Bone marrow revisited

About this time last year, I tried making roasted bone marrow for the first time after reading about it in a few cookbooks an online foodie spots, seeing TV chefs gush over it as their "death row meal" and other various sources. It's about as easy as easy gets, requires no real culinary skill whatsoever, and costs next to nothing. My first attempt was relatively naive, as I more or less rushed into it without knowing a few hints as to how the dish should be prepared. This time, I planned ahead and tried to make an actual meal of it rather than just a science project to see how it might taste. I procured the bones from the butcher, hand cut to order, and brined them for a few days, changing the water each day in order to draw out some of the blood. I also picked up some good crusty bread and makings for a light salad to cut the richness. If you search for 'roasted bone marrow' online, my dish mirrored most of what you'd find mentioned by Bourdain, Ruhlman, and that set talking about how they've eaten it. Simple roasted bone marrow with grilled bread and a parsley salad with capers, shallots, lemon & olive oil. A bit of sea salt and cracked pepper to top.

Olive knew something was up. She wouldn't leave my side the entire time I was making this. I think she could sense a new bone was in her future...and just a day late from Christmas. The resulting dish was much better than bone marrow v1.0, but I still think overall it left some level of satisfaction unfulfilled. Don't get me wrong, it was still very good....think really rich beef concentrated butter, with a hint of gelatinous ooze. I know that likely doesn't do it for most, but it *is* quite good. I guess for me it's just not one of those things that's over-the-top "death row meal" level for me. I'll still reserve judgement in case I ever have the opportunity to have a real pro make this for me, but for now I think I've done as best I can on this one. You're welcome Olive.

Lewis Black did this bit a while back about how cold New York was at the time....talking about how it was so cold people couldn't even finish a sentence after walking outside as they'd have to punctuate any statement with a measured profanity of how cold it was. I realize it could be much worse, but I am not, nor have I ever been a creature of cold weather, or of winter in general. Only four more months until Spring... You know, I should really....F*@K IT'S COLD!

Ava is a big fan of the ABC song. All those times when we just sang it over and over to her before she could even talk paid off. I tried to get an "Old Macdonald" out of her too, but it was strictly one show only.

Most might think this is an obvious statement, but Led Zeppelin is awesome. Admittedly I was never a big fan - mostly because the only thing radio ever played was Stairway to Heaven or some other hit that was recycled over and over again. So, I never really paid much attention to them. Now, Sirius has channel 33 where they're playing nothing but Led Zeppelin 24/7 and I've had a crash course in one of the most important bands in rock'n'roll. I compared it to when I started eating meat again....there was all this great stuff out there I'd been missing all along. Speaking of meat, I made meatballs the other night. I picked up some good bread yesterday and made a meatball sandwich while listening to Heartbreaker. No sauce, just meatballs & pesto.....yo this is really good...

Creating a monster

The other night, Ava and I were playing in the backyard. Olive kept barking at these two girls riding in the alley behind our fence, so much so that they were scared to ride by our house and turned around. Normally I wouldn't care, but knowing my own daughter would likely be in that situation some day I peeked through the shadowbox fence boards and told the girls it was cool and the dog wouldn't bite them....she just likes to bark. I then found myself engaged in conversation with two 8 year old girls who had apparently long-admired the swingset and other toys in our backyard.

Then they asked if they could come in the yard and play.

Again, knowing Ava may be in a similar situation, I told them they had to get their parents for me to talk to. Parents come walking down the alley a few minutes later, we introduce ourselves, no I'm not a felon, yeah it's cool if your 8 year old daughter wants to come play with my 2 year old. 8 year olds ask a lot of questions...things like "do you have a job?", "are you married?", "does your house have a second floor?", "does she have her own room?". It became very apparent why after hearing about how these two girls (not related) respectively are living in very small houses, with lots of siblings and/or relatives, with step/parents who may or may not really give a shit where they are. I have always been one to complain about not having one thing or another, or to want more of this or that. Don't get me wrong, these girls didn't look abused or anything. It was just obvious that they were incredibly jealous that Ava had a dad who played with her, a back yard full of toys, a dog that didn't bite, and her own room to get a peaceful night's sleep in. I hated to kick them out, but it was getting late and we still had a bath, a book, jammies and toothbrushing to accomplish. I may always want more, but that little encounter with those girls made me realize how well off we really are. I have a great job, a huge house, two cars in the driveway, a dog, a beautiful daughter and a wife that loves me (for the most part) and every now and then I get to ride my bike. Life can always get better I guess, but right now I'm pretty thankful for everything I have and for the opportunities I've had to get them.

So apparently the following day, Celia had to deal with the monster I had created. Like clockwork, the girls were knocking on the front door every 15-30 minutes asking if Ava could come out and play.

Spring Sprang Sprung

Spring is here. All the things that go with spring are starting to make themselves evident. The weeds in the yard, the birds nesting in the crawlspace in our attic, the endless rain keeping our 100 year old basement a dank, musty dungeon-y smell. Ahhh.....yes. Aside from all that nonsense that constantly occupies my every thought, it's actually warm enough to rock shorts and a tshirt, so all is right with the world. We can finally go for walks, bike rides and otherwise exit our four heavily mortgaged walls and breathe relatively fresh sweet sweet Illinois air. Ava is most excited of all, as we picked up a swingset/playground for her around Easter, so she's loving the swing, slide, climbing wall and other features of the Kmart special we picked up. I have officially become my parents - looking not for something better than what I had, but rather looking for that which will satisfy the immediate need, however crappy it might be. That said, there is much wisdom in that philosophy. My 35 pound two year old does not require a $4000 playset that can withstand the second coming. She needs but something to thrust her toddler frame into, and as long as it's rated for greater than 100 pounds, we're golden. Score 1 for Kmart.

As the weather warms (and hopefully dries), we're looking forward to more frequent trips around the neighborhood and general surrounds on the bikes (with Ava in tow in the Burley), and otherwise just being outside. The winter was brutal and cabin fever set in long before we were able to do much about it. I've managed to squeak in one decent bike ride thus far and hope to make a habit out of it. I live vicariously through the exploits of others that have the time and finances to continue racing, riding and otherwise being on a bike more frequently than once ever other month or so.

Tom Erb is getting married tomorrow, so I'm throwing out some good vibes for decent weather. It'll be nice to see some old and familiar faces.

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday was our third anniversary. So to celebrate, we went to dinner at Erato in Edwardsville. I had read a lot of good reviews on some local food blogs and read how they generally tried to source ingredients as seansonl, local and as organic as possible, and rotate menu items daily. All these things, combined with some sample menus on their website, sealed the reservation. I was glad we were there on a Tuesday as patronage was rather sparse, so I'm sure we got more prompt attention from our waitress, who was incredible. I love when the front of house crowd loves the food as much as you do and it just generally amped about working there and eating. It makes their answers to your questions all the more believable. The only thing that brought down the night for me was that they were out of a couple boutique gins that I was really looking forward to trying. But I wasn't there just for gin, I'm sure I could find that somewhere else, or during a return visit. On to the food...

Armed with an empty stomach and a large Baffert's gin martini, we strategically selected our dinner options. We picked four of the smaller plates to start, then had a fish and steak plate for our mains, and would decide on dessert later.

"Toad in the hole": The bacon bread made this dish. I could eat this every day three meals a day and never tire of it. Crispy, smoky bacony bread, perfectly poached egg, delicious ricotta and white truffles. There is so much right about those four ingredients coming together in a single dish. I wasn't at all shy about mopping up the last of the yolk with a piece of crust.

The shitake salad was good, but probably my least favorite; not because it wasn't that great, but because our other choices just blew it out of the water. The mushrooms were fresh and cooked and seasoned well. The greens were dressed lightly and in general, it was just a really good salad.

The pear & proscuitto crostini were awesome. In each bite, you'd chew through the pear, goat cheese and bread first, then be left with the salty, chewy proscuitto to linger. The bite of the reduced balsamic, creaminess of the cheese, sweetness of the pears and salty ham again all came together really well.

They forgot to fire our sweet potato "nachos", but we didn't really care as we were pretty giddy about the food we had already, but within a minute or two, they were at our table. They were a good take on nachos, and for five bucks they were hard to pass up. I'd order again at the bar with a beer.

Our mains came our right about the time we were finishing with the starters, and we were glad they kept the food coming. The red grouper was fresh as fresh gets, cooked perfectly and delicious. That aside, I really thing the oyster mushrooms were the star of this dish. Again, not that the fish wasn't that good, it was fantastic, but the mushrooms really shined. I'm sure adding truffle butter had something to do with that. I was ready to order a side of mushrooms to go with the steak, but got sidetracked trying to make sure Celia didn't sneak in the last bite of mushrooms.

The dry aged ribeye Celia ordered was probably the best steak I've ever eaten. Ordered med-rare, it came out a little less than that, which I was happy about. Steaks really should be ordered and eaten rare and the chef had no qualms about delivering that message loud and clear. I didn't ask exactly what the "house worchestershire" consisted of, whether it was house-made, or if it was a combination sauce of sorts, but I didn't really care. The steak spoke for itself and outshines anything you'd pay two or three times more for at any other place that prides themselves specifically on steaks. Drool.

Right before we got around to ordering dessert, the chef (John) came out to say hello, which is always a nice touch. Given we were one of only 4 or 5 other tables, he probably didn't have much else to do anyway, but still.... I actually knew him from my previous bike racing years at the tail end of the Cat.4 pack, so it was nice to say hello and see a familiar face behind this incredible meal. We ordered a lemon tart with jasmine sorbet and the molten chocolate cake with basil ice cream, along with coffee and port. I'm typically not much of a dessert person, but these were all solid as you'd expect. The highlight though, was the basil ice cream. I will order a double scoop waffle cone of this green deliciousness the next time we go.

This was an A+ dinner outing and we are definitely headed back. The preparations were simple, unpretentious and assembled in a way to let the ingredients stand on their own merit. The philosophy of seasonal, local & organic as possible is a great one by which to create an outstanding menu by which you have no choice but to get what tastes best. They also comped our desserts since it was our anniversary which was really nice.

Duck season pt. 2

I forgot to post this a while back. Ava got a kitchen set for her birthday, along with this game with little plastic ducks where you pick them up and match the shapes on the underside. A few nights later while I was making dinner, she took some of the ducks and put them in her little stainless saute pan and said "Look Daddy, duckies!" I was very proud.


She tried a little of the roasted duck leg I made the other night too and was actually really into it. I didn't have the heart to tell her she was eating duck, but then again, she didn't ask. It was more of her pointing at my plate and asking "Daddy, I try?"

Duck season

Shortly before Thanksgiving, I bought a duck along with the turkey breast I bought to do for T-day. It was your standard frozen duck available in most larger grocery stores, about 6 pounds - seemed like a reasonable price. I'd eaten duck a few times, and each time I was always amazed. My favorite had been a very simple preparation - a breast smoked with applewood and confit leg. Smoking was a no-brainer, but I am reserving confit for another time as it seemed like more work than I was willing to put in at this point, especially considering this was to be the first duck I've ever cooked.Freshly thawed in water over about 24 hours, I prepared for my first duck breakdown. I'd seen enough chickens and other poultry done on TV cooking shows before, and done a few chickens myself, so it didn't seem like too difficult a task. What I mainly remember is to use a sharp knife (preferably a boning knife, but all I had was a 10" chefs knife...) and let gravity work to your advantage.My plan was to lightly smoke everything with applewood, then give the breasts a quick pan searing and roast the legs, wings and carcass.Everything got a light smoking with about 1/2 a chimney of charcoal to keep the temp as low as possible while still getting the smoke I needed. It took about 20 minutes for my chips to give their all, which was jut about perfect. I had a hot saute pan waiting with a little butter in it (I had scored the breasts before going on the smoker), then seared them for about 3 minutes per side. Next time, I'll stick closer to 2 minutes as the duck was a bit more done than I'd hoped - closer to medium than medium-rare. Use a lid - the combination of hot butter and duck fat, while delicious, makes for impressive splattering. The breasts then took a 5 minute rest on the cutting board before serving. The fuzzy photo below is from all the steam coming off, but it was funny to me as it looked like some glamour shots filter.


Legs and wings went into a 425 oven for about 30 minutes to crisp the skin, then about another hour at 350 to finish. The temperature drop is a good point to drain some of the rendered fat off.


The carcass and neck then went into a pot with some aromatics for 4 or 5 hours and I have about 2 quarts of homemade duck stock, plus about 1.5 cups of duck fat that I drained off at various points during the whole process to use in some future application.

I think duck gets a bad shake as being a fatty bird. It is, but it's all on the surface. Much of it was rendered off during the cooking process. The fat left on the breasts can easily be pulled away, but you should try at least one or two bites of the breast with a little fat and crispy skin left on......fantastic. I think leaving the duck sans sauce is the best way to go to. I couldn't find one recipe in any of my cookbooks or cooking mags that didn't have some elaborate sauce to it. Aside from the smoking, I let the duck speak for itself.

During the whole process, I kept flashing back to the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he and Daffy are doing the whole "duck season...rabbit season..." thing. I kept replaying the part where they're both reading off the names of various recipes Elmer Fudd should try.