Found a recipe for a french sauce, emulsion, of hard boiled egg yolk, olive oil, garlic and something else. Exciting stuff. I'll probably add some tarragon and call it a bearnaze. I am fascinated with mayonnaise alternatives, and this sounds like the replacement that I have been searching for. Put it on everything. It's off the bone.
Bringing two things for sharing tonight, both articles in appearing in today's Times online eating section:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/magazine/01food-t-000.html?_r=1&hpw
Interesting piece on a Northern California family, former restauranteurs, chutney enthusiasts, living together on a large apple orchard, and just doing amazing things with food. On the vanguard of organic certification after purchasing the place, the gentleman later began grafting heirloom varities of apples (over eighty resurrected varieties) to the trees he hadn't out right replaced. Had about 2,000 trees, mostly red delicious which are subject to the marketplace and widely consumed. Wisely developed and filled a market niche. I'd have to eat the apple.
And this one:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/travel/01journeys.html?hpw
The other is a story on a writers experience at the lone north american Cordon Bleu School, in Ottawa. If you've ever wondered about Cordon Bleu, this is some real shiz. It details her experience, and the draw for me was the writer's early mention of striding out of the school with a sizable portion of lobster and sauce, playing quite specifically to a reoccurring fantasy of mine. Let's about real shiz for minute. I've considered burgling lobster trucks and seafood shops, walking quickly away into the shadows doublefisting some fat fresh canadian superclawed steamers. Astonishingly, I had to defend killing them last night. No problem there, as there is no logical argument to be made, save for overfishing. Go local if you can. Put the meat in butter. It's off the bone. Lobster Lobbying.
But I want to talk about the squid I fried in a light crispy coating of flour (and nothing else, too easy. It's off the bone), and how I came upon it at sea. I was charter fishing for salmon, chasing the mighty Chinook. What happened was, the boat hit a cabal of renegade Humboldt squid, and we started hoisting them aboard studily for about five minutes, something that has never happened to any one on any boat that I have ever been on. They're legal. I couldn't believe my good fortune, to be rolling back home with and entire squid on ice. And they're almost easier to clean fish; the head is seperated from the tentacles and the propulsion cone head, and the flute is simply a tube that is gutted vertical. And then you have steaks about 3/4 inch thick. Too easy, right out of the ocean. And it was huge, probably 12 pounds of meat. They are aliens. When we got them aboard, it was sad for a split second, and it reminded me of E.T., because are unimaginably awesome. They gnash, writhe about, and change colors with a freaky alien skin. It is as if the skin is hypercolor tee-shirt that is hyperventilating. Astounding...Everyone aboard came over to examine the defeated sea monster. Make no mistake, they are extrordinarily adroit predeators, and after I encounterd this curious lifeform, I support harpooning the larger ones. I can't believe that giant squid exist, because maybe the pictures of them ensnaring large merchant ships with those spiked tentacles are arccurate depictions of eaarlier marit-times. I'm especially worried that they will continue to adapt to this planet and eventually establish a social hierarchy alongside of the sexual hierarchy. We should be as worried about this as we are about climate change. They are not from this planet. Which goes to show you, that I will eat everything in this dimension, and perhaps even other space demons. Because this was so delectable. Off the bone.
Seabacon. So, I smoked some of it. Brined some fillets with extra Old Bay seasoning. It was good and I made a marinated squid salad. But then I had the crazy epiphany over the stove when I was about the fry some other regular squid meat. So I added just a few strips of the smoked seabacon, in with the other stuff (fried rather quickly in vegetable oil, dusted only in flour). It immediately petitoned to have the flavor added to the periodic table of elements. Really rich, deep, unique. The crunchy, perectly cooked seabacon was born. No seasoning needed out of the pan, just let drain and momentarily cool. Probably the most intuitive and creative meal related improve I have ever attempted. Off the bone. This is some real shiz.
The other stuff that I caught when destiny attacked my line tasted great too. I got a good tip from Bittman, a video tip in the online Times. I never thought I could do it until that video demystified it for me. Easily far superior to any restaurant calamari I have ever had. The tender tentacles and portions off of the filet were both softer, less rubbery, than any $11 dollar appetizer prepared the same way. Just better, fresher quality product. I had several meals off of the seamonster, and a good amount of the seabacon, an excellent deal given market prices for this particuklar seafood.
The jalapenos get fried the same way. This pairing just makes incredible sense when you taste the flover togerther. The squid is sweet and the jalapeno's earthy complex flavor profile and heat (which cooks out, largly, especially if stripped of the seeds - big mistake though) are nicely juxtaposed, and inviting to the eye. I cannot see eating the same preparation without them. Of course lime, salt, and pepper are favored seasonings for this. I suspect that an overnight marination in tequila, along with these other flavors, would be an interesting take. It could also be terrifying.
About the potatos: the come from my home in the columbia basin, where potatos raise themselves, and the symbiotic miracles of the Columbia River and irrigation, open skies and heavy sun and heat, ensure prodigious growth. They can be found all over the state, as russets are known as bakers and mashers. When I think of potato, it is this variety that comes to mind, because it is the most potatoiest of them all, very starchy, even dry, unlike the yukons and the reds. So, they are local and quite familiar to me, and I always buy a bag to send the cash back home. The perfect potato for frying, as well.
The lamb fat was siphoned into a coffee mug and left in the fridge for two weeks or so. A cup of animal lard. On the blackmarket, lamb fat trades higher than ore, wood, wheat, an is required for settlement building and drawing of development cards. It was as though it belonged in the skillet, melting slowly, spiced with garem masala and rosemary, from a lamb kakob feast. Potatos in lamb fat.
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