Delis

Upon a recent trip to visit family in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, I had the pleasure of visiting two of the town’s wonderful deli establishments. As mentioned in an earlier post, I have a slight affinity for the fine food items crafted by the few remaining artisans who continue the culinary traditions of their culture via their independent delis and meat markets scattered around North America. On this visit, my food excursion included a stop at the Budapest Delicatessen and Baltyk Meat Products & Deli situated on the north end of town.

Arriving at Budapest Deli, I didn’t know what to expect. The street out front was quite on a Saturday morning, and the storefront was small, but there was no shortage of people coming and going quietly with goods in-hand. Upon walking in, my senses were struck by the most amazing aroma of sweet, savory smoke, the sausages and bacon lining the racks on the back wall, and the counter cases filled with a fine assortment of smoked meat cuts, sausages, headcheese, pate, and other styles of seasoned, cooked meat loaves. But, if I had to name one specific item that stood out, it would have to be the fried ribbed bacon, or töpörtyű. Unlike the slices of white fat we’re used to seeing in sterile packs in the refrigerated luncheon meat of the grocery store, these golden-brown crusted slabs actually had a distinct delineation of translucent fat sandwiched in between juicy lean meat layers. They looked delicious, sitting next to the bits of fried bacon bits, what I grew knowing as “cracklins” or chicharrόn.

As we had to choose amongst all the many delicious things in the store, we left with lots of goodies including bacon buns, kifli , poppy seed strudel, Czabai kolbász, paprika headcheese, cracklin's, and of course some fried ribbed bacon. Then it was time to set off for Baltyk Meats!

Baltyk Meats, and the Baltyk Bakery next door proved to be very nice discoveries as well. In the bakery, we found a nice loaf of dense whole-grain rye bread and European Vienna-style cheesecake, though we wanted to leave with one of everything. If one thing had to stand out, it would've been their fruit-filled Polish Donuts (Pączki). They looked amazing, but maybe a bit much on top of the fried bacon and kifli lunch eaten immediately once outside the door at Budapest!

Blatyk Meats offered more European meat fare, though with a much more all-inclusive Eastern European feel. Had to have items included Buckwheat Sausage and Chicken Liver Pate. In addition to many other packaged import goods, they also had a nice selection of smoked fish, birds, and aspics.

Every time I get up to Edmonton for a visit, I am always surprised at the diversity of the relatively new immigrant culture, and those cultures' adherence to the foods of their homelands. In an ever-more sterile and commoditized food landscape, it is refreshing to visit these outlets and see that, at least for now, there still exists a few outliers offering a true taste of real food.

Now to plan for the next visit - I'm hungry already!

Jumping the Shark

Proof positive that long time restaurant rating racket, Zagat is scraping the bottom of the barrel… If this institution had any credibility left prior to their recent publishing of the Zagat Fast Food Survey, then I would say they have surely lost it now.

That anyone would go to this length of trying to categorize an assortment of outlets that represents the antithesis of food choice and quality is farcical at best. In my mind, if there must be a fast food restaurant, it should feature all the fast food brands and representative food items on one gigantic menu board. Imagine one single stop offering so choices of so many things that all taste the same, are produced at a handful of the same suppliers, and are made from the same ingredients with slightly different formulas!

I'm back!

Well, it's been a while... I have been out enjoying the summer and taking some time off for vacation, so I haven't allotted too much time to keeping up on postings...

I have been out snapping pics though, as I have the time, and have had some luck with some floral subjects and my macro lens. Here's a few random items - hope you enjoy them! Many more to come.

Simplicity

When I think of simple, substantial meals, there is one thing that always comes to mind: a whole roasted chicken. While there are a number of ways to prepare and roast a chicken (whole, in-pieces, butterflied), I chose most recently to go the route of cooking the whole bird.


The great thing about whole chicken is the fact that it has its skin intact, which offers many functional advantages. One advantage, outside of keeping the meat moist while cooking, is the placement of a number of seasonings, herbs and spices underneath the skin to flavor the inner meat. I love using a mixture of fresh green herbs, garlic, and citrus. For a recent meal, I chose to season the chicken with a paste of herbs and seasoning ingredients using what I had on hand:

Italian Parsley
Dried, Ground Coriander
Garlic
Zest of 1 Lemon and 1/2 Orange
Kosher Salt & Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Olive Oil

• To begin, I removed the inner parts from the chicken, rinsed the entire body in cold water, and patted it dry with paper towels.
  
• Next, I roughly chopped two fresh garlic cloves, and about a 1/4 cup worth of the Italian parsley.
  
• Then I made a paste by placing the garlic, parsley and about 1 tsp kosher salt into a mortar and pestle, and grinding into a coarse paste. To this paste I added the lemon and orange zest, 1/2 tsp of ground coriander, 1/4 - 1/2 tsp black pepper, and about 1 Tbspn olive oil. I gave that mixture a few more rounds of light mashing to incorporate the mix.


• I sprinkled a bit of kosher salt and black pepper inside the cavity of the chicken, and began the process of seasoning the rest of the chicken. Starting from the back, leg end, I separated the skin from the meat in one small area on each each breast, and then worked my fingers in between the skin and meat from the bottom of the breast on both sides of the chicken; making sure not to separate the skin and meat along the midline of the breast or tear the skin. The idea here was to create two pockets under the skin to pack the herb paste into. While I was creating the pockets in the breast, I also carefully worked a small opening and pocket in each side going into the thighs and legs.


• I worked my paste into the pockets under the skin, placing a small amount of paste under the skin and then massaging the outside of the skin to distribute the paste all around the breast and over into the leg pockets, using all of my paste.


• Lastly, I finished the prep by placing a small handful of Italian parsley and a few lemon wedges into the main cavity of the chicken, then closing the cavity by crossing the legs and securing by placing the ends through small holes I had cut in the flaps of skin that hang from each side of the bottom/tail area of the body. I rubbed 1/2 - 1 Tbspn of olive oil all over the outside of the chicken and sprinkled it with salt.

I placed the chicken into a 10" skillet, breast-side up, securing the wings in place by twist them forward and down, locking them around the upper end of the wing. I placed a temperature probe into the deepest part of the breast, not touching any bone, and then placed the pan in the oven on a middle rack. The temperature probe is essential here, as it allows you to monitor the internal temp without guessing, opening the oven to check, or having to cut into the meat and check the color of the juices.

The skillet went into my preheated oven at 450 degrees F. After 20 minutes, I poured 1/2 cup of water into the pan, and continued cooking at 450 for about another 40 - 50 minutes, until my temperature probe registered 165 degrees F. (I find 165 is sufficient, as the meat will continue to rise in temperate to 170 - 175 once removed from the oven, while resting 10 - 15 minutes in the hot pan. This time also allows the juices to redistribute within the meat.)

And basically, that was it..! The addition of green, herby notes and the brightness of the citrus and coriander, really gave this dish a lot of flavor. I served it with simple mashed sweet potatoes flavored with a bit of fresh ginger, brown sugar and salt & pepper.

While the initial prep on this dish seems difficult, it is pretty quick and easy once you've done it a few times, and can be adjusted for different flavors and tastes by mixing up different version of pastes using a wide range of herbs and seasonings to suit the season or side dish pairing.

Taco Box in Bucerias

So, back from vacation and finally getting around to going through some pictures and assigning them to the corresponding memory. Where do I begin..? I figured the above picture was as good a place as any to start.

• The pic: Taco Box in Bucerias, Nayarit, MX; located on Calle Morelos, west of Lazaro Cardenas.
• The memory: Our first night arriving to Bucerias, looking for a place to eat.

We had perused the menus at all the usual suspects who, by the looks of it, appeared to be catering mostly to folks north of the border, offering the continental-style surf & turf that we can easily find any day of the week back home. While they were all decent, repectable joints probably offering a good food within its class, this is not why we went to Mexico . No, we went for something different, a true experience. And, well, we got it on our first day!

What can I say about Taco Box..? For us it was a beacon in the night, literally. We had been strolling up and down Lazaro Cardenas, noticing lots of shops and restaurants were closed on the south side of town. We had decided to go into downtown, north of the residential area where we were staying when we noticed a food stand illuminated by a bright light. We figured, OK, our first night in Mexico, but hey, no better time to test the ol' gut (which I must say never really got tested in Mexico!). So we walked down the block to check out the offerings, and began taking in the sweet, smoky smell of pork searing on an upright rotisserie.

As we approached, Dany, the proprietor of Taco Box greeted us and asked us "how many?". We pulled up a chairs to a small plastic table positioned on the side of the street, made our order of 4 tacos each and a soda, and we were set. The tacos, besides being affordable by any standard, were amazing. Simple, perfectly flavored Al Pastor Pork on piping hot corn tortillas topped with a bit of, onion, chopped cilantro, and grilled pineapple. As we ate, we chatted with Dany about his Mexico City style meat seasonings, and watched as he prepared a rather large to-go order which his brother bagged up and set off afoot to deliver around the corner, confirming that it was not only us enjoying these tasty treats that night!

So, if you're in Bucerias and craving tacos one night on the south side of town, make sure to check out Taco Box.

No comment...

There just aren't many words that come to mind here. Enjoy!

Warmer Temps, Sunshine... I Smell Charcoal!

Now that the sun and warmer temperatures have returned, intermittently albeit, it's time to get outside and enjoy one of the most wonderful cooking techniques. Known as the grilling, or barbecuing in some northern parts of the country, this simple method of intense radiant heat transfer is my favorite way to impart some of the most desired flavor attributes into all kinds of food.

While there are so many obvious foods to throw on the grill including meats, a variety of vegetables, and even fruit, there was one thing I had never tasted cooked on the grill, onigiri. Onigiri is a Japanese rice ball, made from sushi rice that is cooked and formed into bite sized ovals, or slightly larger triangle shapes. These rice balls are common and very popular in Japanese cuisine, and although I had tasted them with before traditional meals, I had never had them grilled. On a recent occasion I had a chance to sample these morsels and have to say they were quite tasty. Placed directly on the grill and basted with soy sauce, they readily absorbed the salt and savory flavors of the soy sauce as well as the essence of charcoal, and were a great accompaniment to the many other delicious offerings served up by our gracious hosts. While this was my first taste of onigiri on the grill, rest assured it won't be my last!