Food For Thought

[Jimmy Cantiello]

I'm passionate about few things. Food, cooking and dining out is at the top of my list of serious interests. I therefore submit this thread to talk about any and all things related to the culinary arts. I welcome all comments and insights. If nobody posts here I'll just talk to myself. In between bites, of course.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Gotta go with dogs and burgers on the Fourth of July, unless you're a fucking communist or something.

[BeBop]

Gotta go with dogs and burgers on the Fourth of July, unless you're a fucking communist or something.

I'm worse: strict vegetarian*. Not that I don't miss burgers. (Not sure I ever ate hotdogs.) But, as much as "the faithful" rave about roasted vegetables and stuff on holidays, it ain't the same. And salad? Pass.

* Don't worry, I don't preach.

[uli]

Let's hear it for Polish food or beer, Jimmy!

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Heh, heh. I had a lot of both during my recent trip to Poland. I'll have to talk about what I had a little later. Good eats and drinks for sure.

[moldyfigg]

Hey, Jimmy! Good to see you amongst the orphans.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Thanks, Clint. Looking forward to "hanging out" with you again.

[stonemonkts]

Jimmy Motherfucking C! Now the joint is officially legit.

On a recent trip I had the pleasure of dining on Arctic Char, which is very salmon-like in appearance and texture, but has a flavor all its own.



The other fresh fish special was Marlin, which the waiter described as swordfish/tuna-like, which sounded good, so maybe next time.

I'm dying to try a Brazilian steak house, supposedly Boston has a good one. I want the dude to come and carve the meat tableside on one of those spit spike things.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Hi, Pat. Good to see an old friend. As for rodizio/churrascaria, I've been to one in NYC. All I can say is bring a healthy appetite or you'll end up under the table in the fetal position.

[LennyH]

Let's hear it for Polish food or beer, Jimmy!

I had some people over today for the 4th and one couple of from Poland. They brought some great Kielbasa from Philly that we did on the grill as a appetizer.

Also did dry-rub pork ribs on the grill that were outstanding.

[sozamora]

Brat dogs two ways for the 4th:

1) Your standard onions and peppers with a curry ketchup sauce.
2) Mustard (I like to combine brown with hot mustard) with Guinness onions

Downed those bad boys with a couple of Sapporos.

[Ron Thorne]

On a recent trip I had the pleasure of dining on Arctic Char, which is very salmon-like in appearance and texture, but has a flavor all its own.

Pat, as you might expect, my family & I have enjoyed Arctic Char and its near cousin, Dolly Varden, more than once. They are delicate but flavorful, and I really hope they are not over-fished.

Here is a wonderful enhanced photo of a beautiful male Arctic Char. It has a watercolor "feel". Catching one this size on a fly rod is quite a thrill. Releasing it is equally thrilling.



Photo/illustration: Bob White ©2013

[hornplayer]

Gotta go with dogs and burgers on the Fourth of July, unless you're a fucking communist or something.

that's what I thought. but decades ago when I first moved to Boston, I was told the "traditional" 4th of July meal there was salmon, boiled potatoes and peas. That supposedly came from the days when salmon ran the rivers in the area at that time of year, and were so plentiful they couldn't be avoided. Wonder how many Bostonians go with that menu today!

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Salmon in all its forms is one of my all time favorite things to eat. I was in heaven while vacationing in Alaska a few years ago. Couldn't get enough.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Polish Food Report #1

I recently took a trip to Poland and one of my main objectives, as always, was to explore as many foods as possible. In Poland I wanted to concentrate on the country's traditional dishes.

First up was pierogi, the ubiquitous dumplings found everywhere in Poland. They're made with a variety of fillings. Pierogi can be steamed, boiled, deep fried or sauteed. My favorite contains ground meat. The first joint we sampled pierogi was at a restaurant in Krakow. It's a rousingly fun beer hall type of place. The beer is served in huge steins and flows freely. The portions are huge and the food is meat-centric and well prepared, mostly grilled. This particular restaurant, Pod Wawelem, actually has a "vomitorium" in the mens room. Apprarently the management has a great sense of humor. They also have a three piece band offering traditional Polish folk music. Lots of fun, good food and copious amounts of beer. Pod Wawelum reminded me of the beer halls in Germany.

A typical pierogi dish



Mixed grill for one which included beef, liver, chicken, two types of kielbasa, pork loin, blood sausage, bacon, red and white cabbage, potatoes, rice and several condiments



So you can go back to eat and drink more

[BeBop]

My "wife" and I went to Poland back in the mid-80s. She blindly ordered something off the (Polish-only) menu. We still refer to it as "leg of brontosaurus".

[Jimmy Cantiello]

My "wife" and I went to Poland back in the mid-80s. She blindly ordered something off the (Polish-only) menu. We still refer to it as "leg of brontosaurus".

Sounds like golonka (pork knuckle, better known as ham hocks). Good stuff. The Germans call it schweinsaxe. I had it several times while in Poland. A simple dish but it has a porky unctuousness and it's melt in your mouth delicious.

[Ron Thorne]

Man, am I enjoying this thread!

Jimmy, your reports on eating & drinking in Poland are worth the price of admission.

Last night was a sushi night in our house. Patti picked up a wonderful combo from Sagaya, a favorite market. We devoured it with some chilled Momokawa sake, a favorite of ours made in Forest Grove, Oregon, where our son, Justin, went to college. In fact, after returning from Japan, Justin worked a summer at Sagaya. Man, were they very surprised at how fluent he was in Japanese.

[sozamora]

What the hell is that one at the top right of the pic?!

It looks like tamago, which is just egg.

[steve(thelil)]

Had the most delicious assortment of foods today at the DUMBO neighborhood Sunday Smorgasburg in Brooklyn. Some of the best local purveyors have booths in Brooklyn Bridge Park, right near the water. My wife Danner, her evil twin Dinner and I shared

1) an assortment of Filipino spring rolls (pork, mushroom and duck) spring rolls in interesting sauces.


2) fantastic chicken schnitzel sandwiches with sauerkraut and horseradish mustard.



3) creamy crab rangoon dumplings and duck dumplings



washed down with some Mango Lemonade.



It was too hot to spend too much time outdoors so we retreated to the Henry Street Ale house, where I had a Smuttynose Brown Ale>

[steve(thelil)]

I tried to fix it by substituting a smaller pic of the spring rolls. Is it still a problem? (the pics are links to other URLs, so I thought that doesn't use too much bandwidth. Is that incorrect?)

[steve(thelil)]

Interesting. It's funny, My first photo caused that to happen and I replaced it with a smaller one. On my computer that solved the problem.I'll make an effort to keep pic sizes down.

[sozamora]

Ah.

Egg nigiri?

Yep. I love eggs, so I like it a lot.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Polish Food Report #2

When we left beautiful Krakow we headed south to the Tatra mountains, Poland's alpine region. The area reminded me of Switzerland for sure. While there I had an opportunity to taste a few more traditional Polish foods.

Oscypek is a smoked sheep's milk cheese made in the Tatra mountain region of Poland. It's very salty but since I never met a cheese I didn't like, I readily sampled many slices during our stay in the mountains. Nice smoky flavor and it melts well. I also ate it at breakfast, among other foods, throughout our entire trip. We got a chance to see how Oscypek is made. Interesting process. This mountainous region of Poland is picturesque to say the least.

The cheese



The view

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Polish Food Report #3

While in southern Poland our "base of operations" was a beautiful hotel in Zakopane. One night we headed out to a local joint for a game and/or fish dinner. The restaurant had several venison and wild boar dishes on their menu. Before our main course we were presented with a big basket of freshly baked rye bread and a generous bowl of smalec, a "spread" for bread that I never encountered. I couldn't wait to sample it.

Smalec is basically lard made from pork fat. The one that we had on our table was studded with bacon bits. It's used as one would use butter to spread on bread. I was the only one to devour it but I talked Joanne into at least trying a bite. Although it does not look particularly appetizing it tastes surprisingly like butter. The mouth feel and taste reminded me of Italian lardo. No surprise there. I had to push the bowl of smalec away from me so I wouldn't eat the whole thing before our appetizers arrived.

Good stuff