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January 2010
Frank owner Geoff Peveto: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
Too bad butter isn’t a popular condiment for hot dogs.
Geoff Peveto, co-owner of Frank, the hot dog eatery in the Warehouse District, is a butter freak (just look in the top right corner of that fridge), but he’s just as obsessed of the encyclopedia of condiments he and wife Yancy keep in their fridge.
Peveto, who is also one of the sharp-eyed design geeks behind Decoder Ring Design Concern, opened Frank last summer with Daniel Northcutt, and the restaurant has already won over people who doubted that haute dogs, paired with creative cocktails served in Mason jars, could fly in a town like Austin.
What three things are always in your fridge? The Holy Trinity — Butter, Bacon, Beer. Everything goes better with them.
What is your favorite condiment? I guess mayonesa or any kind of aioli, but our fridge is pretty much half full of condiments and jams so picking one is tough. We may have a condiment problem.
What’s the first thing you pull out of your fridge in the morning? I rarely eat breakfast so I bet the only consistent thing for me is ice for water. My wife, Yancy, grabs a Naked Juice.
Photo by Geoff Peveto.
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Sip, snack and shop at Aviary
There aren’t many places in Austin where you can sit with friends, sip on a glass of wine and then buy the chair on which you sat and the glass from which you drank.
Three months ago, Aviary Home Decor owners Marco Fiorilo and Shanna Eldridge started selling wine and beer as well as charcuterie and cheese plates in their South Austin furnishings store. Fiorilo says he was inspired by hybrid stores in New York and Buenos Aires that sell food and drinks in addition to clothes or other goods.
“We always wanted to be a wine bar,” he says. Fiorilo now sells more than 20 old-world wines by the glass and by the bottle, as well as 10 beers. (Bottles of wine start at $20.) “If you’re drinking from the glass and you like it, you can buy it,” he says. Same with the tables, chairs, plates and napkins.
Daniel Hunt of A Noble Beast Charcuterie makes the duck liver mousse, terrine, duck prosciutto, rabbit confit and sausages that appear on the meat-and-cheese menu. Hunt says he’ll soon be expanding his business to include sales directly to customers. (E-mail him at anoblebeast@gmail.com for more information.)
Aviary is open 11 a.m. to midnight Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 10 p.m. Sundays. On Saturdays and Sundays, Fiorilo offers flights of three wines for $10. Bottles of wine are half-price on Wednesdays and $10 off on Fridays.
Photos by Rodolfo Gonzalez for the Austin American-Statesman.
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5 tips from the Soup Peddler to improve your soup
David Ansel, aka The Soup Peddler, knows that, in Austin, the soup days ahead are limited. Within weeks, the days will be long and the weather warm, which triggers something deep within our bellies to crave food that isn’t made of hot liquid. But before we jump ahead to spring salad days, we’ll certainly have a few more spells of cold and rain that we’ll only get through with a bowl of steaming soup.
Just days ahead of the next cold front, the owner of the Austin soup delivery company offered up 5 tips on how to be a better soup-maker.
“Making soup is like painting,” he says. “When you start a painting, you start with big brushes and broad strokes.” This is the stock, a background color that sets the mood for the whole soup. “As you go along, you do less and use smaller brushes,” and by the end, you’re painting the smallest details, which for a soup is the finishing notes of fresh herbs, sherry or acids like citrus or vinegar.
In this list, Ansel takes the painting metaphor even further and explains why you should always keep a package of turkey necks in your freezer:
1. Be like Bob Ross. “The Bob Ross School of Soup Making is not paint by numbers. It’s encouraging people to develop a feel for soup and not feel like you have to stick to a recipe,” he says. “Soup is ill-suited for recipes.” For instance, “1 medium potato” and “1 medium carrot” are not exactly precise measurements and every stock — just like the palate of the person who made it — is unique.
“Relying on any recipe will generally leave you in a pinch,” he says. Look up at least three different recipes for the soup you want to make to learn the traditional steps and the shortcuts. Combine the recipes according to the amount of time and ingredients you have.
2. Make your own stock. “Don’t cut corners on the stock,” he says. “Even the best stock that you can buy sucks. It’s just smoke and mirrors so that it tastes like chicken stock. It’s cheap and easy to make it yourself.”
This is where the turkey necks come in. To make a pot of versatile and rich turkey stock, bring a pot of water and turkey necks to a boil and simmer for as many hours as you have to spare. (The longer both stock and soup are on the stove, the better, he says.) Strain the stock and spread out the leftover meat and bones, which allows it to cool faster so you can pick out the meat to add back to the stock.
What about onion, carrot and celery, the holy mirepoix that many chefs refuse to leave out of any dish? “I find that (it) just gets in the way. It takes up space where you could have more chicken backs.” Add aromatics along with noodles or rice after you’ve already made the stock, and you’re in for a spectacular soup. “I’ve eaten soup all over the world, but that turkey rice soup is super wow.”
For chicken stock, rotisserie carcasses are fine, but thighs or wings, the cheapest and most flavorful parts of the bird, are even better. You can leave the skins on, but you’ll have to skim the fat, so Ansel recommends removing the skin before boiling. For fish stock, freeze the shrimp shells that you peel at home and ask the staff at your grocery store seafood counter if they have fish bones for sale.
3. Plant your own herbs. Rosemary, oregano, thyme, mint and cilantro are easy to grow in the ground or in pots, Ansel says. Having fresh herbs handy will automatically improve your soups.
4. Use what you have. “Soup has always been a food of necessity, of emptying the fridge,” he says. “Designing a soup around what you have is more in the tradition than going out and buying ingredients.” If a recipe calls for parsley, for instance, and you only have cilantro or mint, go with what you’ve got. Don’t have shallots and leeks? Use garlic and onions instead.
Look at seafood soups such as bouillabaisse: “The best ones were developed in poor cultures by fishermen who were left with unsellable stuff.” If you shop for ingredients, you’re also more likely to use too many ingredients. Less is more: “You should be able to taste what you’re putting in or else you shouldn’t bother putting it in.”
5. Add salt and herbs or acids toward the end. Lemon juice, parsley, cilantro or scallion will brighten any soup, and adding salt too early in the process can interfere with cooking legumes and potatoes. Salt should be added after the vegetables and starches are cooked, but not well-cooked. “You want the chunks to be able to absorb salt.”
If you are going to make a pureed soup, like this Armenian Apricot Soup from Ansel’s book “Slow and Difficult Soups” that 101 Cookbooks blogger Heidi Swanson wrote about in 2005, process it in small batches in a regular blender instead of an immersion blender for a finer texture.
Photos by SonicWalker and Alexik on Flickr.
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Whole Foods to offer bigger discount to healthier employees
Earlier this week, Jezebel posted about a new program for Whole Foods employees that allows them a greater in-store discount if they don’t smoke and have low blood pressure, cholesterol and BMI, or Body Mass Index.
Part of an initiative from CEO John Mackey to reduce the company’s health care costs, the program will allow employees who have a BMI of less than 24, blood pressure of 110/70 and a cholesterol of 150 to get a discount of 30 percent on purchases from Whole Foods. The sliding scale leaves employees with BMIs above 30, as well as those who choose not to participate, with the standard 20 percent discount.
This program comes less than six months after Mackey’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that argued for less government control over health care. “Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health,” Mackey wrote. “This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health.”
What do you think? I’m the first to admit that I’d love a discount on, say, the cost of my own health insurance if I can prove a low BMI and blood pressure, but this Jezebel writer has an important point — and please note the sarcasm: “Because if public health research has taught us anything, it’s that reducing people’s buying power totally makes them healthier. Stay classy, Whole Foods.”
Organizations like the Sustainable Food Center work hard to make the public aware that access to affordable healthy food isn’t a reality for many people, most of whom don’t have the luxury of getting a discount at stores like Whole Foods. Everyone knows a burger at McDonald’s costs less than a pound of apples, so how do we make sure that people who are most in need good-for-you-food can afford to buy it?
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Bloggery Love: Grapefruit Marmalade from the Cosmic Cowgirl
Stephanie McClenny’s food blog, the Cosmic Cowgirl, has only been around for a year, but she says it’s not only revived her passion for photography, it gives her an excuse to spend even more time cooking. Whether she’s cooking tamales with friends or making marmalade from Texas citrus that’s in season, she loves being in the kitchen - camera in hand - creating something delicious for her husband, Houston, who has learned that he can’t eat anything until it has been photographed.
McClenny is a school nurse by day, but when she’s not at school, she’s trying new recipes from her favorite food magazines or other food blogs. The blog also challenges her to take on projects like canning that she hadn’t attempted before. “I’ve never taken a cooking class,” she says. “I like to figure things out myself … and the blog helps me remember how I did it for the next time.”
Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit Marmalade
Honey version:
5 medium-sized Texas `Rio Star’ grapefruit, cut in half horizontally
Juice of 4 lemons
6 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup local honey
Vanilla version:
5 medium-sized Texas `Rio Star’ grapefruit, cut in half horizontally
Juice of 4 lemons
8 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean, split open lengthwise, seeds removed, pod reserved to add to pot
Put grapefruit halves in a large soup pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered until very soft, about 2 hours, adding more water from a simmering kettle if needed. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle. Place a cutting board inside a roasting pan and cut grapefruit into large chunks, removing seeds as you go.
Place chunks (rind, pith, flesh and all) in a food processor fitted with the metal blade, and whirl, in batches, until pieces are finely chopped. Add back to large pot with remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Set pot to simmer and stir frequently until mixture reaches jell point, tasting as you go to see if it needs more sugar. Allow mixture to sit off heat for about 5 minutes, and then stir before filling jars. Process in a water bath for 15 minutes. Makes about 11-12 half-pint jars.
— Adapted by Stephanie McClenny from a recipe by Nigella Lawson
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Events: Happy hour for HOPE market, Austin Tea Geeks
From Valentine’s Day cookies to tea, there are several events coming up quickly that you’ll want to know about:
Tonight, Austin Tea Geeks, a group organized by Sumina Bhatti (aka @sumina) earlier this month to explore all the best of Austin tea, will meet tonight at 6 p.m. at Jade Tea Leaves. Join the group to find out where the next tea tasting will be held.
The HOPE Farmer’s Market, which takes place every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 414 Waller St. in East Austin, is hosting a happy hour on Feb. 18 to benefit the market. From 6 to 9 p.m. at the studio/market/gallery just east of Progress Coffee on East Fifth Street, enjoy food from Eddie V’s, La Condesa and East Side Showroom, cocktails made with Dripping Springs Vodka and Treaty Oak Rum, wine from Pedernales Cellars, music and art. A suggestion donation of $10 will be collected at the door.
Learn how to make sugar cookies for your Valentine at a class from 7 to 9 p.m. on Feb. 7, at Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop, 1905 S. First St. This will be the store’s first class, and it will surely sell out, so get your tickets ($55) early by calling 448-3727 or e-mailing Olivia@SugarMamasBakeshop.com.
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Hot Links: El Bulli to close for 2 years, Burger King pops a top, Helvetica cookies
El Bulli, chef Ferran Adria’s infamously hard-to-get-into restaurant in Northeastern Spain, will be closed for at least two years, the New York Times reports. Adria apparently needs a sabbatical to come up with new things to wow the food world with.
Former Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl’s book “Garlic and Sapphires” is headed for the big screen, reports the LA Times. Catherine Keener is the early favorite among fans to play Reichl as a NY Dining critic, er “chef [who] tries to balance her career with writing a book, motherhood and divorce.” Anyone who knows Reichl’s story or has read the book will note that there are many things wrong with that synopsis from IMDB, but hopefully Hollywood won’t screw this one up.
Not like you could walk down the aisle in it, but an Icelandic artist created this wedding dress out of cake. The gown is impressive, but I can’t believe the detail it took to create that intricate cake.
A Houston-area woman plans out her meals a year in advance, leaving just two days a month for leftovers and stocking up on bulk ingredients like meat. A noble effort, indeed, but it takes a certain person to stick to a schedule like that. That person is not me.
Design geeks fell for Helvetica, a movie about the world’s most popular font, and now a graphic designer for America’ Test Kitchen has created these cute Helvetica cookie cutters. (I have a feeling her bosses are too square to turn these products into the massive-selling kitchenware they could become.)
Mark Bittman tells us about a 17th century clock that used spices to help people tell time in the dark.
A New York restaurant now offers a baby food menu of made-to-order purees. At $8.95 a serving, I can’t believe the kitchen can afford to spend 45 minutes steaming and pureeing food for a small child who will, no doubt, eat two bites and then start crying for Cheerios. Only in New York…
A Burger King in South Beach will be the first to sell beer next month. USA Today reports that the chain plans to open a Whopper Bar that will sell Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors beers. “You can have America’s favorite beers with America’s favorite burger,” Burger King’s president says. Um, something like that.
Target has become one of the first big retailers to pledge to stop selling farmed salmon.
Photos from the CBC and Beverly Hsu.
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Bake sale to raise money for Haiti relief efforts
UPDATE: Stephanie reports on her blog that the bake sale raised enough money to provide 2880 vegan meals to Haitians in need.
Impromptu fundraising projects for the earthquake-devastated Haiti have popped up all over town in the past 10 days, and on Saturday, vegan bakers are going to be selling baked goods from noon to 4 p.m. at Ten Thousand Villages,
1317 S. Congress Ave., to raise money for the relief efforts.
Austin blogger Stephanie Bogdanich, who write the blog, Lazy Smurf’s Guide to Life, has rounded up fellow vegan bakers to bake and sell treats. The Austin event is just one of many inspired by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, who sent out a call on Post Punk Kitchen for vegan bakers to do what they could to help people in Haiti. The money raised will to go Food for Life.
Here’s a link to the Facebook event page for details about the fundraiser.
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Helping kids in need celebrate their birthdays
(This is the first post on Relish Austin by Emily Macrander, a junior at UT who is interning in the features department this spring. Welcome her by leaving a comment! She’ll be blogging about food, including her favorite campus eats, in the months to come.)
Do you remember your first birthday cake?
For my fifth birthday my mom made me an Easter-themed bunny rabbit cake. She spent all day baking it. The white fur was made of crispy coconut shavings, and sugar candies became its mouth and eyes. It was a beautiful cake and from what I remember a rocking party (thanks mom) but to be honest, I took it for granted. Five-year-old me thought every kid got a birthday cake.
Statesman writer Miguel Liscano, wrote a story today about Free Cakes for Kids Austin, an organization that aims to provide as many kids as possible with their own birthday cake. Free Cakes for Kids was founded on the idea that every kid regardless of his or her circumstances deserves to be happy on his or her birthday. The organization rallies people from within the community to bake cakes for kids in need.
The recently launched Austin branch serves at least five local agencies and shelters, including SafePlace and Angelheart Children’s Shelter. The organization has already baked over 100 cakes, including these cute princess cupcakes.
If you’re interested in helping out, visit the organization’s Web site to apply. No baking experience is required. Local cake requests are periodically sent out to volunteers, who then choose how many cakes they have time to contribute at a given time.
Though you may never meet the kid you bake a cake for, know the kid will never forget the cake you made.
Photo by Deborah Cannon for the Austin American-Statesman.
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Photographer Jody Horton: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
Horton is a photographer and writer whose work also appears in Texas Co-op Power magazine and on Farmhouse Delivery’s Web site. He started getting into food photography when living in New Mexico, where he earned a master’s degreee in cultural anthropology. His interest in the connection between people and the they eat food is clear from the gorgeous, yet moving photographs that appear throughout (and on many covers of) Edible Austin.
The South Carolina native has lived in Austin for eight years with wife Regan, and they have two young sons, Fields and Hyder.
What three things are always in your fridge? Beer (Real Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale are staples), sparkling water (straight or added to cranberry juice to make “cranberry fizzies”) and grated parmesan cheese (we put it on everything).
What’s your favorite condiment? Sriracha - a.k.a. rooster sauce
What’s the one eating habit you’d like to change this year? Rarely sitting for a meal (too busy wrangling kids)
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A meat-free filling for dumpling lovers
Asian dumplings, especially potstickers, are high on my list of favorite foods. I interviewed cookbook author Andrea Nguyen for a story this week about dumplings and her new book “Asian Dumplings,” which is a fantastic guide for people curious about making potstickers, pork buns, pearl dumplings and even samosas at home.
The recipe we featured in the paper was for pork and shrimp potstickers, but if you’re looking for a meat-free filling, here’s a recipe from the book for steamed vegetable dumplings, which can easily be fried like potstickers instead of steamed.
Steamed Vegetable Dumplings
Makes 32 dumplings, serving 4 as a main course, 6 to 8 as a snack or starter
4 cups lightly packed, coarsely chopped spinach (7 to 8 oz.)
4 large dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted and liquid reserved, stemmed, and chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
3/4 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. light (regular) soy sauce
2 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 Tbsp. finely minced fresh ginger
1/3 cup finely chopped carrot
3 oz. brown pressed tofu, finely chopped (2/3 cup total)
2 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup chopped Chinese chives or scallions (white and green parts)
1 pound Basic Dumpling Dough (see recipe at the end of dumpling story)
5 Tbsp. Japanese soy sauce or light soy sauce
2 1/2 Tbsp. unseasoned rice vinegar
1/2 to 1 tsp. chile oil
To make the filling, put spinach in a large bowl. Bring a kettle of water to a boil and pour a generous amount over the spinach. Let the spinach wilt for about 30 seconds, drain, rinse with cold water and drain again. To remove excess moisture, squeeze the spinach in your hands over the sink. When you are done, there should be about 1/2 cup firmly packed spinach.
In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the reserved mushroom soaking liquid, salt, white pepper, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Set this flavoring sauce aside.
In a wok or large skillet, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Add the ginger and stir-fry for about 30 seconds, until aromatic. Add the spinach, carrot, mushrooms, and pressed tofu. Stir to combine and then pour in the flavoring sauce. At first all the liquid will seem to have been absorbed, but after 2 minutes, there will be a little bubbling liquid in the skillet. At that point, give the cornstarch mixture a final stir and stir it into the filling. When the mixture thickens, turn off the heat and add the Chinese chives. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool completely before assembling the dumplings. You should have about 2 cups of filling. (The filling can be prepared 1 day in advance and refrigerated. Bring it to room temperature before assembling the dumplings.)
Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and form 16 wrappers from half the dough. To make wrappers, roll dough into a 1-inch thick log and cut into 16 pieces. Flatten each piece to 1/8-inch thick with a heavy-bottom measuring cup or tortilla press. Using a chopstick or small wooden rod, thin the edges of each circle, leaving a 1/8-inch thick “belly” in the center. Aim for wrappers that are about 3 1/4 inches in diameter.
For each dumpling, hold a wrapper in a slightly cupped hand. Scoop up about 1 Tbsp. of filling and position it slightly off-center toward the upper half of the wrapper, pressing and shaping it into a flat mound and keeping about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of wrapper clear on all sides. Fold, pleat and press to enclose the filling and create a half-moon or peapod shape. Place the finished dumpling on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining wrappers, spacing them 1/2 inch apart. Keep the finished dumplings covered with a dry kitchen towel.
If you are steaming right away, place the finished dumpling in a steamer tray, sealed side up and 1 inch away from the edge if you are using a metal steamer. Repeat with the other wrappers before forming and filling wrappers from the remaining dough, keeping the finished dumplings covered with a dry kitchen towel as you make the rest. If you don’t have enough space on your steamer trays to steam all the dumplings at once, or if you are not steaming them right away, place the waiting ones on the prepared baking sheet spaced a good 1/2 inch apart.
Once all the dumplings are assembled, they can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for several hours; they can be cooked straight from the refrigerator. For longer storage, freeze them on the baking sheet until hard (about 1 hour), transfer them to a zip-top freezer bag, pressing out excess air before sealing, and keep them frozen for up to 1 month; thaw completely on lined steamer trays, using your finger to smooth over any cracks that may have formed during freezing, before steaming.
To cook, steam the dumplings in a bamboo steamer over boiling water for about 8 minutes, or until slightly puffed and somewhat translucent. While steaming, combine soy sauce, rice vinegar and chile oil to make dipping sauce. Remove the trays and place each atop a serving plate.
— Recipe from ‘Asian Dumplings’ by Andrea Nguyen (Ten Speed Press, $30)
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Kitchen Confession: Lunch from the frozen food aisle
Frozen dinners get a bad rap.
Frozen meals, ranging from individual pizzas to family-style lasagna, take up more than half of the frozen food section in any grocery store. In the past decade, companies have figured out how to appeal to discerning eaters, even those like me who like to cook.
My first Kitchen Confession of 2010 is that I love Lean Pockets. It’s been so long since I’ve had a Hot Pocket, the full-fat and -calorie version of Lean Pockets, that I can’t remember what they taste like, but their healthier cousin, Lean Pockets, come in flavors ranging from pepperoni pizza (decent) to garlic white chicken pizza (my favorite) and are my go-to crutch when I run out of time to put together a lunch of leftovers.
But I won’t pretend that I don’t enjoy and even look forward to eating them. Like most frozen meals, Lean Pockets hover around the $2 mark for two pastries filled with gooey yumminess.
In the next few weeks, I’ll be hosting a taste test for some of my fellow Statesman newsroom employees who are also fans of frozen meals. Many of them prefer the dinners from Lean Cuisine or Stouffer’s, but with all the choices out there, how do you sort through them all to find which ones won’t taste like shoe laces or hockey pucks?
Will any Relish Austin readers admit to bringing the occasional frozen meal to work for lunch? Which brands and flavors do you like best? Do you splurge on the upscale brands like Amy’s? Are there any other Hot Pocket lovers over the age of eight out there?
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Hot Links: Top 10 Googled recipes, bicycle pub crawl, a year of eating local
It’s been far too long since I’ve posted a Hot Links round-up. The holidays got the best of me, but here’s food news that’s been making waves on the Interwebs in recent weeks.
A writer for the Atlantic ripped into Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard program, saying among other things that it isn’t fair to force children of migrant workers into manual labor. Cue massive backlash in support of Waters’ groundbreaking program.
Austin food blogger Carla Crownover (aka @gardens123 on Twitter) is about to wrap up her third week of eating local. Earlier this month, she set out to eat local for an entire year. Follow her progress on her blog, Austin Urban Gardens.
Speaking of blog projects, a school teacher in Illinois is so fed up with the quality of lunches at her school that she’s set out to eat them for a year and blog about it.
The founder of Taco Bell had died.
The FDA has reversed its earlier opinion of bisphenol A or BPA, saying now that there are “some concerns” over how the chemical found in plastics and even aluminum cans affects health.
Our 1-year-old dishwasher hasn’t been cleaning right for a few weeks now, which means I should follow these 10 tips from The Kitchn on how to make a dishwasher run better.
Beer Town Austin is hosting a bike pub crawl on Sunday, including stops at Crown & Anchor, Billy’s on Burnet and the Flying Saucer.
If you didn’t make it to the rockin’ Jo’s Chili Cook-Off a few weekends back, the Humane Society of Williamson County is hosting a chili cook-off fundraiser on Saturday.
Food Renegade, one of the best local blogs for staying on top of real and natural food issues, cracked open a can of worms last week with this post about agave nectar. Apparently, most agave nectars are so highly processed that they contain the same amount of fructose as That Other Sweetener we love to hate. But before you pitch the agave nectar you have, read this article that explains how not all agave nectars are made the same way.
Chili, meatloaf, cheesecake and banana bread were some of the top 10 recipes Googled last year.
Photo by Alberto Martínez for the Austin American-Statesman.
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Curious about new mobile food vendors? Join us on a trailer tour
Trailers have taken over Austin’s food scene. In recent months, a new wave of (not-so) mobile food vendors has opened (I’ve been calling them collectively “trailers 2.0”) and, like many of you, I haven’t had a chance to try them all yet.
All the details of the trailer tour are on the Facebook page, but the trailers on the tour include East Side King, Spartan Pizza G’Raj Mahal, Sushi-A-Go-Go, La Boite, Trailer Perk, Odd Duck, Gourdough’s, Brevita, Texas Cuban, Franklin BBQ and Old School BBQ & Grill. It’s a choose-your-own adventure style, so we’ll be hitting the trailers at our own pace from noon to 5 or 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6. Look forward to seeing some of you there!
View Tasty Up Trailer Tour in a larger map
Photo by Mike Sutter.
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Photographer Annie Ray: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
Since she started setting up photo booths at concerts, galas, bars and fundraiser events in 2007, Ray has photographed thousands of Austinites, but she wouldn’t keep getting asked to do high profile events if her photos didn’t capture the essence of Austin’s vibrant citizens. (She also posts all the photo booth pictures on her Web site, which makes for fun browsing even if you aren’t looking for a photo of yourself.)
What makes her photos stand out is that she’s not just pointing the camera at party guests and asking them to say “cheese.” Part of Ray’s talent is drawing people out of their shells with wacky requests (“Show me your tiger!”) or props like mustaches or even grapes. Ray also shoots for publications incluing Austin Monthly and Tribeza.
Her signature lighting and lens work means that people familiar with her photography probably could have identified her fridge as hers just by looking at the quality of the photo.
What three things are always in your fridge? Jalapeños, garlic and onions.
What’s your favorite condiment? HOT Chili Sauce
What’s your favorite food to photograph? Soups. Whenever I look at photos of soups in a cookbook or cooking magazine, I always get this overwhelming feeling of winter time, cozy blankets and giant soup mugs!!
Fridge photo by Annie Ray; portrait by Jake Holt.
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Want to learn to make bacon?
Lee Ann and Larry Kocurek have been wowing farmers market patrons in recent months with their sausages, cassoulet, smoked pork belly and duck bacon.
The owners of Kocurek Family Charcuterie are offering a pork charcuterie class on Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. For $75, you can learn how to make some of their most popular pork products, including bacon, sausage and rilletes.
The cost of the class also covers a tasting of the items and wine. Send an e-mail to kocurekfamilycharcuterie@yahoo.com to reserve a seat.
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Grocery store check-out lane is more than a point of purchase
Just before Christmas, I donned a red polo shirt and a nametag and showed up for duty at one of Austin’s busiest H-E-B stores.
I’d approached Leslie Lockett, director of public affairs for H-E-B, a few weeks earlier with a crazy proposal: Could I work the check-out line at one of H-E-B’s Austin stores?
To my surprise, she said yes.
In tomorrow’s food section, you’ll find the resulting story, which — to my surprise — ended up being less about the logistics of being a checker and more about the brief, but meaningful interaction with customers. (Click here for a photo gallery.)
Food is such an intimate part of our lives, and it’s the checkers’ job to handle everything from your kids’ favorite breakfast cereal, the frozen dinners you’ll be eating for lunch all week to the ingredients you’ll lovingly turn into lavish meals for guests. Both cashiers and customers probably don’t think twice about this interaction, but if you step back and look at it, it’s a pretty unique relationship.
Have you spent time on the other side of the register? What lessons (good or bad) did you learn?
Video by Kelly West.
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What apps do you use in the kitchen or eating on the go?
Just a few weeks into life with an iPhone, I’ve already found it to be an indispensable tool in the kitchen, not just for tweeting while I’m cooking.
As you can see, Epicurious is my recipe application of choice so far. I’ve downloaded the All Recipes app, but haven’t used it, and more than once, I’ve found myself wishing that Fine Cooking had a dedicated app.
As for using my iPhone to find something good to eat, Yelp and Urbanspoon have both been helpful. Mando Rayo of TacoJournalism.com pointed me to the journalistas’ new app, iTacos, which helps you find taco joints in Austin.
Statesman tech writer Omar Gallaga says it’s worth the $4.99 to upgrade from Grocery Gadget Lite to help make grocery lists, but I’m still pretty stingy when it comes to paying for applications that I’m not sure I’m going to use.
But here’s where you tech-minded folks come in. Seeing as how most of you are easily a year or two ahead of me in the world of food apps for your phone, I’m hoping you will give me tips on what is worth paying for and what isn’t.
What are your must-have apps for pairing food and wine? What about menu planning or tweeting food photos? Do you keep track of your calories through programs like Livestrong’s calorie counter?
Over the next month, I’ll be diving into this world of food apps for an upcoming story, and I’d love to hear your favorite ways to use mobile technology to be a better cook and a better eater.
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Despite freeze, farmers able to save majority of crops
Unlike many areas of the country, January is time for both harvesting and planting at Central Texas farms. So when area farmers heard news last week that an arctic front was coming, they got to work covering the winter crops such as cauliflower, kale and lettuce that don’t fare well when temperatures drop into the teens.
“We put a double layer of cover on tender things like broccoli and lettuce…and ran drip irrigation at night,” says Jo Dwyer, who runs Angel Valley Farm in Leander with her husband John. Water can help insulate covered crops from a freeze, which is what saved much of the Dwyers’ broccoli. “The stuff under row cover isn’t happy, but it’s alive,” she says.
In October, heavy rains at Angel Valley Farm caused much worse damage than any cold snap. “The biggest (weather) disaster that a farm can get is too much rain or hail,” says Dwyer, whose farm, because it is located in a valley, experienced temperatures in the single digits over the weekend.
“We expected it to be worse, so we’re happy,” she says.
Carol Ann Sayle and Larry Butler of Boggy Creek Farm ran out of row cover for their crops, but what they were able to cover — about 75 percent of the produce in the ground — survived. “It’s been a hammer job over the past two weeks,” Sayle says. “I think we’re going to lose a lot of baby arugula, rapini and the mustard greens…and fava beans. I’m sick about my fava beans,” she says. (Sayle posted more about the efforts to save crops over on her Atlantic blog, On The Farm.)
Other crops, including beets, chard and broccoli, appear to have survived. However, because the ground was frozen from Thursday until Saturday, Sayle says she’s afraid they might lose their citrus trees. “We won’t know for a few days if they survived.”
Sayle says this is the second worst weather-related event they’ve experience. “It’s not as bad as the tornado we had in 2001,” she says, but this freeze, combined with the drought last summer, means that the past eight months have been a “disaster,” costing the farm at least $75,000 in lost revenue.
One good thing about the freeze? “Cold weather is a blessing because I can be inside doing W2s” for the upcoming tax season, she says.
But with temperatures in the 50s during the day this week, both Sayle and Dwyer will be back in the fields harvesting what survived and planting seeds and transplants for the spring crop.
Photo by Carol Ann Sayle.
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Austin mourns death of “the Pepper Lady”
One of Austin’s most colorful food scientists/gardeners/cooks/authors has passed away.
Jean Andrews, aka “the Pepper Lady,” who was best known for her books on all things capsicum, died Thursday in her home at the age of 86.
Social columnist Michael Barnes has more information on Andrew’s adventurous life on his Out and About blog.
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Blogger Nicole Carbon: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
The no-food fridge really exists.
Nicole Carbon, a blogger and freelance writer who lives just a few blocks from Whole Foods, keeps only a few things in her fridge: Shiner Bock, her husband’s favorite, Champagne, Pellegrino (for hydration), coffee (she even has the PLU number memorized) and (surprise!) hot sauce for perking up just about anything they buy from the to-go counters at Whole Foods or restaurant leftovers.
With no citrus or other cocktail-making ingredients in her fridge, Carbon prefers to get her drinks — and fodder for her blog, Fabulous Drinks Austin — at cocktail hotspots around town. Her favorite venues to grab a drink? Perla’s, San Jose Hotel and Gueros Taco Bar for their handshaken margaritas.
What three things are always in your fridge? At least two bottles of Champagne (you never know when there will be cause for celebration and then you need a backup), Allegro Extra Dark French Roast Coffee from Whole Foods (PLU #323), sparkling and still water.
What’s your favorite late-night snack? I am addicted to mixed nuts and raw almonds.
What’s the strangest thing you put hot sauce on? We put hot sauce on everything; it cures what ails ya!
Photo by Chad Gluckson.
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Backyard citrus, greens make for summer salad in January
Citrus salads are for summer, right?
Not if you’re a locavore in Central Texas. As I wrote yesterday, this serious cold snap that is sweeping across the nation will drop temperatures in the Austin area to below freezing for longer than most lettuce, spinach, bok choy, radishes and Swiss chard can handle.
Rather than risk losing the precious little lettuce and spinach I’ve been able to grow in my backyard garden over the past few months, I harvested almost all of it yesterday for a giant salad last night. A colleague at work brought in half a dozen grocery bags full of yellow grapefruits, which sent me on a hunt for a grapefruit vinaigrette. I was delighted to find this salad that uses both the flesh of the grapefruit and its fragrant juice.
You can find the detailed recipes on the Daily Green site, but the gist of the dressing is equal parts Dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar mixed with grapefruit juice, a few capers, sugar and salt and whisked together with olive oil.
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Fun new Austin food blogs, plus Tyson Cole does fast-casual sushi
UPDATE:
One more blog to add, which combines both items in this blog post from earlier this week. Uchiko is chef Tyson Cole’s newest blog home, where he’s writing about the process of opening his second Austin restaurant of the same name. The restaurant, at 4200 N. Lamar Blvd., is slated to open in the next few months, so expect plenty of construction and menu-development posts until then. Like sushi, Cole seems to have a knack for this blogging this, gorgeous food photos and all.
Just when Austin had reached its food blog capacity, a bevy of fun Austin food blogs has come into my radar in the past few months.
I finally had a chance to add 30, yes 3-0, newish food blogs to the blogroll on the left hand side of the page. So, peruse the goods and hopefully you’ll find a new blogger or two who tickles your fancy.
I’m particularly excited about these:
The Limited Palate Gourmet — Eleven-year-old Owen Duffy likes pizza, burgers, chicken, french fries and hot dogs, but that doesn’t mean he can’t approach eating like a restaurant critic.
Year of the Pizza — Seth Mazow and his fiancee Erin won Homeslice Pizza’s Hands on an Eggplant Sub contest for the second year in a row, which means the blog that chronicles their year of free pizza will continue for at least another year.
Diary of a Pizza Girl — The highs, but mainly the lows, of delivering pizzas in Austin as told by an anonymous pizza delivery girl. After reading a few posts, I guarantee you’ll think twice before giving your delivery person a $2 tip.
To Serve Man — This anonymous blogger, a longtime restaurant server who also has a master’s degree in writing, shares all the juicy insight into the world of fine dining.
Food and Water — Garrett Weber-Gale, an Austin swimmer who won two Olympic gold medals in 2008, blogs about healthy cooking and life as a professional swimmer who may or may not be eying the 2012 Olympics in London.
Austin Eats Sandwiches — I love group blogs, but only as long as the group of people who write them stay fired up about the topic. This blog, which started as a class project for a group of UT students, covers nearly every angle of sandwiches in Austin.
Farmhouse Table — Elizabeth Winslow, co-owner of Farmhouse Delivery, which delivers CSA produce, eggs, meat and other local products to customers in Austin, could write an SEO-overloaded blog about her business, but instead, she instead writes eloquently and thoughtfully about food and cooking, with plenty of sexy photos and recipes.
The Jemima Code — Culinary journalist Toni Tipton Martin is restoring the long-tarnished image of African American cooks through new blog and as she renovates the 134-year-old Limerick-Frazier House in East Austin.
The Label Says Paleo — A new year, a new trendy diet, right? Not according to these bloggers, who are chronicling their attempts to eat like our ancestors: Eat meat, fish, vegetables, fruit and nuts and take out grains, legumes, dairy, salt, refined sugar and processed oils.
If I’ve accidentally left your blog off the list, please e-mail me so I can add it. Also, if you’re a food blogger and would like to participate in the thriving community of bloggerly-types here in Austin, join the Austin Food Bloggers group on Facebook, which is where we organize happy hours, field trips and potlucks.
The Hungry Engineer was in Birmingham, Alabama, over the holidays, which gave her and her husband a chance to try Tyson Cole’s newest venture: fast-casual sushi. Maki Fresh opened in 2008 as a partnership between Cole and John Cassimus, who founded the Alabama-based chain Zoe’s Kitchen, which recently opened an Austin location. Hungry Engineer blogger April Woods says it’s not trying to be Uchi but that it’s worth seeking out all the same.
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Deep freeze means it’s salad night for Austin gardeners
Renee Studebaker, resident Statesman garden expert, says over on her Renee’s Roots blog that the coming days of cold weather are likely to be too much for most lettuce growing in Austin’s backyard gardens.
The good news: Other plants such as cauliflower, broccoli and collards are likely to survive a sustained temperature drop into the upper teens and lower twenties. Mine, above, are still really small, so I’ll probably cover them just in case.
The even better news: In the dead of winter, I’ve managed to grow enough lettuce, raddichio and spinach to make one hell of a salad in the first week of January. (Yes, I’ll probably have to replant entirely, but how’s that for positive thinking?)
Now, the only question is, what kind of vinaigrette to dress it? I get stuck in the olive oil, Dijon mustard and white wine vinegar rut, but tonight, I’m leaning toward Meyer lemon, tangerines or some other citrus that’s in season right now. I also have lemon balm, sage and mint that I’ll probably need to harvest, too.
I could use some homemade dressing tips from my tweeps and Relish Austin readers. What’s your favorite vinaigrette? How are you going to dress your Arctic Blast Salad of 2010? How could I use that sage in a citrus dressing?
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After cheese balls, latkes and paella, let the holiday recovery begin
The holidays are meant for overindulging, and I did my fair share this year.
No need to rehash every delicious meal, cocktail or food tradition, but here are a few of the highlights to remind me, and hopefully you, too, of the wonderful time spent with friends and family over the past few weeks.
Santa brought me perfectly ripe, heirloom backyard tomatoes! OK, maybe not Santa, but my nice neighbor who has the magic touch of growing fall tomatoes. He picks them while they are still green just before the first frost, lets them ripen near a window and then, just a few days before Christmas, gives a little piece of summer to friends.
Not too long after Christmas, I found out that I’m 1/64th Jewish, which explains my previously hard-to-explain desire earlier in the month to host a Hanukkah party complete with a menorah (thanks, Jodi and Adam!) and latkes with applesauce.
I’d never made latkes before, but it wasn’t nearly as difficult (or smelly) as I thought it would be. Next year, I’ll just have to think ahead and make the applesauce, too.
At both the Hanukkah/winter solstice/birthday/Christmas party and Christmas Eve dinner, my mom brought cheese balls, which are one of my family’s traditional Christmas foods. Made with several kinds of cheeses, onions, parsley and nuts, the cheese ball is standard holiday fare at Christmas parties in Missouri, but I found that many friends in Austin hadn’t had one before. What do you think? Are cheese balls more of a Midwestern party food?
My mom and Julian tried to make a gingerbread house on Christmas Eve, but it turned into gingerbread cookies that, despite looking anything but edible, Santa seemed to enjoy when he made a stop at our house. (Julian also insisted on serving him chocolate milk with cherries, which he also drank.)
And Thanksgiving, er Christmas Eve, dinner, with dressing, turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, marshmallow-topped candied yams and green bean casserole. Almost made me forget what holiday we were on, but when nearly every branch of the family tree is represented at a single, bustling dinner, does it really matter?
We rang in the new year with friends who made three different paellas (Cajun, veggie and traditional) and set up a very cool make-your-own-barbecued-oysters bar. With a firepit out back, the oysters kept guests entertained while the hosts worked in the kitchen. A fabulous entertaining idea to remember for next year.
(And you might notice the meh quality of the paella and oyster photos. I am now officially among the ranks of the iPhoners, and I upload all my wandering snapshots to La Vie Addie, a tumblr blog.)
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! I’m looking forward to a turkey- and cookie swap-free 10 months, and then hopefully I’ll be recharged enough to do it all over again…
UPDATE: I used this recipe for latkes from Epicurious, but Rob Moshein, the blogger behind Austin Wine Guy, shared this recipe for his Grandma Rose’s famous latkes. Hanukkah isn’t for another year, but you can make potato fritters any time.
Grandma Rose’s Latkes
2 lbs Russet potatoes
1 large yellow onion, outer skin peeled off.
2 eggs
1/2 cup Wondra flour
1 tsp. salt
Black pepper to taste
Line a cookie sheet with brown paper from a grocery bag and place in an oven set on low, which will keep latkes warm after frying until ready to serve. Heat 1/4 inch of fat or oil in large cast iron skillet to 350 degrees (Grandma Rose’s test was when the wood end of a kitchen match bubbles when placed into the oil. A dry chopstick will do the same thing.)
(Note on the fat: Grandma Rose used schmaltz or rendered chicken fat. We use Crisco. I will put a little goose fat into the Crisco if I have some left over, which adds a great flavor.)
Grate the onion into a bowl using a large box grater. Add the eggs and beat until well mixed. Add salt and pepper and slowly beat in the flour until smooth.
Shred the potatoes using the large shred side of the grater. (NOTE: we have tried the Cusinart here, don’t bother with it. The texture is all wrong, so this part has to be done by hand.) When you have the last 20 percent or so of each potato, grate that part on the grater side, for a lumpy puree with the shreds; this adds a nice soft inside to the pancakes. Add the potatoes to the egg/onion mixture and stir well. Work quickly here on out or the potato will turn brown.
Spoon the mixture into the fat and flatten out with a spatula to about 1/4 inch or so, you can make them as little or large as you like. We like ours about 4-6 inches across, or 4 latkes per large skillet. Don’t crowd the pan. Let them cook at least 2 minutes before flipping. Cook evenly on both sides until dark golden brown and the outsides are crispy. Place in the warm oven on the paper. Repeat until all the potato mixture has been used.
Serve ASAP with Apple Sauce! Perfect side dish for anything in the winter time.
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2009: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
New Year’s Day is the perfect day to look back on 2009 through your fridges.
Every Friday on Relish Austin, I post a photo of a fridge from someone in Central Texas or who has Texas ties. The What’s in Your Fridge Friday feature will turn two this summer, but in the past 12 months, I’ve featured chefs, writers, Statesman readers, bloggers, musicians, radio DJs, winemakers and area business owners, who have all been brave enough to open their refrigerator doors and photograph its contents.
(I’m always accepting entries from anyone in Central Texas, and all you have to do is e-mail me a photograph of your fridge and I’ll respond with questions about your food habits and preferences.)
So, here’s a look back at some of the most memorable fridges of the past year. I look forward to seeing what 2010’s fridges bring to the table!
Cleanest fridge: La Condesa chef Rene Ortiz’s fridge was so clean, it tipped off several of his chef friends to tattle on him that he must have cleaned it just for the shoot. (I have a feeling many of the fridges get a little spiffing up before their owners photograph them.)
Fridge with the weirdest contents: No Show Ponies’ rehearsal fridge, which features a DVD set of Twin Peaks, a spear and a photo of Morrissey
Most Austin-y fridge: Jenna Noel, associate publisher of Edible Austin magazine, walks the local food walk with her fridge, which, with the exception of maybe some sparkling water, contains entirely Texas-made products.
Most enviable fridge: Greek Tragedy blogger Stephanie Klein, who as a major food nerd has a giant food stuffed to the brim with good food.
Booziest fridge: Reader Valerie Davis, who e-mailed me her fridge after we ran this story about Central Texas fridges in August. Four, count them, four, shelves full of beer.
Emptiest fridge: An anonymous Statesman reader sent me a photo of a totally empty fridge, but Fino chef Jason Donoho’s fridge comes a close second.
P.S. That’s my fridge up above, just days before Christmas when both my parents and my mother-in-law were staying in our house.
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