What's Missing?

Here's the complete food menu for a California Pizza Kitchen stand at LAX:

Egg Rolls

Steven Shaw writes in Saveur about egg rolls he enjoyed growing up in New York.

"Though these pudgy, cabbage-stuffed snacks didn't actually originate in China...they're the authentic cuisine of my boyhood."

And, boy, can I relate! Chinese food for me growing up was egg rolls, spare ribs, wonton soup, egg foo yung, chicken chow mein, and at the fancy House of Chan downtown, pressed duck.

It's been years since I had a good egg roll. It seems that most Chinese joints just don't know how to make them anymore. Perhaps as the quality and authenticity of Chinese food in America has improved, the made-up stuff has been left aside.

After many years of seaching, I've finally found great egg foo yung at a local take-out place here in Denver. But their egg rolls are not inspired.

The best egg rolls I ever had were from a take-out place on Church Avenue in Brooklyn in the mid-70s. I think it was called Star Kitchen. The egg rolls were large and oily, but in a good way, crisp with a flavorful filling. I would dip alternately in mustard and duck sauce, but never mixed the two. They looked like the one in the picture - click on it to enlarge it and make your mouth water!

Next time I'm in New York, I'll try to get to Empire Szechuan (that Shaw writes about) and try theirs.

2nd Avenue Deli is Back!

Great news last month: A bit more than a year after the demise of the original, the 2nd Avenue Deli has re-opened. It's now close to midtown. Unforch, I have no NY trips planned for this year but maybe I'll figure out a way to get there.

It's run by the nephew of the founder, Abe Lebewohl, and judging from this interview, I'd say the spirit and quality of the old place will live on.

Eric & Micah Eat Cheesesteaks

My friend Micah Engber and I have enjoyed many a good meal together. We found ourselves in Philadelphia earlier this fall. I mentioned that I had never had a cheesesteak sandwich in Philadelphia, so Micah said he'd take me to both Geno's and Pat's, the two most famous purveyors of cheesesteak, across the street from each other. Pat's claims to have invented the sandwich.

Aficionados will claim one is better than the other, or that there are better purveyors in Philly than these pioneers.

We decided to do an apples to apples comparison. At each place we had a basic sandwich with just steak, onions and cheese. We chose Whiz at both stands, although it appeared more like melted American cheese than something shot from a pressurized can.

We enjoyed both, but discerned no difference between them. heresy, I know. Micah's Mom, Harriett, joined us and took these photos.


From Micah:

Both use rib eye (Delmonico) steak, sliced thin for their cheese steaks. Geno's never claimed to be the creator of the sandwich, they just claim to make a better sandwich then Pat's.

They each use different styles of grill keeping. While Geno's keeps there grill immaculately clean, and free from grease, Pat's keeps their grill covered with grease from the previous sandwiches. Both claim that it makes for a better taste. Both are also supposed to be open 24/7 -365.

The other big rivalry is between Pat's King of Steaks and Rick's Philly Steaks. I heard the story on FoodTV but took this part from Wikepedia to save time in toying it all out.

"Pat's King of Steaks is the original shop opened by Pasquale "Pat" Olivieri and his brother, Harry. Harry's grandson, Frank, owns Pat's. Pat's grandson, Rick, owns Rick's Original Philly Steaks at Reading Terminal Market.

Pat's son, Herbert (Rick's father), expanded the business by opening franchises of Pat's King of Steaks. In the 1980's, the Olivieris split up the business. Harry and Frank Sr. kept the original location, Herbert ("King" Pat's son) opened Olivieri's Prince of Steaks in Reading Terminal Market. Herbert's son Rick renamed it "Rick's" in the mid-1990s, still using the crown logo and mentioning his grandfather, Pat Olivieri.

In October 2006, Pat's sued Rick's, alleging trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition, based on the use of the crown logo and the name "Pat Olivieri"."

I've made cheesesteaks at home.

My method is to thinly slice a relatively inexpensive cut of steak such as round and fry the slices in a cast iron pan, seasoning liberally with kosher salt. I use 1/4 pound per person.

Separately, I saute sliced (not chopped) onions and green peppers until soft. Quantity is based on how you wish to balance the vegetables with the meat and cheese.

For cheese, I use yellow American -- the actual cheese, not cheese food or process cheese food, and melt it in the microwave. I use two slices per sandwich.

The roll is always a supermarket brand soft sub roll.

I've made these as part of a party spread and cut each roll into three or four pieces.

A great tarted up steak sandwich is the Number 9 at D'Angelo, a sandwich chain in New England. I once had one when dining with a girlfriend. As chunks of food fell out of the sandwich and juices ran down my chin she said, "You're making a spectacle of yourself!" Indeed I did.

Hatch Chiles

Hatch Chiles roasting at Cherry Creek Farmer's Market, Denver

This time last year I posted about the wonderful peaches from Colorado's western slope that may be the best in the world.

Hatch Chiles are another fantastic food that comes this time of year.

These come from Hatch, New Mexico and are roasted locally throughout New Mexico and parts of Colorado. You'll find them at roadside stands and farmer's markets.

The smell of roasting chiles is intoxicating. I generally buy mild peppers (what they call "mild" around here is what easterners call "medium"). I've made pork green chile stew with them. Mostly I use them in omelets or on sandwiches. But to some degree I buy them just so the vendors will keep coming back so I can smell the peppers roasting again.

When In Cincinnati...

My 5-way in Cincinnati

One of the great remaining strictly regional foods in America is Cincinnati Chili. Created by Greek immigrants in the early 1900s, it has no relation to Tex-Mex chili.

It's served over spaghetti, with grated cheddar on top, and in between -- optionally -- are red beans and onions.

My favorite place to have it is Skyline Chili, a chain of diner style restaurants. I had one night in Cincy this week and enjoyed a dish of 5-way for the first time in years.

If you'd like to try it at home, I know there are recipes on the net, but the one I've made with great results was by Jane and Michael Stern in their wonderful book, Square Meals.

Casa Mono

A couple of years ago, my friend and co-worker Dan invited an industry friend and me to join him for dinner at Babbo, Mario Batali's flagship restaurant in New York. It was the meal of a lifetime and I wrote about it here.

Earlier this year, we were in New York together again and dined at another restaurant that Batali is a partner in, Casa Mono. This is a tapas restaurant, whose birth is described in the book Heat. Chef Andy Nusser wanted to create a Barcelona-style taverna.

Since it's been some months, my memory of the specific dishes we enjoyed is not as sharp as when I wrote about Babbo. But all of the ten or twelve plates we had were exquisite.

I remember chipirones, tiny little squid served with white beans, duck egg with potatoes, broiled mushrooms, razor clams, skirt steak with an onion melange. If you don't love garlic and salt, stay away!


Of course, they have a fantastic wine list, and while certainly not inexpensive, Dan chose a couple of Spanish wines that were better than any I had enjoyed, both under $100. Most of the plates are in the $11-15 range. So an expansive dinner such as we had does add up. But alternatively, a couple could have four plates and a glass of wine each and get out for $100 including tax and tip. For this quality of dining in Manhattan, that's a deal.

Pork Rib Technique

I've been trying different techniques for grilling/smoking pork ribs and finally hit on something I really liked.

Since first making my Hickory Maple sauce, I haven't tried anything as good. I do have some recipes not yet tried, but the family and I like this one so much we have no incentive to change. But sauce does not make the dish alone. It's really just the finishing touch.

For some time I've used one method or another of cooking the ribs before they hit the grill, including boiling and baking. There are two advantages to pre-cooking. I think you can get a better result in the end, and it saves time, because you're cooking them while the coals are heating. Yesterday, I steamed them, and that got me the perfect result I've been seeking.

I filled the bottom of a big pot with water, dropped in a vegetable steamer, covered it and set the flame to high. I went outside and lit the charcoal. Back inside, I covered the ribs liberally with a dry rub. It was the last of a rub I had been using for some months, and I'm embarrassed to say I don't know where I got the recipe -- I'll hunt through my cookbooks for it, because it was pretty good.

By then the water was boiling. I was using a full rack of spare ribs which I had cut in half. They fit in the pot with one somewhat on top of the other. The steam cooked off lots of excess fat, and made the dry rub into a paste that stuck to the ribs.

When the coals were ready -- in about 30 minutes -- I removed the ribs from the pot and let them drip off. I spread the coals for direct grilling. I skipped my usual step of adding soaked hickory chips to the coals, but as the sauce includes Liquid Smoke, I knew I'd get some hickory flavor.

I put the ribs on the grill, covered it and closed the top vents halfway to retain smoke. After 10 minutes, I turned the ribs and mopped on some white vinegar with hot pepper flakes. Returning the cover, I now opened the vents. In 10 more minutes, I turned the ribs and repeated. The ribs were nicely blackened but not overly charred. Five minutes later, I brushed on some sauce, turned the ribs and brushed sauce on the other side. Just a minute or two on each side with the cover off produced a nice glaze.

I put the ribs on a cutting board and returned to the kitchen. With a carving knife (and I plan to buy a cleaver), I trimmed the rack to produce St. Louis cut ribs. If you order spare ribs in a restaurant, chances are that's how you'll get them. You do this by removing the unwieldy section at the top of the rack that is difficult to slice through as well as the tip of the rack, so that you're left with ribs of a fairly consistent length.

I'm sure there is correct terminology for this, but what it left me with was a nearly uncuttable long bone that had run perpendicular to the ribs and a number of chunks that I separated into tasty morsels, along with the small ribs at the end of the rack.

Arranging all the pieces on a platter, I brushed some more sauce on top. They were the best ribs we've ever had. Moist inside and crispy on the top and bottom. The St. Louis portion of the rack was also fairly lean.

I would also say that meat quality makes a difference. I find the ribs purchased at Whole Foods significantly better in taste and texture than the ones I used to buy at Sam's Club. But they are perhaps twice as expensive. For now, we've decided we'd rather have naturally raised meat, and if it means having ribs a bit less often, so be it.

Heat

I imagine most cooking enthusiasts have at times imagined working in a restaurant or even owning one.

I've had several restaurant concepts, though have always realized I would be ill-suited to actually work in a restaurant.

Nothing has ever brought the reality of the restaurant cooking experience to life for me as well as the book Heat by Bill Buford.

When it came out, this book gained notoriety as an expose about Mario Batali. But it's really not that at all. Yes, Batali plays a major role in it, but really this is the story of one man's search to know food in a way it can only be known by hands on experience in the kitchen with great cooks, or in one case, a butcher.

Buford is a superb writer, and this book was by turns visceral, funny and heartwarming. As much as it made even clearer that restaurant cooking is very hard work, it made me wish even more that I was suited to it.

More Maine Food

Continuing my Maine visit, I made two more coastal food stops. One was Five Islands Lobster Co. Located at the town wharf with a view of islands and marina. I had never been there, but it was mentioned by Jane & Michael Stern in the current issue of Gourmet. They raved about the lobster.

For some reason, I felt that eating a lobster is a social activity, so being solo I had a lobster roll. It had lots of really tasty lobster meat and no mayo at all, so I mostly skipped the roll and just picked out the chunks of meat. As accompaniment, I had onion rings, cole slaw and a bottle of Moxie, one of the oldest brands of soda still made, and hard to find outside of Maine. It's rather medicinal tasting, but I like to have one every couple of years.

As with many of the old places, you go to the building where they cook the lobsters for lobsters and steamers (steamed clams), and to a separate place for everything else. In this case, the Love Nest Snack Bar.


The next day I sneaked in one more waterside meal at Harraseeket Lunch & Lobster in Freeport, one of my old haunts. It's also located at a town wharf. I had a serving of steamers followed by one of my old favorite lunches, a clamburger with onion rings. A clamburger is a clam cake (chopped clams and breading made into a disk and fried) on a bun. The onion rings at Harraseeket are my favorite. Although I prefer my clams in crumbs, I like my rings in batter. I enjoyed these much more than the rings at Five Islands. I got so much into the food I forgot to take a picture until I was nearly done.