet to visit. This is a place that holds such fascination ever since I was a young girl and had to look up what a "striped djelleba" was...

Take the train from Casablanca going south

Striped djellebas we can wear at home Well, let me hear you now

Then recently I saw the movie Casablanca again. I'd forgotten how funny, sharp, cutting the dialog is in much of the movie. And speaking of cutting words, Dick Cavett has a column now in the NYT whose recent installment is about the art of the insult. I'm starting a new semi-regular feature called "Bit o'Bile" over on my blog. C'mon over and see what it's about. There's a Bogey, Casablanca connection, of course.

In the meantime, enjoy some cous cous - it's great with Meyer Lemon Chicken.

Posted by Jacqueline Church

In the last several years I have fallen head over heels for Global knives. I don't know how the dalliance started, I was a loyal Henckels girl. But you know that new sexy kid arrived, the staid old German model just seemed a little less racy.

It was one, then another, then a wedding registry and a magnetic knife strip...

That knife block with the Henckels sat on my counter top. Anchoring the cutting boards and keeping them from pushing the toaster into the sink. But not much more.

Then it happened. One day, for whatever reason, my hand reached for the knife block. For my sturdy, heavy Henckels Chef Knife. I picked up that knife and the weight of it was heavenly in my hand. Suddenly the Global seemed less substantial.

Was I being unfaithful to my Globals? I felt the Henckel's Chef knife had forgiven me. He was simply standing by, patiently waiting until I came to my senses and the dalliance was over.

Since 1731 Henckels have been making knives. That's long enough to get something right, don't you think?

Still the Global looks good and fits my hand sooo nicely.

Reconciliation:

We have all kissed and made up. The make up cooking is always the best, isn't it?

We are going forward together as one happy family. The Globals on their magnetic strip (see the photo) and the Henckels in their block. I will not deny either, and they both give me pleasure.

Is it any wonder why we are so happy in the kitchen?

For more on Buying Kitchen Cutlery and the great new book Knives Cooks Love, read here.

Also see Knife Skills Illustrated for a beautiful guide to the skills home cooks need to hone.

Posted by Jacqueline Church

Food and Wine, Saveur, Gourmet, chefs resources all over the place and periodicals for home cooks and foodies are busy on their summer ideas right about now. But a few months ago when they were working on tabulating food trends for 2008 and predicitons for 2009, what was on the collective culinary mind?

One clear trend is to go local, sustainable, organic when it doesn't break the bank. If you want to get big satisfaction for pennies, wow your family, make friends with your neighbors, I have two words for you:

Start Baking!

There is simply no better way to make love with food. Okay, maybe there are some but this is not our topic today. Baking bread is a universally appealing smell. And my delight at rediscovering the joy of baking is only heightened by the fact that it is so inexpensive! What else can you do for pennies that creates this much joy?

One of my most popular articles is the Perfect Pie Crusts recipe. Here's a shocker: I found a better recipe.

I also have two fabulous sources to share. One is Cindy Mushet's Art and Soul of Baking and the King Arthur Flour company's Baker's Banter Blog.

I promise you if you try just one or two recipes from the KAF blog or one or two peeks into Mushet's book, you'll discover or re-discover the world of baking and the joys of perfect pies and hot bread from the oven.

Plus, you'll be saving money and setting a trend.

See my Adventures in Sourdough slideshow here.

Right now there are two loaves of a rustic loaf (slightly sourdough, not fully) with thyme and carmelized onion baking in the oven and filling the loft with the most divine smell.

Christmas morning we had sourdough popovers. New year's day a quiche. Pear and caramel tartlettes with the leftover piecrust were dessert the next night.

This recipe makes a wonderful and fool proof pie crust: Thanks to KAF!

Posted by Jacqueline Church

Some people break wishbones for luck...

wishbones - 3 chickens, a capon, a Naragansett turkey

wishes split pretty evenly!

Others make resolutions.

• I will lose weight!
• I will eat better!
• I will drink less!

Blah, blah, blah.

Okay the goals are laudable, but they're the same ones we made last year, right?

Three bits of advice:

1. Making SMART Goals.
2. Here are some food traditions and some tips for making achievable goals that won't cramp your style.
3. Consider also, Firsts, Lasts and Never Haves and Why Nots...