JCC Tomo-spiced karkana ribenes - the foodies' thread

Gourmet.

 

I recently found out that they have a vegetarian tasting menu and starting drooling. Next time I'm in the bay area I'm going to try to get a reservation.

 

I WAS THERE.

Also,

 

I tried this tonight (option 1). I have one thing to say:

 

hudzu -- I think I have finally -- finally -- gotten the hang / secret of properly resting meat after cast-iron cooking. I feel unstoppable!

 

Some people don't salt their pasta water? WTF.

 

Most people have way too much salt in their diets to begin with. Not salting pasta is one of those things you can do at the margins to reduce your sodium intake, along with not eating much processed food, which is the big one.

 

Yeah, but it tastes bland and then you end up having to salt it before you eat it anyway, so better to salt the water before boiling the pasta than overload with salt after just to eat it.

 

or just adapt yourself to a slightly blander taste for all foods.

 

Did that when I was younger. I seem to like my foods spicier was I get older.

 

Jabba, this is supposed to be about good food, not about healthy food

And Juliet316 has a point. If people salted their food properly while cooking instead of adding salt afterwards, they'd limit their intake considerably (I won't even go into the super-processed food debate, that doesn't remotely qualify as food in my view.)

 

Spicy =/= salty

You can get your food less bland by using more herbs & spices. I think that makes it easier to cut down on the amount of salt needed.

 

Can I come drop some cake-related salivation in here? Apple cake soaked in cider, peanut butter mousse, and salted caramel. It's ahhhmazing.

And best restaurant/best meal would definitely go to Le Bernardin. I went for my birthday 2 years ago and that meal still sticks with me, especially the cocktail and the crispy black bass. Everything was perfect.

 

There is never a bad meal at Le Bernadin. Never.

Also, I forget which one, but since we were on books before, one of Eric Ripert's books is pretty good but I don't recall which one... :/

 

The Fat Duck are opening in Melbourne while the Bray location is being renovated, I put in to the ballot for seats.

They were $525, so I think I'll be giving that a miss.

 

I've never added salt to a dish in my life.

 

I forget who, but I wandered into Aussie FF years back and you people gave my parents recommendations for Flower Drum in Melbourne -- they STILL talk about it and it's like almost a decade later...

 

fall menu rollout on my third day of work: carrot soup with kale pesto; ricotta toast with pickled mushrooms, shaved carrots tossed in lemon vinaigrette, and beet chips; gnocchi with root vegetables, brussels sprouts, wild mushrooms and carrot puree.

 

I thought so too, but while it's slightly salty, it's not overbearingly so... and I don't particularly like salty things (other than olives). I think the arugula cuts the salt flavor way down.


I used to never add salt to anything until I realized it really brings out the flavor of things and as long as you don't have CHF or use a ton of it all the time, it's amazing what foods have flavor you never noticed!

 

We had our big yearly party for our anniversary today and cooked the quarter of a wild boar that was in our freezer. Yes, we somehow found ourselves in the possession of a quarter of a boar (don't ask), meaning one leg and some belly and loin. All in all it was 14 kg (including bones) and it provided a feast for 15 adults and 6 children. In case you don't have a quarter of a wild boar at hand, our source says that you can use 3 pork shanks instead - and if you don't need to feed 15 people, just adjust the quantities accordingly. Without further ado, here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
1/4 of a boar or 3 pork shanks
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 branches rosemary
3 bay leaves
2 branches thyme
2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
2 apples, peeled and cut in quarters
2 stalks celery, chopped, including the leaves
1 handful Corinth raisins (or equivalent - it's the tiny black sour ones)
500 ml white wine
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp petimezi (I can't find what that's called in English - it's basically unsweetened grape juice that's been boiled down until it becomes syrupy. I guess molasses would be an adequate substitute.)

Preparation:
Put the meat in the biggest oven plate you have (I used the oven's metal sheet, the one that's 7 cm deep). Wedge all the ingredients wherever you can, except the salt, pepper, honey and petimezi. Mix the latter 4 ingredients in a bowl and use the mix to glaze the meat.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 130°C for 10 hours. Yes, you read that right: 10 hours. Before serving, remove the aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes at 200°C, so the skin becomes crisp and caramelized.

The recipe we found (which was for pork, not boar) says that you should pour the gravy through a sieve into a bowl and wait for a few minutes until all the fat floats to the surface so that you can remove it. We followed the steps, but there was no fat since it was a wild animal, so we served it as it was.

The recipe also said that, if you're in a rush, you can bake the pork shanks for 3 hours at 250°C (instead of 10 hours at 130°C) but I'm not sure if that would be enough for boar.

It was amaaaazing. The 10 hours were definitely worth it, the meat was soft like butter. And the gravy was this thick, black, sweet-and-sour thing that was simply to die for.

We served it with boiled potatoes. And now, I'm going to crash in my bed and digest. Burp.

 

Here's an interesting conversation I had on another thread - I'll try it soon

 

I'm making brunch Shakshuka next week!