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The CHOW Blog 
Insights, tips, and restaurant reports from CHOW editors and Chowhound.
Caramelized Lemons Taste Better
Grilled, seared, or baked in the oven, caramelized lemons are a revelation, says danieljdwyer. “In the parts of the world that have been growing lemons for a millennium or more, raw lemon is basically unthinkable,” says danieljdwyer. “Outside of lemonade, I can’t think of any time a lemon is better raw.” Cut in half and caramelized to perfection, cooked lemons are great squeezed on everything from clam pizza to paella.
Caramelizing the lemon adds a depth of flavor that can’t be approached by raw lemon juice. When you squeeze them, you’re getting “something more than just brightness and acidity,” says danieljdwyer. Squeeze those caramelized lemons gently, though—even though lemons dry out in the cooking process, cooked lemons release their juices much more freely than raw lemons.
“In Valencia, they often stick salted lemon halves flesh side up in the paella pan when it goes into the oven,” says danieljdwyer. “A paella oven in Valencia is about as hot as a good pizza oven in the northeast US (so 800 degrees is the low end of the scale). Words can’t describe how much better this is than the comparably pathetic raw lemon wedges you get around here with paella cooked in a 475-degree oven.”
sodagirl agrees, and adds a tip: “Dip the cut end in simple syrup and put it face down on the grill. It burns,” she says. “You get a whole different flavor from the juice.”
Board Link: What makes a good clam pizza?
Bubble and Squeak 101
Last night’s potatoes and cabbage have never been so delicious. Bubble and squeak—commonly abbreviated as “bubble” in English parlance—is a delicious dish of leftover potatoes and greens (usually cabbage, but spinach is fine, says Soop) refried to perfection. Fried in a metal skillet, in copious amounts of butter, it is “sinful and delicious,” says RedTop.
Leftover potatoes and cabbage may not sound like much, but bubble and squeak is a classic. Fydeaux “loved it and couldn’t get enough of it” on a trip to London. Bubble and squeak even appears on upmarket British menus, says Harters. “It was a childhood standard appearing for dinner on Monday evenings as leftovers along with any cold roast meat from Sunday lunch,” says Harters.
Fans of “bubble” make sure to cook extra cabbage and potatoes—good mashing potatoes—to ensure the dish’s appearance the next day. “We mix the two with lots of pepper and then fry in butter,” says Harters. “If you’re clever, you can turn it over by covering with a plate and flipping it to cook the other side,” as with a Spanish tortilla. “Brown sauce is an absolute requirement and I’d have any leftover gravy as well,” he says.
Board Link: Bubble and Squeak
Gnocchi for Beginners
Gnocchi are “fluffy light pillows of flavor,” says hummingbird. At least, they are when they’re good. Potato gnocchi consist of “rich, buttery mashed potatoes with a slightest texture of skin (toothiness)—a structure around the richness,” says alwayscooking. “Cover them with the things you’d want in mashed potatoes or a rich baked potato—a red sauce, a sage butter, or just oil/butter/garlic.” Gnocchi are “like eating clouds with incredible flavor,” agrees bnemes3343.
But gnocchi need not be made with potatoes—there are also Roman-style gnocchi made with semolina, says limster. They can even be made with a ricotta base, says tatamagouche (although, technically, these are called gnudi, says Ima Wurdibitsch). “You can also add ricotta to potato or semolina gnocchi to lighten them a bit,” says tatamagouche.
Heavenly when done right, but beware: When badly done, gnocchi are “pasta bubble gum,” says fourunder.
Board Link: Gnocci, how to describe it to someone who’s never tried it?
The First Norwegian Sour Beer in a Century?
Last night I cracked open a bottle of Haandbakk beer made by HaandBryggeriet, a small Norwegian brewery in the town of Drammen. Haandbakk is its first attempt at a sour beer, and the brewery claims it’s the first sour beer to come out of Norway in over 100 years. Whether or not that’s true, it seriously rocks, and not just because it’s from a country so famous for its black metal.
Haandbakk is a dark brown beer, with a lot of malty flavors, tempered by an intense sourness. It doesn’t have a bunch of funky stank like gueze, more of the balsamic vinegar smell of Flemish sour ales. The beer was brewed in 2006, aged in oak for two years, then bottled. It’s unpasteurized, and comes with a good amount of yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Something must be going right in there, because it is nicely carbonated, and between the effervescence and acidity, is a great food beer.
I’ll definitely be seeking out more beers by HaandBryggeriet to fill up my drinking horn and enjoy while listening to some Dimmu Borgir. The brewery bills itself as experimental and has many interesting beers either in the works—like Valhalla which is made with figs, honey, and wild yeast and bacteria, but isn’t out yet—and a bunch that are already out like Dark Force, “the only wheat stout in the universe.” There is also a real sour fruit lambic made with red currants and mountain cranberry in the works.
HaandBryggeriet’s Haandbakk, in specialty beer shops for about $11, distributed by Shelton Brothers in the States. Visit sheltonbrothers.com to see who carries it in your area.
No Beer for Obama
“The president is the president 24 hours a day. I don’t think he should drink on the job.”
That’s a brief sampling (via Louisiana radio station WWL)
of the puritanical crazies who don’t think President Obama should ever get to enjoy a beer. Footage of the president at an NBA basketball game touched off the brewhaha, with callers split between thinking the guy’s only human, and saying that taking a moment to relax during a national crisis is borderline criminal.
Did Hitler Eat Meat? Should We Care?
Writing in the always engrossing Gastronomica (article not available online), Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft meditates on Adolf Hitler’s (in)famous vegetarian diet. Jewish vegetarians have fought to debunk the dictator’s meat-free diet; Wurgaft argues that it shouldn’t matter either way:
“Hitler’s ‘vegetarianism’ would have no power to make us anxious if we simply thought clearly about dietary choices. Though they can become markers of political affiliation, they don’t start out that way.”
Is Molecular Gastronomy Killing Its Fans?
Minneapolis chef and 2009 Beard Award nominee Stewart Woodman opens up a can of worms on his blog as he strings together interesting if poorly documented molecular gastronomy–related health concerns:
The temporary closing of Heston Blumenthal’s (pictured above) Fat Duck due to a food poisoning scare;
The charge by Chef Santi Santamaria that “recipes made popular by Ferran Adria and his court of followers are putting people at risk”;
And (this last observation shows up in the comments section, added by food writer Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl) Grant Achatz’s bout with mouth cancer.
Pouring gasoline on the fire, Woodman then observes:
“For the conspiracy theorists out there, if it’s worth anything, Ferran Adrià, and Heston Blumenthal are regularly crowned the best chefs in the world by the British publication Restaurant Magazine, sponsored by Nestlé (San Pellegrino), the world’s largest food processing company.”
Tierra Miguel’s Vegetable Box of Lovin’
The secret to home cooking in Los Angeles, says aliris, is subscribing to Tierra Miguel. Tierra Miguel is a CSA (community supported agriculture) that brings subscribers regular deliveries of locally grown, organic produce. Essentially, says aliris, buyers are business partners with the growers.
Tierra Miguel’s vegetables are better than those at the organic groceries and the LA farmers’ markets, says aliris. “How good are the veggies? Well, I like to think of it this way: when I cook elsewhere buying the best organic and locally-grown vegetables I can find, my cooking still suffers,” says aliris.
And the variety is enormous, says aliris. The local farmers’ markets are a little more varied than the grocery stores, but not by a lot. Tierra Miguel’s deliveries, on the other hand, have oddities, heirloom varieties, and other stuff that you won’t see anywhere else. And the amount of high-quality vegetable you get for your dollar is a bargain, says aliris. theotherone agrees: “My years of subscribing weekly to TMF have been one of the greatest joys of my life–mostly for the challenge and exploration of the veggies.”
A subscription isn’t for everyone; you get a lot of vegetables with each delivery and don’t have much choice over the selection. You get what’s ripe each week, and that’s that. It’s sort of like, you know, actually living on a farm.
Tierra Miguel is located in the Pauma Valley east of Oceanside, and delivers to Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, and a few other areas in Southern California.
You can subscribe on the Tierra Miguel website.
Tierra Miguel Foundation [South of Orange County]
14910 Pauma Valley Drive, Pauma Valley
760-742-4213
