bob96's Profile
Red Wine for a Dr. Loosen Gray Slate Mosel Drinker
As much as a Domaine Ott or a mid to high end Bandol costs, you'd think... Anyway, I suspect the appeal of roses may reflect the relative absence of fresh, low-jam, low or no tannin, balanced fruit, acid-fresh, low AVB, good value reds. Like some of the old French and Italian jugs that used to fill the shelves. Red that can easily be chilled to sip or to cut a good grilling. They;re around (Bardolino, Savoie/Swiss mondeuse, even SAmerican pinot noirs), and I seek them out now as much as I do roses whose taste I can remember a bit.
Highest quality refined salt, or kosher salt! From the quality of the salt mines to no additives, .
This should help, I think. Key: every table salt has additives, and 99.XX%pure sodium chloride NaCL has to be engineered.
http://www.saltnews.com/2010/08/on-the-purity-of-sea-salt/
Anyone else like to see some new innovative cook shows on Food Network?
Of course it does. I was suggesting a format that allowed well-known or interesting chefs time to just cook what they wanted to, and tell us about--no gimmicks, no contests, not challenges.
If NZ Sauvignon Blanc is Best Who's Second Best?
Speaking of acid from the other end of the Loire, I miss those cheapo liter bottles of Gros Plant. No fruit problems there.
Anyone else like to see some new innovative cook shows on Food Network?
Doesn't have to prove anything, but watching Pepin, Bayless, Ripert, even early Batali is a treat. Besides, of the millions who watch, say, Chopped, how many have eaten anything made by Chris Santos or Alex Guarnaschelli? Dpes just sitting behind a judges' bench confer anything? The network has loads of half-baked chefs behind stoves. Why not spend time with successful innovators like Conant and see what makes him tick.
If NZ Sauvignon Blanc is Best Who's Second Best?
Am I crazy for thinking that at least some of the original attraction to NZ sauvignon blancs was that they managed to recoup the grass/acid bite that, apparently, some Sancerrois producers were said to be moving away from? This would ave been at least 20 years ago, and now, mostly I get too many tropical NZ notes. For Sancerre, Cotat, Bourgeois, Mellot, Crochet, among other dependable houses. Pouilly -Fume can a bit better value, having slipped a little below the radar these days.
Taggiasca Olives?
Wow--thanks for the missed Ripert mention. Now if Fairway could only have some of its bulk olives in brine, not oil. BTW, if you get to Alleva on Grand, try those same Castelvetrano olives spiced with bay leaf and fennel seeds--delicious; in bulk, labelled "olive alla calce" (or quicklime, which I think was once used to cure olives).
Googa Mooga Food Festival in Prospect Park
From the organizer:
"We will be working closely with the City and the Prospect Park Alliance about plans for GoogaMooga next year, as we hope to make this an annual event. We are incredibly passionate about the brand, the community being built around it, and producing a great festival that brings together so much creativity in one place." There you have it--a corporate mindset that can unironically collapse "brand" and "community." Outtahere.
"Best Quality" Olive Oil Advice Please
An excellent oil, combining Tuscan and Spanish styles, at very good prices.
Anyone else like to see some new innovative cook shows on Food Network?
Since the topic is about FN, I though I'd suggest ways for them to grab more of this product pie and maybe a different viewer segment. Most networks buy in lots of outside product; maybe FN could look to buy some innovative stuff for itself. But ratings and demographics drive everything, so who knows.
"Best Quality" Olive Oil Advice Please
Based in Umbria, Monini is, with Bertolli (Unilever owned), Carapelli, Sasso (Nestle), and Berio/Sabra (Salov), among the largest national brands in Italy. Their EVOO is widely distributed here, and can be bought either as a 100% Italian olive blend (likely including olives form Puglia) or a multi-country blend. I've had the all-Italian, and it's a good everyday oil, fairly priced. Look for the most recent harvest and best-by dates--the latter right now should be 3/2013 to 5/2013.
Anyone else like to see some new innovative cook shows on Food Network?
I think there's room to expand their reach, yes, either through bought in production or there own. No reason they could not seek to capture the attentions of, say, folks who might have fallen away (or been driven away by the nonsense) but who still enjoy food-related documentaries, profiles, even, dare I say it, a look at what food studies scholars are finding out about the way the world's peoples eat. A Gastronomica (but much less precious) for the air? And Avec Eric was fascinating, if limited, and refreshing in its pace and seriousness.
Anyone else like to see some new innovative cook shows on Food Network?
Interesting idea about focussing on a chef (even a celeb chef, and Conant's a good start) and letting him/her just show what they do best in a casual, non-shticky setting. I have no idea what many of these judges and other rotating celebs can and have done to get where they are. Maybe we'll find the next Jacques Pepin. I also think that a creaitve, smart, and serious rosyter of health-related shows would be very usefl, with reference to low carb, vegetarian, etc. Bring these large audiences in. The current template (competitions, start chefs, "reality" and the occasional ethnic throaway) is tired. Can the BBQ, pizza, and burger manias, avoid trends like the urban artisan/locavore/tattooed art-student-butcher scene, since, wherever it is, the food and the style's mostly the same, and the aura painfully self-congratulatory. More food history, too, via some richly produced specials (ala Burns), and maybe some selective food anthropology with hosts who are neither Zimmern or Bourdain. And keep Bob and Susie way off camera.
Taggiasca Olives?
I suspect the crop is small enough and the demand locally and for oil is great enough that they'll never be exported in bulk like their Sicilian and Spanish cousins. As for Greek oils-- the Iliada Kalamata PDO (from the Peloponnese) is smooth and soft (made in Kalamata, but from koroneiki olives) and easily available for everyday use. One great value I've discovered at Titan and other shops are the Cretan oils from the Sitia Coop--the Sitia 0.3 brand extra virgin (also from koroneiki) is superbly balanced between green and gold flavors. They also make a Bio Sitia. Really well-made stuff.
Taggiasca Olives?
I don't recalll seeing them loose at DiPalo, BuonItalia, or other likely sources. Agata+Valentino or Citarella might have them, but haven't looked. Fairway often has some small nicoise-style olives from who knows where--the French cultivar fashioned this way is said to be the same as taggiasca. I'm much more a fan of black olives in a freshly made brine, like Gaeta ot good Kalamata, but mostly prefer green, like Castelvetrano or Picholine. Most of the oil-cured wrinkled black olives I've had are overly salty and unpleasant. Good hunting.
If NZ Sauvignon Blanc is Best Who's Second Best?
The early success of NZ sauvignon blanc was its ability to capture and magnify the grassy, stony fruit of Sancerre. Return to the source for a good (estate) Sancerre and see what it's like; also in the Loire, an estate Touraine sauvignon blanc can be excellent value, and neither should be more than $20-25.
Souvenirs from Spain and Sicily.. how to enjoy?
And tins of the excellent Callipo Ventresca (from Pizzo, Calabria) are easily available on line, too.http://salumeriaitaliana.com/catalog/pantry/from-the-sea/callipo-ventresca-tuna
Driving from Turin to Genoa on Sunday Evening
Barberinibee--got me curious about training it, and found many dpeartures from Turin (Porta Nuova) to SML, inc. after 6pm, none longer than 3 hrs, some less, and most costing about $25 one way. Nice alternative.
Train from Rome to Naples - What about lunch?
Looks like you might (depending on when you actually land and get through customs and p'port check) be able to catch the 12pm Le Frecce fast train from Termini, which gets into Naples at 1.10. Hardly much time or reason to eat on the train, and I second the suggestion to grab lunch in Naples--these boards are filled with great suggestions, like Da Michele.
Red Wine for a Dr. Loosen Gray Slate Mosel Drinker
A few more roughly similar midweight, fragrant, unoaked (usually) reds that might work--Teroldego from Trentino and Ruche from Piemonte (Italy), a Mondeuse noir from Savoie (France), or a Zwegelt from Austria.
Are there any old-time soda parlor/candy shops still around?
Haven't been for years, but heard the general feel was the still the same. Their actual ice cream, as I remember it, was nothing all that special, but only by today's luxury-sourcing standards. I'm afraid that eating any decent sundae eaten on marble countertops in the middle of old wood and tile is just fine.
Are there any old-time soda parlor/candy shops still around?
Hinsch's on 85th St and 5th Ave closed and reopened last fall.
ttp://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/sweet-save-old-school-bay-ridge-ice-cream-parlor-hinsch-reopens-locals-rejoice-article-1.983652
Puglia, Basilicata, Molise "report" May 2012 (really long with more negative than positive impressions)
It's actually $230 for 6 750ml bottles, or $38 each, though out of stock now. Still expensive for Molise, if not Tuscany. This bottling may nor may not be Larino in purezza, since monovarietals are usally labelled that way, but assume it might well be.
Puglia, Basilicata, Molise "report" May 2012 (really long with more negative than positive impressions)
Actually, Fairway last year started bringing in its own bottling of a DOP Molise oil, which by law is made from at least a significant percentage of Larino olives. Not tasted it, but at < $20 liter, just may have to .
Puglia, Basilicata, Molise "report" May 2012 (really long with more negative than positive impressions)
Thanks much for an unusually rewarding report--one that reflects the complicated gambles and rewards of any food travel. Question, though: I'm not all that sure about the source of your disappointments with Pugliese eating. Is it that your expectations we undermined by poor execution of traditional or typical Pugliese dishes, or were you simply not all that happy with Pugliese food in general. You did, of course, have some very good meals, and a bunch of unamed others that were not so good. So I'm guessing you might have been disappointed by execution. Curious. Also, you make passing mention about the effects of Pugliese olive oil, suggesting that it somehow lends an uncharacteristic Italian American heaviness that flattens everything out. Given Puglia's enormous output, there's much oil that is badly made or indifferent, just as there's excellent stuff (I'm really enjoying a midweight, fresh, and fragrant estate DOP oil from Manfredonia in the Gargano, bought in, of all places, the discount store TJ Maxx in NY). The Pugliese oil style---especially as expressed by popular coratina olives--is for big, thick flavors, but it' still about quality--despite having had more than my share of totally forgettable (and overpriced) taggiascas from Liguria, I still love the varietal at its best. Anyway, thanks again, and it's on to Molise!
North Georgia BBQ
Might be a little late, but Sugar's Ribs in Chattanooga is amazingly good.
http://www.sugarsribs.com/
Provencal degustation - wine pairing help
Lots of Corsican white (vermentino) good Bandol (or Corbieres) rose, then a warm stylish red from Gigondas or the Languedoc (St. Chinian, Montpeyroux, Pic St Loup), and finally a Muscat de Beaumes de Venise for dessert, and you've got a lovely pan-Midi wine list.
Fresh ricotta
-Boil and then and saute in garlic and oil broccoli rabe, or any bitterish green. Salt and crushed red pepper. Top room temp greens with ricotta, smear on fresh whole wheat country bread.
-Dollop in a fresh tomato sauce w basil on penne or ziti.
-Mix ricotta, much grated pecorino, lots of freshly cracked black pepper in a bowl. Cook any pasta to taste. Drain, reserve some pasta water, mix pasta water w ricotta and enough pasta water to make creamy. Small cubes of soppressata, cooked fresh sausage, or any hard salami option.
Joe Bastianich's book: Restaurant Man
Here's a link (one of many) to the Cuozzo-Mariani-Bastianich kerfuffle. Seems Joe just gets his pissy stuff wrong, though I have no dog in this pasticcio. He does radiate a sense of sour resentment that makes you want to say, sheesh, just suck it up and enjoy your success. So what if you're completely without charm or personality? http://ny.eater.com/tags/steve-cuozzo
Boxed Pasta vs. Homemade
Garofalo is about the equal of DeCecco, though just slightly more expensive in
NYC.DeCecco uses bronze dies for some forms. I really like the Di Martino brand, like Garofalo, also from Gragnano.
http://www.pastadimartino.com/pastificio/
