Are you saying that you don't use fonts when you're talking?
Pictured: A delicious bottle of Paulo Laureano's Vale da Torre. $8.99, product of Portugal.
Listen to: The Brother JT 3 - Lord you are the Wine [Real Audio]
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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Lousy weather prevented us from grilling last night, so I took a spin through Nigella's Express: Good Food Fast, which is a brilliant cookbook if you're the type that's immediately intimidated by recipes calling for more than a handful of ingredients. Nigella's scallop and chorizo combo can be whipped up on the inside of 10 minutes and all you need to complement the two main ingredients is a wedge of lemon and some fresh parsley.
I am slowly but surely getting over my fear of preparing scallops. No thanks to the prevailing cooking trends of the day, the scallops my family ate during the 1970s were overcooked to the point that they resembled frizzled lymph nodes with a burnt crust of paprika. That's not the kind of imagery that will get anyone rushing to the table, so now imagine how they tasted... The trick, as anyone who's not still using a '72 edition of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook will tell you, is to get your pan good and hot and then only cook the scallops for about one minute per side. If you're paranoid about eating underdone seafood, slice the larger scallops in half before cooking. In addition to the lemon and parsley, I think a splash of white wine might have well served this particular dish, and I must remember to add than next time.
On the side, we had simple spinach and garlic, as well as heaping piles of Israeli couscous and quinoa (which is a brilliant and healthy alternative to boring old rice, if you're looking to add some variety to your grain intake.) I've never been enthused by supermarket couscous, let alone anything bearing the markings of the Near East corporation, but this stuff is really flavorful and has a wonderfully hearty consistency.
Recommended beverage: More of that Stella Blanco Muscat.
Recommended listening: The sophisticated Swede Pop of Flaskkvartetten med Freddie Wadling. [Real Audio]
Alex just informed me that the female voice in this song is Nina Persson of the Cardigans.
Freddie Wadling, on the other hand, has a slightly edgier history, as he is an ex-member of the decidedly un-Cardigans-like (but also Swedish) Leather Nun. Live and learn, eh?
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In my former life as an idiot, talk of a "dry rub" would conjure up all sorts of dubious imagery and inappropriate snickering.
The first time I ever heard about dry rubs in their culinary form was on some early 90s PBS cooking show, on which the unconvincingly happy hostess made a case for massaging coffee grounds into the carcass of a Cornish hen. Needless to say, with Fugazi in my walkman and english muffin pizzas guiding my notion of "cooking" at the time, a dry rub seemed decidedly out of my league.
But praise be to whichever god you tremble in the face of: Time has had its way with my lifestyle, and these days... I do the rub.
Last night, I concocted a dry barbecue rub for the chicken breasts that had spent the day brining in the fridge, and I don't mind saying that the results were pretty stellar. Alex found the recipe online, and it was suggested that the blending of all the dry ingredients in a coffee grinder would achieve the best results. However, since neither of us were enthused by the idea of a steaming cup o' coriander the following morning, we opted for the old-fashioned mortar and pestle. I find there to be a very particular joy to employing such old-world technologies in the kitchen. Not to suggest that I don't love our Kitchen Aid mixer or our industrial salad spinner, but the act of grinding one's own spices carries with it a level of satisfaction that kitchen shortcuts simply don't. That said, I am happy to proclaim that this ideology does not carry over into the other areas of my domestic life. ("Doing the laundry", for example, doesn't mean "taking my jeans down to the river to beat them against the rocks.")
The ingredients:
1/4 cup paprika
2 cloves minced garlic
3 tbs. minced dried onion (which we didn't have, so I used a shallot left over from the previous night)
2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. dry mustard
3 tbs. cumin seed, toasted (I didn't toast it)
3 tbs. coriander seed, toasted (ditto)
1/4 cup course salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
Sticks and Stones - Synchronicity II (Originally performed by The Police) [Listen]
Note lyrical changeup with regards to the Dirty Jersey.
More on Sticks and Stones here and here.
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The sun's sudden and unexpected emergence through today's forecasted rain and gloom is the cue I've been waiting for to share this one:
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Girls in Their Summer Clothes [Streaming MP3]
I finally got around to buying the record this song comes from ("Magic") last week after being subjected to its endless bumpering of everything on NPR during their last big fundraiser. I'm pleased to report that it's his best in years and does everything I've always wanted from the many Springsteen albums that I've thrown down for in years gone by. (And yes, I bought "Magic" on vinyl -- Not just because it sounds better, but so it would match all the others. I don't think I would trust an E Street Band CD as much as I trust their records.) It swings as readily as it inspires, and in doing so acts as a stealthy antidote to everything so painfully wrong in the world.
There's not a bad song in the pack, although it took me a little while to warm up to "Livin' in the Future" because of its vague similarities to "Pink Cadillac" (which is not a song that I hate, but isn't in my top... hundred, let's say.) In particular, though, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" totally destroyed me in ways that are quasi-embarrassing, as you'll hear if you keep listening through the mic break in the above streaming link. In short, the song needed to be shared here if any kind of grasp of current history is to be had, and also because it's sure to confuse and annoy all the people blowing through as a result of the widely linked-to Mark E. Smith post from last week.
No go do something -- anything -- that gets you outside.
After years of my curiosity being tempted by the brining of meats, I finally broke down and tried it for myself. And like all great revelations in life, it immediately inspired me to wonder how I'd managed to tolerate the simple act of eating food for so long without it.
Granted, if you're like most people who arrive home from work in a state of near-starvation, the idea of adding an extra hour of prep-time to whatever you're making can be less than appealing. However, if you're sufficiently on the ball before leaving the house in the morning, preparing a meat-brine combo in anticipation of later feasting is ridiculously easy and pays off like aces. So far, I've only brined pork cutlets (since they are notorious for drying out when grilled), but I've got chicken parts soaking right now, and am planing to work my way up to brining a whole turkey within the next couple of weeks.
Pictured here is a great dish we whipped up with inspiration from our pal Chaz Lewis, a recent houseguest on his whirlwind east coast tour. He arrived in true style, bearing gifts from his adoptive homeland (pure maple syrup and fiery-hot chili paste) and recommended blending them together for an incomparably tasty meat glaze. The pre-grill brining process only took about an hour and involved nothing more than soaking pork tenderloin cutlets in a large glass bowl containing 6-8 cups of cold water, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of kosher salt, and a squeezed wedge of lemon. When you try it for yourself, whisk everything vigorously before adding the meat, and then cover it up and put it in the fridge for at least an hour. And don't worry about your food tasting salty, sugary, or lemony because the process doesn't season the meat so much as it chemically alters its composition so that not a drop of juice will escape while cooking.
For the glaze, we eyeballed a mixture of the maple syrup and chili paste, and then Alex brilliantly suggested a small amount of fish sauce to temper the spice (which was considerable and had both of us chugging our drinks like fratboys upon first taste.)
When your meat has brined long enough, rinse it off in cold tap water and pat dry. Oil up your grill (or
broiler
) and cook the meat while giving it a few brush strokes of the glaze. (The rest you should boil up in a saucepan to drizzle over whatever side-dishes you're preparing.) Brined meat, as I quickly learned, cooks really fast, so be sure to turn it frequently over medium heat so as to not overcook it. The rewards of the extra hour you spent brining will be apparent the moment you sit down -- when our cutlery finally came into contact with these tenderloins, it was like slicing into swollen water balloons. Needless to say, all table conversation ceased, as this dish commanded our undivided attentions and reverence. Every bite created an explosion of juicy deliciousness which left both of us in food comas of the highest pedigree.
The flavor of the glaze mingled perfectly with the side dishes: stir fried Swiss Chard with a dash of white balsamic vinegar, and oven baked potatoes with garlic, the recipe for which was copped from a Food Network show whose name I can't remember. When these baby white 'taters were ultimately prepared, they looked uncannily (and perhaps unappetizingly) like the brain sucking bug that was inserted into Chekov's ear by Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek II: the Wrath of Kahn. (In reality, they were just small white potatoes with incisions made 3/4 of the way through, thin garlic slices inserted into the wedges, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then baked for an hour at 400 degrees.) References to pedestrian 80s movies notwithstanding, these starchy treats completed the trifecta with style, panache, and bad breath quotients all firmly in check. Next time, we're using purple potatoes and never mind the turkey, I'm going to brine an entire goat.
We're gonna need a bigger grill.
Cool student project rendered via Rotoscoping. Found by accident while looking for this. Initial search inspired by Mr. Science's amazing movie stills page on Flickr.
With all the talk of pop tarts like Britney and Amy Winehouse being walking disasters, it's almost imaginable that we could forget about the Fall's Mark E. Smith.
Almost.
Ten years ago this month, Smith and his legendary avant-punk band were in the midst of one of their wildest tours on record, the east coast leg of which looped them through NYC, Jersey, and Philadelphia for concerts at Coney Island High, Brownies, the Loop Lounge, and the Trocadero. Although I didn't get to attend any of the shows myself, I had the fortune to be on the air at WPRB on the evening of the Trocadero show (April 4th), when Smith physically battled onstage with his bandmates. Fellow DJ Greg Lyon witnessed all of the action live, and on his way back from Philly, visited me on the air at WPRB to deliver a play-by-play of the evening's most shocking events.
The voices you will hear in this MP3 are my own, my WPRB co-host Jen Moyse, and Greg. There were definitely some other PRB DJs of the era lurking about in the studio that evening, but I can't remember exactly who.
[Listen] (Poor sound quality alert... This MP3 was made from a cheap cassette, and the levels being blown out certainly isn't helping.)
I have only vague recollections of what happened the following week, but I remember that the Fall scheduled two consecutive shows at the Brownies nightclub with only one or two days advanced notice. (The band's popularity notwithstanding, tales of the on-stage antics in Philly made their way up the coast quickly, and both shows sold out immediately.) According to the Fall's gigography page, only one of the Brownies shows actually happened due to Smith being arrested on assault charges at 3 AM on the morning of April 8th. If my memory serves correctly, the opening band for the Brownies show was none other than the Chrome Cranks, whom I later heard had most of their gear tossed onto the sidewalk by Smith. Yeesh, what a night! Courtesy of Brian Turner, here is an audio snippet of the Fall onstage at Brownies, in the midst of the chaos. At around 4 minutes in, it sounds like someone from the crowd gets ahold of the mic and the whole thing quickly devolves into a violent cussing match between the crowd, band members, and Smith.
[Listen]
In the ten years and however many millions of lineup changes that followed these event, the band went on to release three of their best albums, in my opinion. (Country on the Click, Fall Heads Roll, and The Unutterable.) May they ring on for another decade at least! As Smith famously professed at around the same time these recordings were made: If it's me and your grandma on bongos, it's the Fall.
The Fall - Theme from Sparta F.C. [Streaming Real Audio]
As if you didn't already think that I'm some kind of Crazy Man, I have begun to prepare breakfast on the outdoor gas grill. The above picture is evidence of my latest conquest: an Italian grilled frittata with cheese, fresh rosemary, peppers, fresh tomato + sauce, minced garlic, and sausage. Believe it or not, I didn't even use real eggs in this, but the better-for-you-once-in-a-while Egg Beaters (TM), which somehow look, taste, and seem to react just like real eggs. (At least in instances like this. How well they'd hold up in baking is for someone else to determine.)
To make the above, I fired up the grill and added the trusty iron skilled, coated with a generous shot of cooking spray. Once it was nice and hot, I added the egg mixture, sprinkled the other ingredients around as necessary, lowered the heat to medium, and closed the grill cover. In about ten minutes, it was cooked perfectly: slightly crispy on the outside, gooey and delicious in the middle.
Closing the grill cover is THE most important step in the cooking process and is really the only thing that validates shuffling around the backyard in your pajamas. By sealing the food off from cool air, your breakfast is infused with the smoke and essence of everything else you've grilled over the last year, and whose juices and detriti have fallen through the slats of your grill and caked on the bottom in a tempting black scum. So not only was this frittata seasoned with the flavors of the Italian old country, but also with lemon tilapia, cajun shrimp skewers, bourbon and maple pork cutlets, wasabi turkey and spinach burgers, ginger sausage, garlic and pepper buffalo steaks, and a number of other open-flame delights. Hot dogs included.
So for the permanent record, I would like it clearly stated that I fully endorse the act of grilling breakfast, especially now that open-window season is upon us. The smell of this frittata wafting into nearby homes on a weekend morning is guaranteed to get the neighbors talking.
For topical listening purposes, here's a song by Eggs -- Not the food, but the band. Say hello to the Government Administrator while you gather your ingredients. [Listen]
I'm proud to have moved past most of the things I really liked when I was a teenager. Skateboarding, McDonald's cheeseburgers, the film Johnny Dangerously, Maximumrocknroll, that pasty-faced punky maiden I was in love with even though she very obviously found me repulsive, and... GWAR. All of these are now things which I've either forgotten about or willingly maintain a healthy distance from, and I believe I am a better man for it. As far as I'm concerned, anyone north of 35 years old who reveals an affinity for GWAR or Johnny Dangerously automatically brands themselves someone to be gotten away from quickly.
Thank you for coming with me on this one.
The Minneapolis group the Replacements, however, are another story. Even I admit to being on the late side of the age curve of their fanbase, as the first album of theirs I bought was 1987's "Pleased to Meet Me". I first heard about the album on WPRB, the college radio station I'd started listening to three years earlier, and which later became a huge part of my life by allowing me to intrude upon its airwaves for a decade. My copy of "Pleased to Meet Me" was purchased (on cassette) at Wall to Wall Sound in Trenton's Quakerbridge Mall, and it quickly became one of my favorites -- as much for its quality as for it awakening me to all of their earlier records.
For the interested, I've written a fairly big article about some of those records for Dusted Magazine, which you can read here.
The Replacements - I Will Dare (Live in Chicago, 1991) [Streaming Real Audio]
