NYT Dining & Wine 01/21/09

Julia Moskin anoints the cellphone as Top Kitchen Toy. She goes through all the uses you'd think she would including photography, list making, unit conversions, and looking up recipes. I'm still not willing to spend $80 a month on something like an iPhone or Blackberry. It just doesn't add that much value to my life. I'm content using my camera to take pictures, my computer or books to look up recipes, my calculator for unit conversions, and...GASP! pen and paper for lists. I can do all of these tasks BETTER with my current tools.

Eric Asimov dicusses South African wines and proclaims the country "one of the greatest sources for moderately priced cabernet sauvignon on the planet today". Asimov and his panel give a $32 bottle four stars (De Trafford Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 2004) and has several 'Best Value' recommendations (although $32 really isn't all that bad for a great bottle of wine). Fabricant includes a recipe for Lamb Shanks in Red Wine with Prunes.

Bruni reviews a recently renovated Daniel and says of the many touches: "These flourishes make you feel that you’ve slipped into a monarch’s robes, if only for a night, and turn an evening into an event." He gives Boulud's namesake four stars. No surprise there.

This week's Minimalist column includes a recipe for 15-Minute Fried Herb Chicken, using a paste of onion, herbs, tahini, and olive oil to coat the chicken. Sounds great.

Marian Burros provides insight into the Innaugural Luncheon in the Capitol, although the menu and other details are available at the official Innaugural web site.

Finally, although this isn't in the Dining section, I want to briefly mention something Obama said yesterday in his Innaugural Address: "We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories." I'm all for making the most of the sun and the winds (although I'm a little less pro-wind power as it changes weather patterns), but we just shouldn't be using products from the soil for cars and factories. I won't go in to terrible detail here and now -- perhaps I'll explore this issue in a future post -- but let's use our soil for food -- healthy, nutritous food. We don't need more ethanol and we don't need more corn by-products.

NYT Dining & Wine 01/14/09

Today's New York Times Dining & Wine section just didn't interest me all that much. Bit of a disappointment, really.

The one article I truly enjoyed though was Harold McGee's wine science piece. In it, McGee discusses gadgets and techniques for making wine taste better, from frothing to dipping a penny in your glass. I'm no wine snob, but it just seems wrong to mess with wine like that.

I refer you to Serious Eats for a great roundup of today's Dining & Wine section.

NYT Dining & Wine 01/07/09

There are a couple of interesting articles in today's New York Times Dining & Wine section (published every Wednesday).

Julia Moskin's article "From Asia, Rapture in a Bowl" discusses the enthusiasm people have for various Southeast Asian noodle soups. They all sound tasty, especially as I sit here and sniffle. Unfortunately, there are no recipes included with the article.

Mark Bittman, the Minimalist, gives some pointers for a great pantry, and I don't think I disagree with anything he says (although I'm not throwing out all our spices and bread crumbs). However, a few things really resonated with me:

OUT Canned beans (except in emergencies).

IN Dried beans. More economical, better tasting, space saving and available in far more varieties. Cook a pound once a week and you’ll always have them around (you can freeze small amounts in their cooking liquid, or water, indefinitely). If you’re not sold, try this: soak and cook a pound of white beans. Take some and finish with fresh chopped sage, garlic and good olive oil. Purée another cup or so with a boiled potato and lots of garlic. Mix some with a bit of cooking liquid, and add a can of tomatoes; some chopped celery, carrots and onions; cooked pasta; and cheese and call it pasta fagiole or minestrone. If there are any left, mix them with a can of olive-oil-packed tuna or sardines. And that’s just white beans.

All of those applications make my mouth water. I'll have to try to think ahead and cook up some beans!

OUT Minute Rice or boil-in-a-bag grains.

IN Genuine grains. Critical; as many different types as you have space for. Short grain rice — for risotto, paella, just good cooked rice — of course. Barley, pearled or not; a super rice alternative, with any kind of gravy, reduction sauce, pan drippings, what have you. Ground corn for polenta, grits, cornbread or thickener (whisk some — not much — into a soup and see what happens). Quinoa — people can’t believe how flavorful this is until they try it. Bulgur, which is ready in maybe 10 minutes (it requires only steeping), and everyone likes. If you’re in doubt about how to cook any of these, combine them with abundant salted water and cook as you would pasta, then drain when tender; you can’t go far wrong.

I hate boil-in-bag rice. I'd also like to try to incorporate some different grains into my diet.

Bittman also recommends pureeing some walnuts with garlic, oil, and water as a pasta sauce or condiment for vegetables or grains. That sounds absolutely delicious and slightly healthier than some other pantry-backed dishes like bacon parmigiana.

Florence Fabricant has an excellent looking recipe for duck fried rice. She also has a short write-up about Dousoeur de Paris Patisserie Salon, which sounds about as authentic as any patisserie in the US could hope to be.

At the Stove, a Dash of Science, a Pinch of Folklore

Today's New York Times Science section has an article by Kenneth Chang about food science. He made a few dishes and allowed biochemist, cook, and author Shirley Corriher to critique his practices from adding sugar to stir fry to soaking fish in rice wine for a few minutes. Chang also consults food scientist Harold McGee and Sichuan food expert Fuchsia Dunlop.