--waves hand -- Go to this link now....: frenchpigcooking.com
--waves hand -- Do it and there will be new and exciting (yummy) things coming...
--waves hand -- Bye!
(I'm moving blog spaces - to one with an interface that I like just a bit more and I hope you folks will too!)
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
This is not the Jerky you are looking for...
I love Jerky. I am always having to defend it when I make it. Like smuggling droids across the barren wastes, baggies of the stuff move with me - hidden in plain sight and upon inquiry from roving patrols known as friends and family all I can say is "This is not the jerky you are looking for"...somehow it never works though. Drat.
One day my wife sent me a link to an Eatocracy article on CNN for Beef Jerky. She knows I love the stuff and I love making everything and had been talking about pulling out my old dehydrator from college and using it again. Boy howdy - I've gone nuts since I tried out the basic recipe in the article:
Eatocracy - Not all jerky is not created equal.
If you are wondering if making your own jerky is for you or if it's worth the effort I have a few questions for you:
If you answered "YES" to any of these and can't stop drooling at the thought of good beef jerky - then please, read on my dear friend.
Lets start with the key ingredient - the meat:
You want something lean, like a London Broil, and as Jennifer Wolfe's father says - it seems to go on sale the most. Case in point - I was in my local Food Lion the other day and saw that the London broils were "Buy one Get one". So for $10, I walked out with 2x ~2.5-3 pound London broil cuts. I used sirloin steak the first time I made jerky as it was what I had available. It worked - but you have to work on trimming the fat, which can go rancid with time, even after dehydration.
You can also use meats like turkey breast or venison for your jerky. I have not attempted it yet, but I will. From what I've read - with turkey or other poultry variants, you'll have to cook the breast to safe serving temps first. Then season, marinade and then dehydrate. So - a couple extra steps, but then you get something a little lighter and it's still a savings compared to what Turkey Jerky can go for.
Next - the flavor components:
While the cut of meat is your main ingredient and certainly the one that will make up most of the mouth feel of your jerky as you sit there contemplating all that is good in life on a sunny afternoon while watching your dogs play outdoors or as you take a break during a nice hike - the seasonings and marinade components will play a large role as well.
Here is the recipe Eatocracy published (from Joseph Cavalluzzi) for a 1 pound cut of meat:
One day my wife sent me a link to an Eatocracy article on CNN for Beef Jerky. She knows I love the stuff and I love making everything and had been talking about pulling out my old dehydrator from college and using it again. Boy howdy - I've gone nuts since I tried out the basic recipe in the article:
Eatocracy - Not all jerky is not created equal.
If you are wondering if making your own jerky is for you or if it's worth the effort I have a few questions for you:
- Do you feel like you're getting ripped off when you buy that $4-6 bag of beef jerky that contains only half a pound or less of product?
- Do you find that the jerky out there is too bland, to overdone with seasonings or just too salty?
- Do you want to make 2x-3x that amount of jerky for roughly the same price as the overpriced bag?
- Do you have ~20 minutes of active time free and are patient enough to let something do the work for you while it soaks in the fridge or sits in a dehydrator or low temperature oven for hours on end as you do whatever you please? (Playing video games, shop, enjoy a cold one with a book - you get the idea).
If you answered "YES" to any of these and can't stop drooling at the thought of good beef jerky - then please, read on my dear friend.
Lets start with the key ingredient - the meat:
You want something lean, like a London Broil, and as Jennifer Wolfe's father says - it seems to go on sale the most. Case in point - I was in my local Food Lion the other day and saw that the London broils were "Buy one Get one". So for $10, I walked out with 2x ~2.5-3 pound London broil cuts. I used sirloin steak the first time I made jerky as it was what I had available. It worked - but you have to work on trimming the fat, which can go rancid with time, even after dehydration.
Next - the flavor components:
While the cut of meat is your main ingredient and certainly the one that will make up most of the mouth feel of your jerky as you sit there contemplating all that is good in life on a sunny afternoon while watching your dogs play outdoors or as you take a break during a nice hike - the seasonings and marinade components will play a large role as well.
Here is the recipe Eatocracy published (from Joseph Cavalluzzi) for a 1 pound cut of meat:
Teriyaki Jerky
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (coarse)
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper (coarse)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
 | |
|
 |
| It's ready for marinade. |
Obviously - if you have a larger cut of meat (like I did) - double or triple the components as needed. In my case I roughly doubled the components. I sliced up my London broil into roughly 1/4" strips and layered strips of meat and marinade in a bowl until all the marinade and beef were in the pool together.
 |
| Everyone in the pool! |
At this point, cover the bowl and place it in the fridge to hang out for at least 6 hours, I usually do it at night and get to taking it out and placing it in the dehydrator the next morning or afternoon.
One note - make sure you pull the bowl out of the fridge at least once and mix the beef and marinade up to ensure even exposure throughout the layers of meat. (Yum!)
But what if I want to change the flavors up?
Do it. Have fun with it. For my most recent batch of this jerky - I used whole peppercorns and a dried chipotle that had been ground up in my mortar and pestle. To this I also added garlic powder (I was inspired by my on-going bacon adventure.) The result - jerky with a neat heat from the peppercorns, some aromatics from the garlic and a nice warmth on the back end from the chipotle. It was good. It lasted all of 72 hours in my house - and I only ate a few pieces of it!
 |
| Chipotle and peppercorns being worked by hand. |
Okay - I've got strips of meat soaked in this amazing marinade. Now what?
It's time to dehydrate! The dehydrator I have is a cheap Sunbeam that I purchased from Wally World in college. It works. It does not have any kind of a temperature controller. So - the temperature is constant, which means I compensate by adjusting the time. I typically place the strips of beef in the dehydrator overnight - about 9 hours or so and check them in the morning. If they're not quite to the point of cracking but not breaking when I get up - I add a basic lamp timer to the mix and let it run for approximately 2-3 more hours. So far this has worked for me. You may need less time for a smaller amount of beef, or more if you go crazy and make a ton of it! (Which I may just do pretty soon)
After you've fully dried your jerky and have let it cool - bag it up. Since the lamp timer turns the dehydrator off sometime while I'm at work it is nice and cool and ready for bagging when I get home. Oh yeah- if you haven't already - sample your product! You will realize right away how much better it tastes! Not too salty, not too bland, just the way you want it. If you experimented with new flavor components - expect some new experiences! Such as when I added the chipotle and rough cracked peppercorns.
Okay - so, it took me all of 20-30 minutes of actual active time to make my jerky. The rest of the time was patiently (or not) waiting for the jerky to marinate and then dry. It is seriously easy and tastes great. My Father-In-Law is still going on about the latest batch being the best he's tasted in a long time (Tasted is one way to put it!). Not that I mind, I made it to share! The only thing that is not easy - making it last longer than a few days. Expect jerky Sith, ninjas, ne-er do wells and even cute begging dogs to try and snag this at every turn (seriously my two dogs won't leave me alone when I pull this stuff out). It is up you to maintain vigilance!
My most recent (and probably main one from here on out):
**For a one pound cut of London Broil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (coarse)
- 1 teaspoon rough cracked pepper corns
- Mortar and pestle works well, as does a ziploc and a heavy pan or rolling pin
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 of a dried chipotle pepper
- You can grind this up with a mortar and pestle, a ziploc bag or a spice mill if you have one.
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 ounces Mirin (optional)
For the cut that is pictured earlier, I used approximately 3/4 cups of soy sauce, an ounce of Mirin (Sweetened Sake for cooking), a tablespoon of pepper corns and about a tablespoon of dried garlic powder. I also upped the kosher salt by a factor of 3. The brown sugar worked out to about 1/3 cup. This was a roughly 2.5 pound cut of meat.
Tips:
- Partially freezing your London Broil prior to slicing is very handy. It helps firm up the meat so you can evenly cut it without risking your fingers as you attempt to cut strips.
- Cut your strips with the grain of the meat. Going across the grain creates jerky pieces that can fall apart and easily get pieces stuck between your teeth.
- Either hoard this stuff or make more than you think you'll need. You'll be amazed how quick it can "disappear".
- Play with the marinade components, especially the items like the pepper, garlic, etc.
- Try using this marinade for grilled beef strips, I keep meaning to grab a few pieces when I'm done marinating and throw them on the grill to enjoy - but knowing what else they can be like always stops me.
- If you do not have a dehydrator - you can dry the jerky in an oven set to 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 6-7 hours or until "leathery". You want the jerky to bend and crack but not snap in half if you take a piece and fold it in half.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Makin' Bacon....Part 1.
So - my first real actual food post. No more teasers, no more "I'm working on it", no more "Maybe tonight" - it begins in earnest with this post. An exploration of what it is like to cure your own bacon. So far we are at the step where the bacon is cured and ready to be either cooked in the oven or smoked to 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
This whole journey into charcuterie started with my reading about other making their own preserved and smoked gourmet meats and one of the primary references always cited was Charcuterie, by Michael Ruhlman, Brian Polcyn and Thomas Keller. Both Ruhlman and Polcyn are well experienced as chefs and as masters of the art of charcuterie.
Reading through Charcuterie has been an epic trek for both my mind, my senses and my palette. There are so many dishes that I have been inspired to make by this and a few other books that I purchased after Charcuterie. However, Charcuterie was the genesis of this particular trip down the rabbit hole - expect more posts involving this books recipes and adaptations of them.
Why make it from scratch? Because then I can control all the ingredients going into the food - the sourcing of the pork belly, just how much salt, sodium nitrite, sugar and other spices go into it. As opposed to buying the generic grocery store stuff that is pumped up with water solution and shrinks by at least 40%. Home made bacon doesn't have this problem, is generally cut thicker and isn't filled with water. Expect amazingness. Like I said - I like to make things from scratch, at least once to see if it's worth it. I don't eat bacon near as often as I want to - so I'm going to make it the best I can when I do eat it. The thought of home made bacon, crisped up and on a plate with scrambled eggs, homemade toast with homemade jam/jelly/labneh just makes me smile and makes me totally satisfied. That whole warming the soul thing again...it's real - I swear!
Alright. All that aside - the important part - BACON. The majority of people I know start salivating at the thought of crispy (or chewy...if you're my wife) bacon with eggs and some sort of bread (muffin, english muffin, toast, waffle - what have you). I've always wanted to make the tasty concoction and took my time in sourcing a pork belly locally. I ended up ordering a pork belly through my local butcher, Lothar Erbe, who owns and runs "Lothar's Sausages and Fine Meats". 7.5 pounds of porcine goodness was presented to me 2 weeks ago and I, giddy with excitement for the tastes to come, hurried home (after a couple beers and about an hour of talking about meat and life with Lothar - this is a guy who knows what it means to really make a customer feel at home and really connect with them). I also came home with some fat back - I cannot wait to fry up breakfast with those!
The particulars (Adapted from Charcuterie):
Charcuterie Basic Dry Cure:
Seal and shake the bag like you just don't care. That way you get pretty even coverage of the cure and spices all over the belly. It doesn't have to be perfect - everything will even out as the cure does it's magic in the fridge.
Few things make me happier than the smell of fresh cracked peppercorns, smashed garlic and bay leaves. They are absolutely fragrant! For a sweeter slab of bacon - use 1/4 cup of brown sugar or maple syrup. I made 2 savory slabs of bacon and 2 sweeter varieties.
Once I placed all my ingredients with their respective bags and shook 'em like I just didn't care - I placed them in the fridge to rest for 7 days. What happens during this time? Magic. Bacony and tasty magic. The salts in the dry cure pull moisture out of the pork belly while infusing it with cure and your flavor additions (somewhat akin to brining). Here's the hard part: every day, flip the bags over so that the pork belly's get equal exposure to the cure. Day 2- flip. Day 3-flip. And so on. Come Day 7 - check the firmness of the belly - if it is firm at it's thickest point, the bellies are done curing. If not - leave it for 2 more days (flipping each extra day). Once it's nice and firm - we can move on.
So. We're almost there. Really, I swear. I know, I know - you're breaking a sweat from all the effort and worry that you felt each day as you reached into your fridge and flipped those bags. I know I did (not really - I was usually distracted by conducting a mental inventory of the specialty beers in the fridge door - more on that another day).
Alright - the pork is nice and firm in your hand. (Yes, you may snicker now) So what do we do with this hunk of meat? It's time to remove it from the cure and rinse it. That's right - run the pork bellies under cold water to remove excess liquid cure or additional ingredients like the peppercorns and garlic bits. Then pat the belly dry and refrigerate covered on a dish in the cold chest for up to 3 days.
"BUT, Cracklin', what do I do now?!?" You can hot smoke the pork bellies until they reach 150 degrees. (Roughly 2 hours - Ruhlman says to start checking the temperature around 1.5 hours). Or you can put the bellies in the oven on a baking sheet at 200 degrees for the same amount of time. Once the bacon reaches 150 degrees - remove it from the oven and use a sharp kitchen knife to remove the skin while the fat is still warm.
You can then cool the bacon, vacuum pack it and freeze it. One website I found during additional research to prepare for my embarkation down this yummy path suggested chilling, partially freezing the bacon and then slicing it. Once sliced - use Glad press-n-seal and create bunches of individually sectioned pieces of bacon that you can freeze. Another way is to place the pork belly in the fridge to partially freeze it and then slice, and vacuum pack the sliced belly and place in the freezer. BUT - most importantly, cut off a small bit, fresh from the oven or smoker and cook it. You'll be amazed at how good it is.
Technical note - if you don't slice the cured pork belly up into bacon slices and instead cut them into chunks to cook with - they are called lardons. You can render fat easily from these (why on earth you'd do that with the amazing bacon you've made - I have no earthly idea), or use them to help fry up ingredients for a soup, chili, stew or home fries!
It's really not that tough to do. If you wanted - after the curing - you can rinse the belly off, dry it and hang it to air dry and make pancetta. So easy. With 3 hours of active time, spread out over at least a week, you've got superior, nay - ultimate bacon. Please do consider giving it a chance. If you're trying to watch your budget - talk to your local grocery store meat department - it'll be a pork belly, maybe slightly mass produced, but it'll still make great bacon. If you can swing it and want to source your food locally and from a local merchant - talk to your local artisan butcher. In my case, that means Lothar. Give him or his lovely wife June a call @ 703-677-2731 or shoot them an email at: lothar.erbe@yahoo.com
Obviously Lothar is an option only if you live in the Virginia/Maryland/DC area (especially out west). Talk to your local butcher - they're amazing folks with lots of knowledge and great stories. As Lothar and June start their weekly email "Dear valued customers and friends of good taste" - this is how a good butcher will treat you. Talk to them, they're people too, not just someone behind a counter. You'd be amazed who you get to know by starting a conversation (or what you'll end up eating or drinking!).
So - there you have it - Part One of Makin' Bacon. It really isn't that tough - some pre-planning and sourcing of ingredients and you my fellow lovers of good food, can be makin' you're own bacon!
NEXT TIME - Beef Jerky. Part 2 of Makin' Bacon will be next week!
This whole journey into charcuterie started with my reading about other making their own preserved and smoked gourmet meats and one of the primary references always cited was Charcuterie, by Michael Ruhlman, Brian Polcyn and Thomas Keller. Both Ruhlman and Polcyn are well experienced as chefs and as masters of the art of charcuterie.
Reading through Charcuterie has been an epic trek for both my mind, my senses and my palette. There are so many dishes that I have been inspired to make by this and a few other books that I purchased after Charcuterie. However, Charcuterie was the genesis of this particular trip down the rabbit hole - expect more posts involving this books recipes and adaptations of them.
Why make it from scratch? Because then I can control all the ingredients going into the food - the sourcing of the pork belly, just how much salt, sodium nitrite, sugar and other spices go into it. As opposed to buying the generic grocery store stuff that is pumped up with water solution and shrinks by at least 40%. Home made bacon doesn't have this problem, is generally cut thicker and isn't filled with water. Expect amazingness. Like I said - I like to make things from scratch, at least once to see if it's worth it. I don't eat bacon near as often as I want to - so I'm going to make it the best I can when I do eat it. The thought of home made bacon, crisped up and on a plate with scrambled eggs, homemade toast with homemade jam/jelly/labneh just makes me smile and makes me totally satisfied. That whole warming the soul thing again...it's real - I swear!
Alright. All that aside - the important part - BACON. The majority of people I know start salivating at the thought of crispy (or chewy...if you're my wife) bacon with eggs and some sort of bread (muffin, english muffin, toast, waffle - what have you). I've always wanted to make the tasty concoction and took my time in sourcing a pork belly locally. I ended up ordering a pork belly through my local butcher, Lothar Erbe, who owns and runs "Lothar's Sausages and Fine Meats". 7.5 pounds of porcine goodness was presented to me 2 weeks ago and I, giddy with excitement for the tastes to come, hurried home (after a couple beers and about an hour of talking about meat and life with Lothar - this is a guy who knows what it means to really make a customer feel at home and really connect with them). I also came home with some fat back - I cannot wait to fry up breakfast with those!
 |
| Two section of pork belly all divided up. Look at that meat and fat! It is going to taste so amazing. |
- One 3-5 pound slab of pork belly (it's okay to go over this)
- Ruhlman's basic dry cure (After the photo)
 |
| An already portioned part of the pork belly slab - skin on. Approximately 2 pounds of porcine goodness. You'll see next to it optional additions for a more savory bacon - Bay leaves, peppercorns (freshly cracked) and garlic (smashed) as well as a jar of the basic dry cure. |
- 1 pound kosher salt
- 8 ounces sugar
- 2 ounces pink salt (sodium nitrite) (10 teaspoons)
 | ||
| Pork belly section with 1/4 cup dry cure, 3 smashed garlic cloves, 2 TBS of cracked pepper, and 2 crushed bay leaves |
- Maple syrup
- Brown Sugar
- Bay Leaves
- Juniper Berries
- Peppercorns
- Garlic cloves
Seal and shake the bag like you just don't care. That way you get pretty even coverage of the cure and spices all over the belly. It doesn't have to be perfect - everything will even out as the cure does it's magic in the fridge.
Few things make me happier than the smell of fresh cracked peppercorns, smashed garlic and bay leaves. They are absolutely fragrant! For a sweeter slab of bacon - use 1/4 cup of brown sugar or maple syrup. I made 2 savory slabs of bacon and 2 sweeter varieties.
 |
| Pork belly, shaken - not stirred. Garlic, peppercorn and bay leaf garnish. |
Once I placed all my ingredients with their respective bags and shook 'em like I just didn't care - I placed them in the fridge to rest for 7 days. What happens during this time? Magic. Bacony and tasty magic. The salts in the dry cure pull moisture out of the pork belly while infusing it with cure and your flavor additions (somewhat akin to brining). Here's the hard part: every day, flip the bags over so that the pork belly's get equal exposure to the cure. Day 2- flip. Day 3-flip. And so on. Come Day 7 - check the firmness of the belly - if it is firm at it's thickest point, the bellies are done curing. If not - leave it for 2 more days (flipping each extra day). Once it's nice and firm - we can move on.
So. We're almost there. Really, I swear. I know, I know - you're breaking a sweat from all the effort and worry that you felt each day as you reached into your fridge and flipped those bags. I know I did (not really - I was usually distracted by conducting a mental inventory of the specialty beers in the fridge door - more on that another day).
 |
| Yummy, yummy bacon. It smells amazing! I can't wait to finish it! |
Alright - the pork is nice and firm in your hand. (Yes, you may snicker now) So what do we do with this hunk of meat? It's time to remove it from the cure and rinse it. That's right - run the pork bellies under cold water to remove excess liquid cure or additional ingredients like the peppercorns and garlic bits. Then pat the belly dry and refrigerate covered on a dish in the cold chest for up to 3 days.
"BUT, Cracklin', what do I do now?!?" You can hot smoke the pork bellies until they reach 150 degrees. (Roughly 2 hours - Ruhlman says to start checking the temperature around 1.5 hours). Or you can put the bellies in the oven on a baking sheet at 200 degrees for the same amount of time. Once the bacon reaches 150 degrees - remove it from the oven and use a sharp kitchen knife to remove the skin while the fat is still warm.
You can then cool the bacon, vacuum pack it and freeze it. One website I found during additional research to prepare for my embarkation down this yummy path suggested chilling, partially freezing the bacon and then slicing it. Once sliced - use Glad press-n-seal and create bunches of individually sectioned pieces of bacon that you can freeze. Another way is to place the pork belly in the fridge to partially freeze it and then slice, and vacuum pack the sliced belly and place in the freezer. BUT - most importantly, cut off a small bit, fresh from the oven or smoker and cook it. You'll be amazed at how good it is.
Technical note - if you don't slice the cured pork belly up into bacon slices and instead cut them into chunks to cook with - they are called lardons. You can render fat easily from these (why on earth you'd do that with the amazing bacon you've made - I have no earthly idea), or use them to help fry up ingredients for a soup, chili, stew or home fries!
It's really not that tough to do. If you wanted - after the curing - you can rinse the belly off, dry it and hang it to air dry and make pancetta. So easy. With 3 hours of active time, spread out over at least a week, you've got superior, nay - ultimate bacon. Please do consider giving it a chance. If you're trying to watch your budget - talk to your local grocery store meat department - it'll be a pork belly, maybe slightly mass produced, but it'll still make great bacon. If you can swing it and want to source your food locally and from a local merchant - talk to your local artisan butcher. In my case, that means Lothar. Give him or his lovely wife June a call @ 703-677-2731 or shoot them an email at: lothar.erbe@yahoo.com
Obviously Lothar is an option only if you live in the Virginia/Maryland/DC area (especially out west). Talk to your local butcher - they're amazing folks with lots of knowledge and great stories. As Lothar and June start their weekly email "Dear valued customers and friends of good taste" - this is how a good butcher will treat you. Talk to them, they're people too, not just someone behind a counter. You'd be amazed who you get to know by starting a conversation (or what you'll end up eating or drinking!).
So - there you have it - Part One of Makin' Bacon. It really isn't that tough - some pre-planning and sourcing of ingredients and you my fellow lovers of good food, can be makin' you're own bacon!
NEXT TIME - Beef Jerky. Part 2 of Makin' Bacon will be next week!
Monday, March 5, 2012
There is porcine and bovine goodness coming!
I promise! A lot has been happening at home and work the last few weeks so it's held me up. I've got material for several blog posts: Bacon, Beef Jerky and possible home cured Corned Beef (If I remembered to take any photos).
Never fear - the pork belly was acquired and has since been cut up and put in dry cure for the next week. Part One of that adventure to come shortly!
In the meantime...teaser photos! FYI - clutter in the background is stuff I'm using as I prep the things your seeing - yes I need to work on my composition somewhat so I get nice clean photos. But I like to know the workspace is 'real' and not staged. ;)
-Cracklin'
Never fear - the pork belly was acquired and has since been cut up and put in dry cure for the next week. Part One of that adventure to come shortly!
-Cracklin'
|
| Gorgeous Pork Belly from my local butcher - Lothar Erbe |
|
| The savory variety of bacon cure. |
|
| Smashed garlic with freshly cracked peppercorns and fresh crushed bay leaves....heaven. |
 |
| The makings of great beef jerky. |
|
| Peppercorns and dried chipotle pepper being ground up for beef jerky marinade. |
|
| Yummy slices of london broil in this versions marinade. Can't wait to throw on the dehydrator today! |
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Food. How it can make you feel good in your soul.
Sadly - due to a mix up on my part with my awesome butcher (He really is tops!), I don't have a pork belly to document for my first food post. BUT - fret not, I will in about 2 weeks. However - I have one of those things I promised in the magna carta - ruminations on food and how it can bring people together and just make you feel great.
Nothing tastes better than a dish that I know has been prepared with attention to detail and care. This weekend, I got to re-visit one of my all-time favorite restaurants. This place has been around in one form or another since the 1940s in Harrisonburg, VA - home of my Alma mater, James Madison University. The Little Grill Collective has been a worker owned corporation since 2002, with Ron Copeland leading then charge since he purchased the Little Grill in 1992.
Anyhow - what makes me love this place so much? Almost everything is made from scratch, with a focus on sourcing sustainable and local food. They have a focus on vegetarian and vegan meals - but their menu welcomes all with grass fed burgers and local free range chicken. You walk into the LGC and it just smells great and feels welcoming. The walls have years of mementos from it's varied past and everything has that feeling that it's durable and lasting and is meant to be. The worker-owners are extremely friendly and helpful. The prices for food are in whole or half dollar amounts and already include tax (Cash only!). It's simple and it works.
Once you get to a table (there can be a serious wait sometimes, but it's worth it!), you can start quizzing your dining partners with the provided Trivial Pursuit cards and peruse the menu of amazing dishes to try.
Back to the food - it takes a while to get it - but that's because it's prepared from scratch every time and a lot of effort has gone into making it filling, tasty and soul warming.
That's the second time I've mentioned "soul" in reference to food - that's because to me, once you've put all this thought, care and effort into creating a dish to feed and nourish someone else - it just makes you feel good deep down as a creator and also as a consumer as you work your way though your meal. Not only have the cooks gone through the effort of making the dish, they've also developed the recipe to actually feed you, not fill you up. The restaurant has sourced excellent ingredients and in this case with a mind towards the earth and environment. I'm not advocating all organic, or all vegan, etc - it's just that this amount of thought really lends itself to a wonderful dining experience. This same amount of thought goes into most dishes when I prepare them for family and friends, I research multiple recipes, I find the best ingredients I can (while staying in a budget) and spend hours working on components of the dish sometimes. All so I can properly feed and nourish you while we all come closer together through time spent interacting. Food brings people together, be it a pizza night, a dinner party, a holiday meal or Sunday dinner. It provides time from our hectic schedules, our always connected lives and allows us to spend time with one another while nourishing not just our bodies but our minds and soul. This might sound "hippy-ish" to you, or too touchy feely - but humans are social animals - we strive for contact, for a sense of connection with one another. And food is an amazing mechanism to achieve that.
So - the next time you have a slice of pizza or gnosh on a some knishes with someone you care about or are friends with - remember it's not only an opportunity to enjoy their cooking, but to talk with them and have dialogue. Food has allowed this to happen. Some may argue that you can go camping, go shopping, go hiking, go walking or just sit down and talk while you have a glass of water - but I say different strokes for different folks. Food is my primary conduit for bringing folks together because it's what I know best from experiences growing up.
Go out and feel good in your soul this week - make something from scratch for folks you care about and bring them all together to share in the experience.
Yum,
-Cracklin'
 |
| Just a quick snap of some of the stuff that is in this place - I love it. |
Anyhow - what makes me love this place so much? Almost everything is made from scratch, with a focus on sourcing sustainable and local food. They have a focus on vegetarian and vegan meals - but their menu welcomes all with grass fed burgers and local free range chicken. You walk into the LGC and it just smells great and feels welcoming. The walls have years of mementos from it's varied past and everything has that feeling that it's durable and lasting and is meant to be. The worker-owners are extremely friendly and helpful. The prices for food are in whole or half dollar amounts and already include tax (Cash only!). It's simple and it works.
Once you get to a table (there can be a serious wait sometimes, but it's worth it!), you can start quizzing your dining partners with the provided Trivial Pursuit cards and peruse the menu of amazing dishes to try.
 |
| The fun and quirky menu. Try the Blue Monkey pancakes. Awesome. (Tried to get a kids blue monkey shirt for our friends' daughter but they were all out) |
 |
| My wife enjoying the fluffiest, from scratch blueberry pancakes either of us have seen or had in a looonggg time! |
So - the next time you have a slice of pizza or gnosh on a some knishes with someone you care about or are friends with - remember it's not only an opportunity to enjoy their cooking, but to talk with them and have dialogue. Food has allowed this to happen. Some may argue that you can go camping, go shopping, go hiking, go walking or just sit down and talk while you have a glass of water - but I say different strokes for different folks. Food is my primary conduit for bringing folks together because it's what I know best from experiences growing up.
Go out and feel good in your soul this week - make something from scratch for folks you care about and bring them all together to share in the experience.
Yum,
-Cracklin'
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
What the frick is a french pig? (A Food Magna Carta)
Who Am I? What is this all about? Why are you choosing such a ridiculous name?
Well - I love cooking. I love chopping, cutting, dicing, slicing, rendering, baking, frying (yum!), grilling, smoking, grinding, stuffing (I think you get the picture)....all kinds of food. I especially like making my own preserved and smoked meats: sausage, prosciutto, salami, jerky, pulled pork (*gasp* there the first porcine reference!), etc...
So - in an effort to start chronicling my adventures down the culinary rabbit hole that I call my free time (when it exists) - I've started a blog and named it after a venture that I hope to one day have. The name is a creation of myself and a good friend who also loves to cook.
I'll warn you - sometimes it's going to be just about cooking, other times it might be ruminations on food, food prep, food use andoccasionally, rarely about life. Then again, maybe I shouldn't limit the life aspect - after all, food is interwoven into our lives - it feeds us, nourishes us and also brings people together.
As my dad always tries to do when we travel "Do you want to get a pastry??", sadly, No Dad, I don't want the pastry (I've been on a mission to lose weight and be in better shape for the last 6 or 7 months, so far 40+ pounds lost and I fit into clothes that I used to wear 6 years ago when I was still another 20+ pounds lighter - so I think it's working - all while enjoying the food I love). But I'll take a coffee and sit and talk with you over some hot joe as you tear into that sugary delight, washed down with your own cuppa joe - it just helps folks come together. How many occasions are centered around a big meal with all your family around? Loads.
Food is life. That's my approach. I love making things from scratch, be it vanilla extract, beer, sausage, bacon (next adventure, stay tuned!), bread, pizza dough or even cheeses. I'll try anything at least once to get a better feeling of it's original essence and freshness before buying it in the store (perhaps never to be purchased again in some cases - yum!).
So come with me my friends and see what the French Pig has to explore.
Come hungry, Come Curious, Leave Full.
Well - I love cooking. I love chopping, cutting, dicing, slicing, rendering, baking, frying (yum!), grilling, smoking, grinding, stuffing (I think you get the picture)....all kinds of food. I especially like making my own preserved and smoked meats: sausage, prosciutto, salami, jerky, pulled pork (*gasp* there the first porcine reference!), etc...
So - in an effort to start chronicling my adventures down the culinary rabbit hole that I call my free time (when it exists) - I've started a blog and named it after a venture that I hope to one day have. The name is a creation of myself and a good friend who also loves to cook.
I'll warn you - sometimes it's going to be just about cooking, other times it might be ruminations on food, food prep, food use and
As my dad always tries to do when we travel "Do you want to get a pastry??", sadly, No Dad, I don't want the pastry (I've been on a mission to lose weight and be in better shape for the last 6 or 7 months, so far 40+ pounds lost and I fit into clothes that I used to wear 6 years ago when I was still another 20+ pounds lighter - so I think it's working - all while enjoying the food I love). But I'll take a coffee and sit and talk with you over some hot joe as you tear into that sugary delight, washed down with your own cuppa joe - it just helps folks come together. How many occasions are centered around a big meal with all your family around? Loads.
Food is life. That's my approach. I love making things from scratch, be it vanilla extract, beer, sausage, bacon (next adventure, stay tuned!), bread, pizza dough or even cheeses. I'll try anything at least once to get a better feeling of it's original essence and freshness before buying it in the store (perhaps never to be purchased again in some cases - yum!).
So come with me my friends and see what the French Pig has to explore.
Come hungry, Come Curious, Leave Full.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)