Category Archives: Reno

10.30.13
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Getting to the Pig

NEW ENGLAND, 14 DAYS IN OCTOBER, 2013

At age 30, we moved from Virginia to Massachusetts. Our sons were five and three. At age 54 we moved to San Francisco. All but one year of that time, we lived at 48 Harrison Street, Newton Highlands MA 02138. 617-969-3359 It was the time when we embraced adulthood, raised our children and forged lasting friendships. A time like no other in our lives. This is about revisiting New England, not for reflection and nostalgia, but for activity and exploration.

Our visit was centered around the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) annual Nose to Tail Pig Processing Workshop during Columbus Day weekend. Before, we made our way to the Belfast Maine environs, and after, we drove across the whole of New England to Cooperstown, New York, and from there to Newton Highlands.
The story has a beginning, middle and end. This is the beginning, “Getting to the Pig.”

 

“We left home more than 12 hours ago, and we’re still in Reno,” I said to Carol.

We were waiting to board the 5am shuttle bus from Grand Sierra Resort to the Reno Tahoe airport. Brian and Natasza had picked us up Tuesday evening for dinner and we stayed over due to our 6:05am flight to Denver and Boston.

For locals, the Room is $58 and they paid the first $25 at Briscola, Charlie Palmer’s take on Italian. And they provide a free shuttle to airport. Not bad.

Grand Sierra Resort, 5 am

DAY 2 WEDNESDAY 10.09

Our Southwest flight was EZ. About an hour out of Denver, I had my second Bloody Mary. It is good. In Denver we had just enough time to grab some eats at Lefty’s Grill. It’s an airport place, so I didn’t expect much, but how could I pass up the Sausage Gravy Biscuits for brunch? The biscuits were thin and soft… nice, and all the gravy needed was salt, pepper and Tabasco. Not photogenic, but… Yum.

Lefty’s Grille sausage gravy over biscuits, Denver Airport

The continuing flight to Boston was without incident and I recounted the cool things I had learned about Southwest Airlines on two previous flights.

  • The no-assigned seats. Who knew? It’s so simple, get on, pick a seat, sit down. OK… pay a $12.50 fee to be in the first 60 to board, guaranteeing an aisle seat. What else do you need?
  • Flight attendants take your order for drinks and bring them to you NO AISLE CARTS and as many assorted snacks as you can eat; peanuts, pretzels wheat crackers, etc. They come back for empty wrappers, glasses, etc and say, “Would you like another Bloody Mary? Yes, thank you.”
  • Two bags per person fly free. I noticed some airlines are now charging $75 per bag.
  • And when we got to the baggage claim at Logan Airport, our bags were there.

Logan airport has a new feature since we were last there: Go to the blue curb for a shuttle bus to rental cars… all rental cars are in one building. Check in on one floor, take the escalator to one of the two floors above. Get in your car. Go. From touch-down to the Ted Williams tunnel, under an hour.

Eric and Alison had arranged to meet us in Portland for dinner, since we couldn’t get their house until almost 10pm if everything went perfectly. And we would be tired. He got that right.

We followed Eric’s directions to the Franklin Street exit off I-295 and as he said, went up the hill and down the hill through several traffic signals until we reached Commercial Street and the Hilton Garden Inn. Meet them in the bar at the Fore Street Restaurant, just behind the hotel. That was EZ.

Fore Street is a New England kinda place of wood and brick. The centerpiece is a wood fired brick oven built by the same guy that built Eric and Alison’s oven/chimney. The building, food, service were all of a piece — everything in harmony to produce sensory satisfaction.

Fore Street: my baked halibut

Fore Street: grilled squid appetizer

Fore Street: Eric’s baked blue fish

our shirts are in harmony, as well

Long day, good day. I woke with the sun at 7am.

Portland ME: our Hilton Garden Inn harbor view

DAY 3 THURSDAY 10.10
Brian and Natasza’s Kyiv Wedding Anniversary: 10.10.10 Continue reading →

10.02.13
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pickled beets

NEW AND IMPROVED

roasted golden beets

I’ve written about beets from time to time, the first being April 2006, shortly after this blog was christened. There, I wrote about pickled beets, among other beety things.

Over the years, I fiddled with the recipe, the original was too sharp for my taste, too vinegary.

In September of 2011, I tried a new recipe from Mariquita Farm:

Balsamic-Pickled Roasted Beets
Adapted from Mariquita
A change o’ pace from the puckery Pickled Beets

1 bunch beets, roasted – about 2 cups
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 ounce Pastis
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Roast beets. Peel and cut as necessary to fit in a POM jar.
(Unfortunately, POM changed their packaging, so that straight sided jar only exists in my cupboard… I still have 5 of them.)
Combine all the other stuff in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, boil about a minute. Pour over beets.

Those were good; clearly enhanced, but not puckery tasting. I used it with both red beets and the golden beets. I like both, and will buy whatever looks best.

That was about two years ago. I love beets and eat them a lot. I kept tinkering. First, I substituted White Balsamic for the “regular.” Then I substituted white wine for half of the Balsamic.

Now, that’s a good recipe. Worth publishing.

Marc’s Balsamic-Pickled Roasted Beets
Adapted from Mariquita Farm and tinkered with by yours truly.

1 bunch beets, roasted – about 2 cups
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 ounce balsamic vinegar
1 ounce white wine
1 tablespoon sugar (I use brown sugar)
1 ounce Pastis (or anisette if you can’t find Pastis)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Roast beets. Peel and cut as necessary to fit in a POM jar or pint jar.
Combine all the other stuff in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, boil about a minute. Pour over beets.

09.30.13
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Fatted Calf Foray

I couldn’t resist emailing this to Brian, Eric, Carol, Sarah and Paula.

“These guys know how to throw a book signing. If I were still in SF…”
Marcus

Fatted Calf Newsletter September 19, 2013
At The Table

What better way to celebrate the publication of our book, In The Charcuterie, then to join at the table with friends and colleagues for a leisurely lunch? And what better table than the one under the arbor at Robert Sinskey Vineyards in Napa! Rob and Maria Sinskey, huge supporters of The Fatted Calf, generously offered up their stunning digs.

stunning digs

Sinskey Chef, Erin Ramsey, laid out quite a feast for us, including some Fatted Calf favorites. There were pork rillettes toasts topped with nectarine mostarda, thin slices of finocchiona accompanied by marinated olives and green tomato chutney, and the pièce de resistance, plump sausage and fig stuffed quail roasted in the wood oven. Tasting Room Manager, Jennifer Gallagher, poured glass after glass of perfectly matched vintages of organic and biodynamic Sinskey wine (while professing her love of liverwurst). Good food, great wine and good people made for a memorable day.
Come make some happy memories of your own. Join us this coming Sunday, September 22, at Robert Sinskey Vineyards from 11 am to 3 pm. We’ll be preparing some meaty bites, enjoying a glass of one of our favorite wines and signing copies of In The Charcuterie. Reservations can be made through Robert Sinskey Vineyards.

Brian fired back:
Why don’t we go?  Leave yer place at 8-ish, get there as the thing’s getting started, good food & wine, good-looking book, chance to chat with FC folk, stroll around the grounds a bit, and be home in time for a light supper (after what should be a rich FC spread).  It’s $50 each with the book, $35 without.  On normal days, it’s $25 just for wine-tasting with nibbles.

I checked with Carol… She doesn’t want to spend Sunday car-riding. Said she will babysit Tuzik. I called the Sinskey Winery and made reservations for me and Brian, hoping they wouldn’t be sold out.

The newsletter went on…

Want to skip the read and head straight to the table? Visit The Fatted Calf table at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market this Saturday and pick up some rillettes, finocchiona and fig and sausage stuffed quail for a feast of your very own.

Anytime I’m in San Francisco, I stock up on stuff from Fatted Calf… Just can’t get that stuff in Reno. So after the event, Brian and I did just that… not at Ferry Plaza but at the Fatted Calf shop at Oxbow Market in Napa. I got me some duck crepinettes, fennel sausages, sausage and fig stuffed quail, greens sausages, a slice of Terrine Forestiere and packs of Sugo di Carne. Brian did similar.

colonnade bordering parking lot

We got there minutes before noon and I was surprised to find empty parking spaces near the door. Inside, the tasting bar was packed. We passed by that to the open kitchen and back garden with a white marble bar. Tables under the arbor were provided a stunning view of a massive stone wall and vineyards above and behind.

the view from my table

Several folks milled around the bar laden with delectable food. Brian and I were still getting our bearings when the woman behind the bar offered a glass of Abraxas, a white wine blend of Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Gewürztraminer. Yum. I took a plate and a meaty item or two and found a nice seat.

one of my many samplings of food and wine

Again, I was surprised that there were only about 20 people there, but glad that we were uncrowded and unhurried. The day was a spectacular late summer Napa day; they hardly get better than that. We easily fell into a routine of going for the next wine, picking up some foodie goodies, and sitting to enjoy. Four wines were being poured, a Vin Gris of Pinot Noir, a Pinot Noir and POV (Point of View), a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot; the classic Bordeaux blend. My favorite was the Vin Gris of Pinot Noir and I bought a bottle to enjoy with my own food at home.

no caption needed

just in from the kitchen

From time to time, a young woman would come out of the kitchen with a plate of hors d’oeuvresy things — duck sausage skewered on a stalk of lemongrass, a cube of lamb skewered with a shiny green blistered padron pepper… good ol’ Brian knows how to pick an event.

raison d’etre

As Taylor and Toponia were signing my book, I said, “Fatted Calf goodies are good enough to buy and eat at home, but to have them served, perfectly prepared, in such a place as this, is a heavenly experience.”

Back on I-80, our Sunday afternoon eastbound lanes were lightly occupied while the westbound lanes to the Bay Area were packed. Brian and I agreed that the Food and Wine experience was well worth the drive. We were home about six, in time to watch Football Night in America on a slight tape delay and eat some Terrine Forestiere.

09.20.13
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Whiskey Piggy

One dinner, three more meals…

From time to time, Sierra Canyon has a dinner and show deal. The show in this case was GREASE at the El Dorado Showroom. Bus picks us up, Tuesday at 5pm, takes us to the El Dorado, we eat at our choice of the Buffet, La Scala or the Roxy Steakhouse. Fixed price for dinner and show plus drinks. The Roxy was only $10 per person more than the Buffet, so we chose that. We had eaten at La Scala a couple of times.

This is about my meal(s). I ordered the pork chop called Whiskey Piggy.

Bourbon Whole Grain Mustard Marinated Center Cut Pork Chop — Pork Belly Greens — White Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese — Whiskey Glazed Pink Lady Apples (menu description)

Unstacked, so I could get at the food. The ball of Mac & Cheese on the right is breaded, deep fried and wrapped with the aforementioned greens.

The dinner was way good, served with bacon cheese bread to die for, but somehow, I didn’t manage to finish.

This is dinner at home the next day. All that we added to the Roxy meal was yellow beans. I made an identical plate for Carol. Not quite as pretty, but quite as tasty.

I didn’t take a picture, but today (Friday) I had the leftovers of that for lunch. Still good. All gone.

 

09.19.13
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EGG Grilling

Wings and Fish on the Big Green Egg

I bought the Big Green Egg Cookbook, but it doesn’t seem to have recipes for things we like to cook and eat. By including my adapted recipes here, I can share them and know where to find them.

Seems like I’ve done nothing but grilling, lately. That’s not a bad thing. We’ve fallen into a cycle: Shop for food to grill, adapt recipes to the Big Green Egg, grill food, eat leftover grilled food, pull something out of the freezer to grill, go shopping.

This is about three recent meals; foods we love and with which we are familiar, but for various reasons we’ve never cooked them on the grill. Now is the time.

  • Chicken Wings
  • Cajun Catfish
  • Whole Petrale Sole

CHICKEN WINGS
Love chicken wings. Of course, they are a sports bar staple and I eat plenty of them there, but I rarely cook them at home. I don’t deep fry. When I do wings at home, I bake them, but that’s barely satisfactory.

So, I was delighted to see “The Key to a Truly Great Chicken Wing: Grill It.” by Mark Bittman in the September 1, 2013 NY Times Magazine.

He starts the way many grilling recipes start:

“Heat a charcoal or gas grill; the fire should be moderately hot and the rack 4 to 6 inches from the heat. Leave one side of the grill cooler for indirect cooking.
Put the wings on the cool side of the grill. Cover the grill, and cook, checking and turning once or twice, until most of the fat has been rendered and the wings are cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

While the wings cook, make your sauce.

When the wings are cooked, put them in a large bowl with the sauce, and toss to coat. Now put the wings on the hot part of the grill, and cook, uncovered, turning as necessary, until they’re nicely browned on both sides.”

That’s fine, but in my Big Green Egg, the fire is nine inches from the rack and I can’t build a 2 level fire, but I can control the temperature in the EGG.

What to do? Fool the wings into behaving the way MB wants. Continue reading →

09.03.13
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TROUT

We ate the best meal served in Reno last night.

I popped into Raley’s to get some Kind Bars on sale and use the bank machine. I always go by the fish counter to see if anything looks great and the swordfish didn’t look great, but good enough to light the EGG.

swordfish

 

 

 

As the guy was wrapping the swordfish, I saw a couple of whole fish at the back of the case, unmarked. They were pretty big, big as the snapper I grilled whole. “What are the whole fish?” I asked. “Trout, $5.99 a pound. Farm raised, but with a really beautiful red flesh. They’re called Sierra Bow Red Trout. This one’s almost 1 3/4 pounds (1.73), cleaned.” I looked at the inside; beautiful.

 

Knowing the trout was safely resting in my fridge, while shopping at the Farmers Market I dreamed up a swell meal… some Romano beans to grill with the fish, carrots to braise and glaze in an orange juice and sugar and vinegar mixture. Carol said she read where avocados were really good grilled for five minutes — changes their taste and texture… got a couple of those. I got some lovely golden beets to roast and pickle, as well. Sounds like a plan.

Pickled golden beets over chopped endive, Romano beans and that trout, ready to go.

We stopped at World Market on the way to water Brian and Natasza’s plants — they’re in Kyiv at the moment — and they had everything BBQ on sale. I got a round vegetable thingy and some Wine Barrel Staves to use for smoke. Hot damn. Just soak a stave in water for an hour and throw it on the hot coals.

The EGG is smokin’.

I cooked it the same way I did the snapper: rinse, dry, stuff with salt and pepper and lemon slices, slash skin, oil it up and grill for six minutes a side.

You can see the wine barrel stave burning in the back.

I like my Romano beans — or any green beans — tender and cooked, so before grilling, I steamed them for 10 minutes.

So here we are… best damn meal hereabouts.

The golden beets are dressed with ranch dressing. The grilled avocado is filled with a vinaigrette, Romano beans and glazed carrots. The wine is 2010 Champalou Vouvray. All in all, just yummy.

But wait… that’s not all ! ! ! (as they say on late night TV)

That trout produced a generous amount of leftover fish.

trout. left. over.

What better way to get started on it, than warming a piece in the countertop convection oven, dressing it with a bit of sauce from last evening (Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, pickle relish, and lemon juice) and serving it alongside Fallon melon and an O’Henry peach? No better way.

trout. for. breakfast.

That’s all, then.

08.17.13
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Grilled Whole Fish

Love fish.

Have cooked whole fish, usually poached.

We go to Whole Food about once a month to get Newman’s Own Thin Pretzel Sticks. As far as we know, no other store in Reno carries them. When passing the display of whole fish on ice, we often remarked, “Can’t wait till we get the EGG, we’ll grill a whole fish.”

We now have the Big Green Egg and Thursday we bought a 1 1/2 pound Snapper at Whole Food. (We also got two bags of those pretzels, coffee filters, and a cantaloupe on sale.)

The fish lady helped us pick out the fish and cleaned and scaled it. She also gave us a bag of ice. We put the fish and ice in its own bag and put it on the floor of the back seat of our car, figuring it wouldn’t get too hot down there. When we got home, we put the whole shebang — bag, ice and fish — on a plate in the refrigerator.

Snapper waits for the fire.

I went recipe hunting. Weber’s Big Book of Grilling has a few recipes for whole fish — snapper, trout — but they depend on stuffing, or marinating or foil packets — no straightforward grilling. I looked on…

Cook’s Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbecue has a number of recipes and tips for grilling whole fish.

“Fish weighing more than 2 pounds will be hard to maneuver on the grill and should be avoided.”
“Rub the fish with olive oil and season with salt and pepper on the outside as well as the inside.”

“Use a sharp knife to make shallow diagonal slashes every 2 inches along both sides of the fish from top to bottom, beginning just behind the dorsal fin. This helps to ensure even cooking and also allows the cook to peek into the flesh to see if it is done.”

The Big Green Egg Cookbook has a recipe for Whole Snapper with Lemon and Rosemary. Just what I need, except they call for a 4 to 5 pound fish.

“Rinse the fish under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.”

They, too, call for slashing the skin on both sides of the fish, coating the fish with olive oil and seasoning with salt and pepper.

As the recipe title implies, they stuff the cavity of the fish with thin slices of garlic, thin slices of lemon and sprigs of fresh rosemary. (We didn’t have fresh rosemary, so we used fresh dill weed.)

They then go into the grilling method with the EGG:

Set the EGG for direct cooking with the porcelain coated grid and preheat to 350°F.

Snapper over the fire.

The fish was positioned on the grid,  so that it easily could be rolled from one side to the other.

I cooked the snapper 6 minutes per side starting at 400°F and second side at 350°F

It came out juicy and lovely, here served with chard and a bean salad.

Yum !

08.05.13
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5 Guys come to Reno

We got our car washed recently. Kietzke Lane is a major north-south street in Reno. McCarran circles the city. Hutch’s Car Wash is on a corner of Kietzke and McCarran “behind the Union Bank” in one of those tangled shopping areas that makes no sense.

They do a really nice job on our car and there’s always a coupon in the RGJ or one of those “deal envelopes” that get tossed in our driveway.

As we left Hutch’s, we ran smack into 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. We had heard that they opened in Reno, but didn’t know exactly where. Well, they’re in the same tangled shopping area.

It was about quarter to noon on Friday, so we just parked and walked in.

Big noisy place. We found a line on the left side of the room next to stacked bags of potatoes. One woman was taking orders, so the line did not move extra quickly. When we got to her, we found out why. There are choices.

Who knew they could do such a thing? I went into brain-lock trying to quickly decide what I wanted on my “Little Cheeseburger.” Meanwhile, Carol was in my ear saying “I want relish, mushrooms and steak sauce.” Continue reading →

08.03.13
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Hot and Juicy

The Perfect Steaks.

I’m still into trying new stuff — new ways of grilling on the Big Green Egg. When I took inventory of the garage freezer I found a Porterhouse steak on the bottom wrapped in white butcher paper. Not sure where or when I got it… probably from Blue Ribbon Meat, they use that kind of paper. Anyway, it was lovely, about 1 1/2 inches thick and with a nice size tenderloin.

I went to the Big Green Egg website in search of a cooking technique, and found this:

The Perfect Steaks (No author or source was listed.)

Ingredients:

2 steaks, 1-1/2 to 2-inches thick, preferably rib-eyes

1/4 cup kosher salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Trim the steaks of any excess fat. Mix all of the dry ingredients together and apply to both sides of the steaks. Allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling.
Set the EGG® up for direct cooking. To increase sear marks use a cast iron cooking grid; for extra flavor add wood chips.
When the EGG is heated to 650°F, place the steaks on the grill and sear for two to three minutes.
Open the lid and flip the steaks onto a new section of the grid. After two to three more minutes, flip the steaks once more.
Completely shut down the EGG by closing the damper top and draft door. Let the steaks continue cooking for 3 to 4 minutes, until they reach the desired internal temperature (check with a meat thermometer).
Remove the steaks and let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

I planned to steam green beans and grill them and grill a peach for dessert, as the steak rested. I had only one steak, but that’s enough for we two.

I set up for direct cooking and threw in soaked wood chips. The fire seemed rip roaring, and I had the bottom draft door full open and the top damper full open, but it didn’t look like the temps were going to go above 400°F.

Change of plans. Might as well grill the peach and green beans that I had planned to grill after the steak. When those were done the temps were still hanging around 400 so I just took the top damper off the EGG.

damper off… a new technique

This was not a technique noted in the recipe but Hoo Baby the temps started climbing. At 600 I threw on the steak and the temps just went up to 700 by the time 2 minutes had passed. Flipped the steak for another 2 minutes… by now the temps hovered around 650. Flipped and took the instant read temperature of the steak, about 85°F. Seared another minute on each side, inside temp 98. Flipped the steak and shut all the grill vents. Grill temps stuck about 500.

Left another 2 minutes, flipped; inside temp about 115, another 2 min, inside temp about 130, took off the steak and took its picture.

After resting about 4 minutes, internal temperature rose to 145, a little overcooked, but real juicy with a fine crust.

Accompanied by a baked sweet potato, blue lake beans and Romano beans.

So, the timing for my 1 1/2 inch porterhouse:
2 min + 2 + 1 + 1, shut down vents, 2 + 2 more minutes. Coulda shoulda taken off at 115 to 120°F.
Now I know.

07.24.13
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Crepinettes with smoke.

Duck Crepinettes from Fatted Calf

I’ve done Crepinetts on my Weber Q and the EGG a few times now… On the Q, I preheated to at least 400°F, turned off the middle burner and cooked 8 minutes per side over the (off) middle burner. On the EGG, cook at about 400°F, 8 minutes per side. The Caul Fat holds the moisture in and they turn out perfect every time.

That EGG is smokin’

Today, I tried my EGG with smoke for the first time. I took two hands-full of Jack Daniel’s wood chips and soaked in the little blue bucket for about 90 minutes.Made a direct fire in the EGG and brought to 400°F… drained the wood chips and threw them on the charcoal fire. Much smoke immediately. Put on the grate, and added the oiled Crepinettes and closed the EGG adjusting to hold the temps at 400.
At 8 minutes, I turned the crepinettes and put on yellow beans that had been steamed for 10 minutes.

“Smoke gets in your eyes…”


At 16 minutes I shut down the grill…

served and ate that fine smoked food. What we have here is a whole new flavor treat. YUM.
Sadly, I’ve run out of crepinettes. Fatted Calf promises to start shipping soon. If I can’t wait, I’ll just have to make a San Francisco trip. Let’s see, what other foodie goodies do I need?