I'd Like to Lodge a Complaint

I think the title tips you off that I wasn't too happy with Lodge in Brooklyn.  As you can see if you click through to their website, they've got the whole trendy, alternative, hipster ethos down.  This website's got it all, a birdcage, a bowler hat, a rocking chair and a typewriter, all in appropriately vintage monochrome print form.  But its williamsburg, so par for the course.  When we get there its pretty pleasant actually and not particularly  pretentious.  Its a pretty decent space with big windows and pleasant servers.  No complaints there.


The menu looked promising as well.  Very standard fare like sticky ribs, artichoke dip, steak salad, pork loin au poivre, fried ravioli, mac and cheese etc.  Definitely not haute cuisine, but it looked like a hearty, simple menu that that should provide some tasty choices.  Then, lo and behold, I saw the special was a grass fed rib eye.  Rib eye is the king of steak; full flavored, tender and riddled with fat.  Glorious fat!  What a lesser patron might cut away in disgust, the true epicurean will pick off their plate with reckless abandon.  The fools.
So, anyway, my entree was set.  And being as I had woken up at 4, had a small breakfast and dinner was at six, Heather and I split an app of artichoke dip.  And she had the meat loaf as an entree.

I'll start with the artichoke dip.  It was OK, and the artichoke was pretty nice and chunky, with decent flavor. It lacked a few things though.  First its wasn't cheesy enough for me.  It needed some, or more, parmesan.  Second, the color and overall appearance was not appealing.  It had the pale yellow color of egg salad.  I know this sounds pretentious, but presentation is an important part of a meal, and when I go out to a nice dinner I expect the kitchen to know that.  I think I can safely say the pic below looks more like egg salad at a church picnic than artichoke dip "with crostini" at a restaurant.

Egg Salad?

Artichoke Dip with Crostini (not available at Lodge)

To be fair, many people at the table really liked the artichoke dip.

On to the steak.  I ordered medium rare and it was served with onion rings.  It was cooked to a perfect medium rare and had a nice crust and a dollop of herb butter.  Problem is, I don't think it was a rib eye.  Just looking at it, it looks a lot more like a NY strip than a rib eye.  I thought, where's all the fat?  Why's it shaped like a "strip"?  Then I took a bite and it was way more lean and tough than any rib eye I've  had.  Now, it may be that this is all because its grass fed beef, which is supposed to be leaner, but I've had grass fed beef before and never noticed a rib eye taste like a strip steak.  The onion rings were ok, obviously fresh made and not frozen.  But the batter was a little bland and didn't adhere well to the onion. When you picked on up, half the batter fell off.  

Below are pics of a couple other entrees.  My friend Chris was very happy with his grilled salmon, Jenna liked her veggie burger and brussel sprouts.  The sticky rib appetizer was very tender, big for an app and very tasty and the steak salad was one of the best entrees.  The steak was tender and the arugula was fresh (though a bit over dressed).  

We missed a picture of the meatloaf, but it was under seasoned, overcooked and a bit on the dry side.  Heather also didn't like the homemade ketchup they used as a sauce.  The mashed potatoes were fine and the brussel sprouts were, according to heather, the "saving grace" of the dish.

The other problem I had with Lodge is they added automatic gratuity to our check for a party of 6 and it was 20% on the after tax total.  I'm not cheap when i tip, and in fact to tip on after tax total.  But in general I don't like automatic gratuity (that's the opposite of gratuity, its just part of the bill), and on a party of just 6 people it seems ridiculous.  Second, if you make it automatic, the restaurant certainly shouldn't presume to tip 20%.  It defeat the whole point of tipping when ANY level of service gets a very good tip.  Our service was good, and  I would have happily paid 20% (as would all my friends) but I  don't appreciate the way it was done at Lodge.  And I know that may all seem like cheapskate nitpicking but its my opinion.

It may seem like this is a rough review, and it was, but there's no point in doing reviews if they're always good.  So good luck to Lodge, I hope that it was just an off night and you continue to be successful.  Don't let one bad review get lodged in you craw.

In closing, the best part of the night was this beautiful and well behaved young lady at her very first dinner out.

Spicy Thai Style Braised Beef

My friend Pep and her husband have been getting into cooking over the last year or so and she called Heather yesterday to say she was making a braised beef stew.  Not sure how she liked it yet, but it put me in a hearty beef stew mood, and since it was Sunday I had tons of time to do a nice braise.  I was in the mood for something with bolder flavors and more spice than a standard european style braised beef stew or even the delicious and rich beef bourguignon.

Most of the ingredients and spices (I threw in some

extra stuff after tasting a few times)

I thought about simple vietnamese style spicy braised beef, which was the sort of flavors i was in the mood for, but I still wanted something stew-ish that I could ladle over rice.  The solution, i decided, was a thai curry stew with a thick coconut milk based broth.  Going through this though process is something that you get much better at the more you cook and the more you eat out.  I make a point of picking new things to cook and eat so I'm exposed to new ideas I can use.  Being able to improvise based on mood, available ingredients, guests etc make cooking more fun and interesting.  So try new things, mix it in with your own cooking and don't worry about screwing it up.  You really do learn more from your mistakes than your successes in the kitchen.

So to start with, here's the ingredients:
note:  I don't include amounts for most ingredients because its mostly spices to taste.  I like a lot of spice and pungent flavors in this dish, but you might not.  The great thing about a braised dish like this is you can taste and add spices anytime once the braising liquid is added.

2.5 lbs beef chuck roast (other cuts are fine, but you need something with a lot of fat and connective tissue.  otherwise the braising process will leave you with dry meat)
vegetable oil
ginger
grape tomatoes
cillantro
red onion
white mushrooms 1-2 pints
garlic (5-10 cloves)
2 8oz cans coconut milk
1 8oz can chicken broth
2 hot fresh peppers such as cayenne, thai, habanero. here i used 2 scotch bonnets.
cumin
cardamom
curry powder
black pepper
salt
tumeric
bay leave
cayenne power
paprika
dried chili pods (here is used dried pequin pepers)
fish sauce
white vinegar
white rice


So step one is to cube you beef.  I did approximately 3/4 in cubes.  Don't worry if it seems like there's a lot of fatty pieces, you want that fat.  During the cooking process it will break down and just give you a nice velvety sauce and moist meat.

Now salt the cubed beef liberally and heat a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in a dutch oven on high heat.  You can substitute any large thick bottomed pot but a dutch over or optimal because it can build a nice fond on the ceramic bottom (unlike non-stick coating pots) and it is easy to deglaze the fond and get it incorporated into the sauce (unlike cast iron or stainless steal).  Once the oil is very hot and shimmering, add just enough beef to cover the bottom.  If you over fill you will not brown.  The cooking meat will add too much moisture and most pieces won't make direct contact with the pot.  The key point to this whole step is to create a brown crust on the meat AND on the bottom of the pot.  Both add important flavor and color to the dish.

This is about 60% done browning (but the color balance is terrible)

If you look at the 2 picture below you'll see both the browning of the meat and fond on the pot you want.  It may look like the fond is burnt but its not.  You want this bark brown, but not black, so you do have to be careful and monitor heat, especially after the moisture released from the meat has evaporated.

Continue cooking the meat in batches, until its well browned.  You will have to turn it so it browns on both sides.  While the batches are cooking you can chop all your other ingredients and mix all your powder spices in a bowl.  

The ginger and garlic should be minced, the onion cut in strips, the mushrooms and cilantro roughly chopped and tomatoes left whole.  The various types of cuts affect both appearance and how how they cook.  For example, if you don't mince the ginger its too tough and fibrous to eat.  The mushrooms are tomato are left in large pieces mainly because they look nice when served.

After you finish the beef, reduce heat to medium, add the onions and cover to let them sweat.  this speeds the cooking process and traps the moisture which prevents the fond from burning.  After 5-7 minutes add the garlic and ginger, recover and cook 5 minutes.  

Next, add the tomatoes, mushrooms and chicken stock. Using a wooden or plastic spoon, scrape the pan bottom to loosen the fond and mix it into the stock.  Then add back the cooked beef, two cans of coconut milk, cilantro, diced scotch bonnets, dried pepper pods, cardamom, powered spice mix, bay leaves, fish sauce and white vinegar.  Its all to taste, but be cautious with the fish sauce.  Its very strongly flavored and if you're not asian, you might hate it.  You can also add lemon grass at this point but i didn't have any.  At the end I add lime juice.  Its best to wait till after cooking to add the lime juice because it looses its flavor in cooking.

Now cover and cook on med low for about 1.5 hours (or at about 300 in the oven). You can taste a couple times through the braising process to see if you want to add more spice or other flavorings.  The cooking process will change the flavors as you proceed.  I added a lot during this dish, but its important to remember you can always ADD but its much hard to TAKE OUT, so do a little at a time, especially with the very strong components like hot peppers or fish sauce.

After 1.5 hours or so, taste a final time and make any adjustments.  Then ladle about a half cup of liquid into a small bowl, add about 1.5 tablespoons of corn starch (or if you don't have corn starch about 5 tablespoons of flour) and mix well with a fork or whisk.  Then turn the stew back to med high and add the starch mixture. This will thicken the sauce and make it "stick" to the stew components and the rice on which I serve it.  Let the stew come back to a simmer for another 5 minutes and then you're done.  You can take the dutch oven off the stove to cool for about 15 minutes, then serve over rice.  For me this is a dish that doesn't need any other sides.  And remember that there are a hundred variations and adjustments you can make to this recipe. You could use pork, or chicken.  You could add bell papers or asparagus or lentils.  Once you know the basics and are familiar with the flavors and techniques its time to make the specific dish you want. 

Final dish plated with white rice.  The bright and contrasting colors really enhance the dish.

Another Greek Bankruptcy...In Jersey City

Just a quick rant about Its Greek To Me on Newark and Jersey Ave.  I have no problem with the place but why is it so expensive?  I got a gyro, a salad and some calamari to go, none which was great, and it was 31 bucks.  Which is probably why the place is always empty, and I imagine, destined for default unless the ECB steps in. But I don't think Mario Draghi even likes gyros.

Spread the Bread

We're moving up the nerd cooking ladder into bread and I have no idea what I'm doing.  I've probably made bread twice before in my life, plus pizza dough maybe 5 or 10 times.  None of it was particularly good.  I spend a day trying to make brioche about 10 years ago, and it was a day wasted.  But with the blog waiting and camera phone in hand, Once more unto the breach, dear friends!

I wanted to start with something simple, and I don't have a bread pan, so I perused the web for a dutch oven bread recipe.  I remember hearing that you can do a nice crusty bread in a dutch oven, so I found this recipe:
http://themerlinmenu.blogspot.com/2010/10/dutch-oven-bread.html
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour and a bit more for dusting the bread after rising.

I was almost out of flour so I had to decrease the whole thing by 1/3 since I had just 2 cups.  First off, I was surprised that every dutch oven recipe, and most of the "simple bread" recipes use no eggs or milk.  I really know nothing about bread making, but I thought bread and milk were pretty standard ingredients.  I'm gonna have to sit down and read a book I guess, but in the meantime any guidance is welcome in the comments.

Pre-rise dough

Anyway, I did add a bit of brown sugar to the warm water and yeast to promote growth and threw in some corn meal since I was out of flour and the dough was unworkably wet after the first rise.  I have to say, I was surprised how easy the process is.  The rising takes time, but actual active cooking is probably less than 20 minutes, and that's with me having no idea what I'm doing.  I pre-heated to 500 and put the bread in covered reducing immediately to 450.  After 20 minutes, I took off the cover to allow browning.

You can see that the bread came out very nice visually.  It had a think, hearty crust and browned well.

The problems came with tasting.  The bread was just very, very bland.  Even the smell of the cooking bread was bland, so I guess the flavor should have been no surprise.  When people call something boring and bland "White Bread", this is the actual loaf they're referencing.  With some butter and salt, it was still pretty delicious.  We ate about half the loaf (but we were also drunk and I was swigging vodka out of a plastic 1.75 liter bottle).  So, foodies and nerds, what's the solution?  I think it was under salted for one.  But can I just add some butter too?  eggs yolks? maybe some milk instead of water?  I have no clue how any of that will affect the bread and unlike normal cooking I don't think I can just throw shit it hear and there to taste.  This is baking, yo!  Please help.

Oven Temperature

I'm getting to be pretty sure my built in oven thermometer isn't correct (i think it runs low) and i'm planning to start bread baking.  With bread and baking in general accurate temperate is a must, so I ordered this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EDY97U/ref=ox_ya_os_product thermometer today.  I'll be back once its delivered to report on it and my oven.   I'm also planning to get one of the laser instant temp readers.  That lets you take an oven temp (but you have to open to oven door) and you can get instant reads on oil temperatures for frying too.  They only run about 20 bucks.

MMMMMMMMMMadame Claude's!

After seemingly night after night of cold, dark winter, I thought a ladies night at Madame Claude's was in order. Madame Claude's  is a quaint, comfortable French Cafe at the edges of Downtown Jersey City where the experience is just as important as the food. In the summer you can sit outside, the trees are sprinkled with lights, and one of the owners, Mattias, plays  plays lovely gypsy/Jazz with his cleverly named band "Manouche Bag". Sitting outside in the summer on a Thursday night (when the band plays), you can eat, drink, and smoke to your hearts content. It's heaven!




The inside is tight but comfortable seating. But sometimes squeezing into those close seats, I'm scared my ample rear might knock over our neighbor's water glass (oops!). Saturday night, 3 coworkers of mine, Jenique, Zoe, and Wade, shared what I consider the perfect meal at Madame Claude's.


 It's BYOB, so of course we came prepared with at least a bottle of wine a piece. We started by opening a bottle of sparkling rose, and ordering a pate and cheese plate, french onion soup, and escargot. (Pictures to be added).




There was a nice assortment of cheeses, including a goat, a soft brie like cheese, a blue, and one more firm and nutty tasting orange cheese. The pate was delicious as usual (once we asked where they got there pate, and they get it from a distributor in the city.), including a country style pork and a creamy duck liver pate. Yummm!!

 The french onion soup is the best on this side of the Hudson, served piping hot and consistently with the deep flavors of well caramelized onions. The escargot is severed in a classic french escargot plate, covered in butter, garlic and parsley, that, when dipped in with bread, could be considered an appetizer in itself.

For dinner, we split Coq au Vin, a french chicken dish made popular in the states by Julia Child, made with onions, bacon lardons, and wine. It was tender and full of flavor, though I did catch myself thinking we should have ordered the always great steak frites (which is a skirt steak served with their freaking fabulous frites, often enjoyed later in the evening by a very drunk Heather and Fran at 2 in the morning.) .






 We also ordered Les Moules (freaking fabulous!)Frites in Curry and Cream, which were bright and light and wonderful. 

As sides we ordered  ratatouille, a Provençale vegetable stew. The ratatouille lacked the deep, tomato and vegetable flavors that I generally associate with the traditional dish, but it was just a side so it gets a pass. We also ordered a side of Gratin Dauphinois. I think it's safe to say this was definitely a favorite at the table. The potatoes were light and fluffy, and the cheese and creme fraiche was perfectly browned covering the potatoes. Simple, and oh so deli-sh!!! All this washed down with a great Spanish red!

"They must have stopped there," you say. But no! We marched on, or more like munched on, to dessert. A bottle of Korbel, Flourless chocolate cake and Creme Brulee? Yes please!! 

The two owners,  Alice and Mattias are a constant presence at the restaurant. After visiting once, they will greet you as family and take care of you as such. Our waitress,  Jen, has served us over the past four years and at every turn, even on a crazy Friday night with people out the door, keeps her cool. Very often I have wished that they all could just quit working so darn hard already and come have a glass of wine with us! 


Recently, Alice and Mattias opened a lovely wine store in the Hamilton Park area. They have a great selection of very reasonably priced wine and often have wine tastings. If you buy a bottle there and bring it to the restaurant for dinner, you get a free dessert. Booo yaaa!!

Madame Claude's is not for every one. If you are like Fran, and like superb food fast, no dessert and no frills, then this may not be the place for you. But if you are like me, and enjoy taking sometimes up to 3 to four hours enjoying your meal, music, atmosphere and great company, grab some friends and get your le bottems to Madame Claudes. This restaurant is best enjoyed with ample amounts of wine, paired with great friends! Bon appitite!

Crystal Inn, I can see right through you!

Next up, Crystal Inn in Warwick, NY.  Should have it sometime tomorrow.  And yes, I know only one of our reviews has been for JC but we'll get back on point with the next review, promise!.

So this is how the Crystal Inn describes itself:

Four Star Fine Dining Contemporary American Restaurant and Bar in the tranquil and picturesque Orange County town of Warwick, NY.

I'd say "4 star" is a bit of a stretch.  Although the prices were pretty 4 star.  Lets start with the good parts, the steaks and mashed potatoes.  I had a "sliced  rib steak" and my friend has a 28 day dry aged NY Strip.  I actually wanted the dry aged but strip steaks don't have enough fat for me (i prefer the rib eye) and doesn't have the tenderness of a tenderloin. I suppose the aging process helps with the tenderness a bit but if i want to spend the time or money to get a dry aged steak, why start with a shitty cut of meat.  That being said, my medium rare rib eye (the called it a rib steak on the menu) was pre-sliced (weird to me, but fine) and cooked to a perfect temp for med-rare.

The flavor of the beef and the salt and pepper were levels weer also well done.  Crystal Inn locally source most of their meat.  I was told by a friend with us their beef is all grass fed and antibiotic free, but forgot to verify with the server.  However, grass fed beef is known to be big on flavor and low on fat content, and that's exactly what I found.  I tried both my rib eye and my friend's aged strip steak and both had unusually strong beefy flavor.  My rib-eye was pretty low in fat and his strip had even less.  For me that;s probably a bigger deal than most people because I love big chucks of fat in my steak (or my any other food), but on balance the were delicious steaks and no one else seemed to notice.  My second beef with my rib eye (get it, beef) was it was a bit small.  I'd say around 8-10 oz.

A big standout in the meal was the mashed potatoes which they do heavy and creamy.  Some people love light, high starch mashed potatoes made with yukon golds or whatever, but you can also make wonderful, heavy, thick mashed potatoes with low starch potatoes and lotsa of butter and cream and a food mill.  The food mill lets you really get a fine grind without turning them into a gooey which is what would happen with a food processor. In fact, there is a French version which does this and throws in some cheese called aligot which is also delicious but the Crystal Inn version didn't go quite that far.  In any case, the potatoes were delicious, and maybe the best thing I ate.

Now on to the bad.  I had mac and cheese with king crab and it was SALTY.  Which is really too bad because the cheese sauce was creamy and delicious.  The crab meat was clearly processed and frozen with salt water, leaving it with way to high salt content.  From a bit of reading I found out that Russian ships process the crabs at sea with salty sea water while Alaskan ships do it at shore with fresh water.  Not sure if this is totally accurate, but either way the salty crab meat ruined the dish.

Problem 2 was the lobster bisque (apparently crustaceans are not their strong suit).  A bisque is:

Bisque is a smooth, creamy, highly-seasoned soup of French origin, classically based on a strained broth (coulis) of crustaceans.

I think we all can agree that's what a bisque is supposed to be.  What they served was not a bisque.  According to wikipedia, a classical bisque grinds the shells into a fine paste and incorporates it into the soup.  I've never seen a recipe that actually does this and I don't even know how the hell you grind lobster shells into a paste, so apparently I'm not making a true classic lobster bisque myself, but there are some things I expect when I order lobster bisque.  Number one is strong lobster flavor, number two is creaminess.  They fucked up number two.  The lobster soup came out beautifully, server with a baked pastry top covering the bowl.  (picture to come).  Underneath this pastry, however, was a dark brown broth with little lobster meat included.  It may have been slightly thickened by some sort of starch, but was free of cream.

My guess is that they made the bisque by boiling the shells in water with some onions, bay leaves, pepper, carrots etc to create a lobster stock, then threw in some corn starch to thicken.  That's an easy but stupid way to make "bisque".  The shells should be broken down and sauteed in oil or butter, then onions added, then the rest of the stock spices along with some fish stock.  Just boiling the shells in water doesn't extract the flavor.  And of course they failed to finish with cream, which is what gives bisque its characteristic creamy texture.  Here's an example of what i consider a good lobster bisque recipe.  I could do without all the sherry and brandy it uses though.  I might add a couple ounces of sherry at most.

So, overall, I liked Crystal Inn, but it wasn't quite the "4 star" restaurant they lay claim to being.  And they prices aren't cheap.  Dinner 4 for with drinks and tip was something like $260.  In the city with higher costs for rent and payroll (and decor) etc that might seem reasonable, but in Warwick, NY for a meal that was just pretty good it seems excessive.  If you do go, stick to what they're best at, steaks.  

P.S. - Almost forgot to mention some weird old guy kept staring at my friend's wife, to the point that I had to insist he didn't fight him.  The clientele ain't exactly 4-star either.

Burger Deluxe - It Don't Suxe

I don't have time yet to write up my review of Burger Deluxe in Wayne, NJ so I'm just gonna say its good and here are some pics.  I'll have the full review (I know you're all waiting with bated breath) later today I think.

Update: So I don't have a whole lot to say about burger deluxe, but it was a pleasant surprise on our drive our to Vernon, NJ for a weekend trip.  Its way nicer than you would guess for a burger joint on rt 23 in wayne.  Apparently the owners, the Livanos family, have a couple NYC restaurants and decided for whatever reason to open up a place in suburban NJ.  

First thing you'll notice coming in is its clean and its trendy.  Of course its got the retro diner thing going on, but its mixed with a modern look, kinda upscale Ikea meets Happy Days.  I've been there twice now (its good enough to warrant a stop if i'm driving out there), and the service has been fast and polite both times with different servers.  

Both times I ordered the chili burger and Onion rings.  The burgers themselves are very good.  The quality of the meat seems high (i believe they might grind it in house as they offer a lamb burger, chicken and turkey burger too), and my medium burger was well cooked with a sear on the outside and a little bit of pink left in the middle.  The bun was good as well: fresh and not too thick but able to hold up to the burger  without falling apart.  My only grip was the tomato wasn't great, but its winter so I can't really complain to much.  I hope in the summer they take advantage of all the nearby farms to supply vine ripened, juicy, red Jersey Pride tomatoes (I don't actually give a shit about the jersey part, I just love great tomatoes).  The chili, on the other hand was boring and lacked much flavor or heat.  I'm particularly surprised because Heather got the En Fuego burger and it was very hot and delicious.  I'd definitely go En Fuego if I'm ever at Burger Deluxe again.

The Onion rings were above average as well.  They're clearly made with fresh, thick slices of fresh onion fried in a tasty, dense batter which held together while dipping and biting.  These aren't crappy frozen rings you find in so many diners and burger joints.  The fries were fine, but after a week I don't remember anything much about  them. Overall, this is a great place to stop on a drive, or bring the family.  Kids will love the atmosphere, decor and the burgers but there's enough on the menu (like pan seared salmon, greek salad or fish and chips) to satisfy adults who want something a bit more adult.

French Onion Poop and Caramelized Onions

For some reason, most people do not seem to understand how to caramelize onions (or what it even means) and thus make crappy onion soup.  I refer this as french onion poop because it tastes like shit.  When I cook something, even if I've done it before and know how I want to make it, I often look up recipes anyway to see if I find some new or interesting twist.  One recipe where I'm always annoyed is onion soup.  The key top good onion soup is a LOT well caramelized onion.  But i'd say the majority of recipes online start something like this:

Directions - serves 4

1. Melt butter or margarine in a 4 quart saucepan. Stir in sugar. Cook 3 thinly sliced onions over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
2. Stir in flour until well blended with the onions and pan juices. Add water, wine, and beef broth; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover soup, and simmer for 10 minutes.
   

10 minutes and 3 onions? Hell no! Now here's Alton Brown's recipe:

Once butter has melted add a layer of onions and sprinkle with a little salt. Repeat layering onions and salt until all onions are in the skillet. Do not try stirring until onions have sweated down for 15 to 20 minutes. After that, stir occasionally until onions are dark mahogany and reduced to approximately 2 cups. This should take 45 minutes to 1 hour. Do not worry about burning

See, an hour and 15 minutes and you reduce 4 lbs of onion to 2 cups. And of course you should add a little salt to help draw moisture out of the onions and I throw in a bit of brown sugar, maybe a tablespoon, in the last 15 minutes to add to the caramelization and sweetness. It should look like this:

awesome

Not this:

shitty

The process takes TIME, but if you're making your own onion soup, chances are you're a a pretentious yuppie or hipster and have plenty of fucking time. You can wait an extra hour before heading to the fake speak easy to get an old fashioned.

Its like Wife Swap, except not awful

I saw this announced on JC List, but don't know anything about it personally.  Sounds like fun though, so hopefully I'll make it.  You might want to verify the info with Made with Love before you start cooking several quarts of soup though.

(ignore the date.  i stole this graphic)


The Great Jersey City SOUP SWAP 2012

Sunday, January 22, 2012
3:30 p.m. to meet and mingle
(BYOB - Feel free to bring wine. Snacks available for purchase from Made with Love)
4:00 p.m. SHARP - SOUP SWAP begins

WHERE: Made with Love Artisan Bakery & Café
530 Jersey Avenue (between Columbus & Newark), Jersey City, NJ 07302

Bring 4 Quarts of Your FROZEN Homemade Soup
(divided into single quart containers)
*PLUS*
one or more non-perishable items to donate to the St. Matthew's Food Pantry (canned soup, one-can meals, cereals, peanut butter, tuna, canned tomatoes or sauces, canned fruits or vegetables, and non-perishable milk are all appreciated)

What exactly is a SOUP SWAP?
You bring FOUR single-quart containers of your homemade frozen soup. (Plus your donation to the food pantry.) We will then draw numbers and take turns picking out different soup. You will leave with FOUR 1 quart containers of a wonderful mix of homemade soups. Bring whatever soup you cook best. This can include chili, stews, chowders, and gumbos. Can't be here? You can always assign a proxy to do your soup swapping for you!

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS! We can never have too many soups to choose from!

The St. Matthew's food pantry serves persons in our community living with HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses through the Hyacinth Foundation.

Next Restaurant Review

I'm taking suggestions for the next restuarant review.  Heather said there's a new korean bbq joint from the same people who do the Krave food truck.  Anyone been yet?

Yay for duck pate!!!

Guest Poster(She says partner poster.  She's wrong): Heather 

Pate, being one of the most delicious things I've eaten in my short, wonderful life, sets a high bar for flavor. We've tried the occasional sauteed duck or chicken liver, sometimes minced to spread on bread, but getting to that creamy, intense deep flavor of a good pate is my goal with tonight's duck liver. Most of the recipes call for simply sauteing the duck skin for 2 to 3 minutes over medium heat, until the fat begins to render. Next, they call for adding a bit of sauteed shallots (I used a bit of red onion as a substitute since we had it), garlic, then adding the duck livers just until cooked on both sides. I pulsed the whole shabang in the food processor, (make sure you get all the yummy rendered fat from the pan!) added a good pinch of salt and pepper, pulsed it a few times, and transferred our soon to be delicious delicacy to a bowl and into the fridge to cool.  

Update:

Finished product was pretty yummy. We didn't process it it too much, so it had a bit of a country pate texture (which I am a fan of). Though not as good as the pate we get at Madam Claude or Satis, but for a homemade product, it was fairly simple with a great pay off. We got about 5 oz of it, toasted up some whole grain bread, and washed it down with a Chilean Cabernet! YAY FOR PATE!!

Chintatown Style Roast Duck

Update:  My girlfriend just said "who's howard the duck?"  Ugh.

I love duck and grew up eating chinatown ducks that my dad would pick up on the weekends, but I've never tried to replicate that style and flavor.  I usually just do a simple roast on a v rack and maybe add a tangy fruit based glazing sauce at the end.  But since we picked a duck up on sale yesterday, i'm gonna try the chinatown style based mainly on this recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chinatown-steamed-and-roasted-duck-recipe/index.html .  Updates to follow.

Update:
So the recipe I'm basing this on calls for 5 spice power which I don't have and couldn't find in the closest grocery so I decided to try making my own.  Here's the ingrdients:

• 1 tsp. ground Szechwan pepper
• 1 tsp. ground star anise
• 1-1/4 tsp. ground fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
  

I didn't have szechuan pepper, which isn't really like regular peppercorns and are a pepper "pod" so i substituted a mexican pequin chili pod.  I didn't have white pepper so i used black, and I didn't have fennel seeds (i do somewhere but couldn't find them) so I skipped it.  I used the coffee grinder to grind it all up.  Its an intense spice mix.

Then I needed to trim some excess skin from the duck, pull out the heart, liver and neck (heather used the neck and trimmed skin for a simple pate which turned out well and she'll blog about later).  Then I applied the spice and steamed on the stove top as per the recipe.  I also tied the legs with some rolled up aluminum foil, which is a good trick when you don't have kitchen twine.  And I never have kitchen twine.  Aluminum foil is the duct tape of the kitchen.  Everyone has some, you can make almost anything out of it and nerds love it.

The next problem was the glazing sauce which called for rice vinegar and honey.  Once again, don't have 'em and didn't feel like going to find 'em on a tuesday night so i substituted a chinese Shao Xing cooking wine and balsalmic vinegar and brown sugar.  I also added some crushed garlic cloves to the glaze while it cooked since I didn't put any in the duck cavity as suggested.  Once the steam was done, i applied the glaze and started the roast, with 3 more glazin applicaations over the course of cooking.  Its about to come out of the oven now, so I'll be back with photos and final verdict soon.  I'm guessing the substitutions I made won't be a problem.  Its hard to screw up duck.

Update:  So here's the duck after one glaze and 20 minutes in the oven.

And here's the final product.

The flavor of the glaze and skin turned out great.  It wasn't as crispy as I would have liked it after 1 hour, but I also didn't want to overcook it.  The over was at 375 and I think our over runs a bit on the cool side, so I should probably have turned it up a bit but with the sweet glaze it could burn pretty quickly so i erred on the side of caution there.  Them itself was very tender, and actually a little too soft.  It was packaged in a brine solution so I think that's the culprit.  If possible I recommend buying non-brined.  Brining brings flavor and helps meat retain moisture during cooking so it doesn't dry out during a long roast, but duck's have so much fat and flavor its not really necessary and certainly not for how ever many days since it was packaged.  That long a brine can break down the muscle and make it mushy.  Overall, I was happy with the recipe and felt like it did a good job of reproducing the flavors of a china town duck.  Only big difference is the skin wasn't as crispy, but to get that effect I think you need to spend a day letting the skin dry and/or blowing the skin out to separate it from the meat.

Bon Appetit.