dear alison:
enclosed find a collection of the recipes i used to create the dinner for 6 in honor of marty bendersky. i added 2 things to the mix: 1) uncle ben’s rice and 2) a bottle of red wine that kathryn hess had given me at my 60th birthday math conference. this wine comes from her hometown of aigle, just west of lausanne, and is not sold outside of switzerland. it was a very good wine, even better than the red wine from the niagara peninsula that i backed it up with.
there is absolutely no sarcasm here. both wines were very good. there has been a revolution in the wine industry and places like the niagara peninsula and the finger lakes now produce rather good wines, red and white. in fact, the french wine industry is collapsing under the combinrd attack of the increased worldwide wine production and the modest decline in french consumption. places like chile, australia, california, and even upstate new york are providing stiff competition. my friends in provence, norman and judy stein, tell me that they have ripped out their vines and are replacing them with olive trees. there is no market anymore for marginal french wines.
the mary connolly greek beef stew was a big success even though john harper said that the previous dinner’s julia child beef bouguignon was slightly better. but the julia child is much more work, involving many more steps, even in its original version requiring a straining the sauce. she did compromise and replace the straining with the use of a bouquet garni. but things like sauting the mushrooms and onions separately remain and in fact a good thing to improve the taste. they are added to the stew only at the end.
the next time i will try a recipe for beef bourguignon which i got from a bistro cookbook written by anthony bourdain. he says that it is the simplest and best recipe in the book. since his recipe for moules marinaire is both very very simple and very very good i have a great deal of trust in him. i can truthfully say that, even a neophyte like me, can use this recipe to create mussels which are equal to those which i got in a parisian bistro. just get some good fries from our local hot sub spot, add a white wine to drink, and you have it all. nothing else is necessary.
as i said, the soy-ginger eggplant is delicious and, as you can see, very simple to do. i like simple recipes. this eggplant recipe has nothing to do with julia, but i am always trying to find recipes which are simpler than hers. it is dangerous to simplify her reciples. there is usually a good reason for her “extra” steps. the recipe usually tastes a little less good if you cut back on the complication. but, under the ameliorating guidance of someone like jacque pepin, you can simplify and still be quite successful. as julia once said to jacques: “oh, you do it the way a professional would, but, here at home we have more time to do it in the really right way.” it is a point that can be argued.
one major bone of fond contention between julia and jacque was over which kind of pepper to use. julia preferred white and jacques preferred black:
julia: “you must like speckled food!”
jacques: “i like my food to have more taste!”
anyway, thanks for the costa rican
insights into train rides, candied grapefruit, and eerie german motels.
love,
joe
dear alison:
here is a recipe from the cookbook “slow-ccoked comfort” by lydie marshall. i may have mentioned lydie before. she is a well known cookbook author and has run two cooking schools, in the past one in manhattan and now in her semi-retirement one in provence. she is a friend of my friends norman and judy stein. i have had dinner with her and her hysband wayne at the stein’s place in provence. the steins have even shared some of my food-travel blogs with her.
lydie has criticized my lack of appreciation for salt cod in the form of brandade. this is salt cod (reconstituted as always) baked with mashed potatoes, onions, cream, and mustard. she, along with most french, think it is a very good thing. i agree that it is. that point cannot be argued. but i add the following criticism of it in comparison with fresh fish in portugal . by the time the salt cod process is all finished, the dish has lost all trace of the texture of real fish flesh. i like real fresh fish better!
lydie was introduced to my writings when the steins shared with her my description of my vain attempts to get a lamprey dinner in portugal. lamprey is out of season in the summer. the lamprey run is only in january. my friends would not allow me to get lampreia at an unapproved place. but the approved places do not serve it made from frozen lampreys. i remember a portuguese waiter saying with disgust that “only the french would eat lamprey that had been frozen.” this was a rare example of a sincere feeling of culinary superiority over the french. i should add that, even in portugal, there are two camps, those who love lampreia and those who detest it.
evidently, you can get lamprey fried on a stick in the streets of latvia. even in latvia, people recoil a bit from lampreys because it makes them think of snakes .
anyway, i know lydie a little.
i thought you might find this recipe interesting:
LYDIE MARSHALL’S CINCINNATI CHILI (serves 6)
2 pounds beef chuck, shoulder blade, or brisket, coarsely ground
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 cup grated bittersweet chocolate
2 to 4 tablespoons commercial chili powder
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
5 whole allspice
5 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
salt
freshly ground black pepper
put the meat and 4 cups water into a 5 and 1/2 quart dutch oven. stir and bring to a boil on medium high heat; skim and discard the foam which rises on top. reduce the heat and simmer the meat uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
stir the tomato sauce and all the other ingredients into the beef. season with salt and freshly ground pepper. bring to a boil over medium heat. reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
cover the pot and simmer for another hour, stirring once in a while.
it can be made ahead of time.
to serve: reheat the chili over moderate heat.
THE END
even if you are not motivated to actually make this recipe, i thought you would consider it at least as interesting as seeing the secret formula for coca-cola!
today i made 4-way cincinnati chile (everything but the beans in a 5-way). but i cheated. i made it by adding ground beef and tomato paste and water to a package of spices that i got from gold star chili. it was quite good, even better the second time around.
love ,
joe n
