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Going Whole Hog

August 23, 2011
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Before a car crash derailed their summer dining season, Journeyman had instituted a Saturday afternoon barbecue lunch, setting up a grill outside and serving to the crowds that passed through Union Square on the way to and from the farmer’s market. They’re up and running again, but, inspired by the success of the Saturday experiment, [...]

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Head Over Heels (Charcutepalooza Challenge 8)

August 15, 2011
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I returned from the Chicago trip with the nagging feeling I had forgotten something. As frequently happens when I’m trying to retrieve information out of long-term storage, the elusive memory revealed itself to me at three in the morning: You have to make a head cheese, and you have less than a week in which [...]

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Dinner at Publican

August 13, 2011
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Our Chicago hosts for the week, having recently moved to the area themselves, asked me to recommend a place for dinner that would accommodate their varied tastes, which ranged from the adventurous to the not-at-all adventurous. I recommended Publican, the newest addition to chef Paul Kahan’s empire which also includes Blackbird and Avec. The atmosphere [...]

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Chicago Dogs

August 11, 2011
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We were somewhere around Park Ridge on the edge of the Chicago when the fatigue began to take hold. I remember saying something like “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive….” And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge hot dogs, [...]

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Dinner at Lola

August 9, 2011
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We have returned from out vacation trip to Chicago, a drive that we thought best to split into two days each way. On the westbound leg we decided to stop in Cleveland for the evening, knowing the next day would begin with a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I also viewed [...]

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No Salami For Me

July 28, 2011
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Today I received a comment from Matt, one of the judges of the Charcutepalooza competition. It was a follow-up to yesterday’s post about my salami-making adventure, which I am reposting here: I would highly suggest against drying salami at 75F. At that temp you run the risk of growing some really nasty bacteria inside the [...]

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Ah, Salami, I Like ‘em

July 27, 2011
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Since writing this post, I have been advised about some important food safety issues concerning the temperature at which I cured the salami. Please read Matt’s comment below, or this post. Forces conspired against me, intent on foiling my latest charcuterie project, but in the end I prevailed. I was determined to take my skills [...]

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Better than Baloney (Charcutepalooza Challenge 7)

July 13, 2011
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If you are a regular reader of this blog, it may surprise you to learn that I was a very picky eater as a kid. Bag lunches rotated through peanut butter sandwiches, jelly sandwiches (but never PB & J), an occasional ham sandwich, and bologna sandwiches, the mainstay of the lunch menu. Mom never figured [...]

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Paella with Chorizo and Chicken

May 15, 2011
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As I have mentioned previously, The New York Times 60-MInute Gourmet was my go-to cookbook for years. In my recently rediscovered copy, on a heavily stained page 170, is a recipe for paella, a dish I had never tasted before trying to make it myself. I cooked that recipe a lot early on, then gave [...]

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Charcutepalooza Challenge 5: Cold-Smoked Chorizo

May 15, 2011
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If the Sixth Annual Birthday Dinner (the reporting on which will continue this week) wasn’t enough to keep me busy in the kitchen, I had the May Charcutepalooza challenge to complete as well. I had already figured out meat grinding during the hilarity that made up my first attempt at sausage making, so it seemed [...]

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