10E2462: Chef's Table

I am well late to the party on this but may amuse...

Chef's Table, a Netflix series of short docs by the director of Jiro Dreams of Sushi focuses an episode apiece on several modern chefs; Ben Shewry (Attica Restaurant in Melbourne, Australia), Magnus Nilsson (Fäviken in Järpen Sweden), Francis Mallmann (El Restaurante Patagonia Sur in Buenos Aires, Argentina), Niki Nakayama (N/Naka Restaurant in Los Angeles, CA, USA), Dan Barber (Blue Hill Restaurant at Stone Barns and in New York City, USA) and Massimo Bottura (Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy).

Massimo is up first - my fave bit was how he helped rescue a local parmigiano factory by publishing a parm' heavy recipe, causing the factory to sell out. And while none of these are perhaps made with a critical eye necessarily (meaning they do not criticize decisions or actions or comment that stress makes some of them humorless... ), and are certainly food-pr0n at 1080dpi, it is always instructive to see what these disparate corners of the food world are up to.

10E2299: Farmers Talk Episode 1 w/ Arthur Willey

A sled-driving/gouda-making/hayride acquaintance of ours Jon Wright of Taylor Farm in Southern Vermont has started a series of interviews called Farmer's Talk about the history, art and craft of farming - for the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont. 

His first episode (and nice gams Jon btw) was an hour long talk with Arthur Willey, a retired dairy farmer who managed the Janeway Farm in South Londonderry, VT. We hear about growing up in the 1930's and 40's, the advent of refrigerated trucks and bulk tanks, and other things that have (or haven't) changed in dairy farming over the last century. Great bit in the middle about dealing with an employee "who could drink pretty well". Not only is this an interesting historical document but suddenly more important too as unfortunately Mr. Willey died this past October... Also love that he is still in the work uniform after all these year. Hoping for a shirt like that to replace my worn one... #turnthecollar

If still reading... we used to visit the Janeway Farm pretty regularly when Senator Janeway owned it back in the late 70s. Their cook made the best apple-pie, and we would play Jack Straws (like pick-up-stix on steroids) while Pops made house calls. 

10E2257: Whole Larder Love | "Just Grab A Seed..."

"Just grab a seed... grab a seed and pop it in the ground and see what happens..." 

You can't get more direct than that. 

Our film partners at Rough Water did a great job on this video from author/ gardener/ forager/ multihyphenate Rohan Anderson's talk held at Fringe in Somerville, MA last June. To recap, Rohan talks about sustainable eating through self-reliance including creating your own food community. This was a benefit evening organized for the Friends of the Somerville Public Library and (v happy to say) was well supported. Must say huge thanks to our Friends volunteers Meg and Kim and barman Lonnie, local purveyors Spindrift and Flatbread, Fringe for hosting us, and the presenting sponsor Barbour. Great 5 minute version of the rainy evening and talk below - snap ending... Music donated by the rugged and fancy Duquette Johnston.

10E2229: Nettle Pesto

You're right, this is a thistle above, not nettles. Have been away in remote-ish Scotland (Isle of Skye area) for a week w siblings. Lots of hikes and cooking fish various ways. 

Also, finally had a chance to try making nettle pesto from a bush outside the cottage - having been inspired by our author friend Whole Larder Love long ago. Spoiler alert - awesome. Picture below does not do it justice - the pesto comes out fantastically green - nuclear Hulk green. Not 100% sure how to define the nettle taste - once you have garlicky, oily, nutty, fried day-old-spaghetti (so good...) you could dress it with blended cardboard and it might taste OK. Still, there is a definite thrill of victory in having gone out with your work gloves and picked an inhospitable plant and turned it into something edible. 

Tons of recipes out there and you can add and subtract (I used pistachios ground up instead of pine nuts and didn't have a processor so just chopped it) - but this below reprinted from Edible. Huge recommend.

"Italians make nettle pesto, or pesto d’urtica, in springtime.

3 cups raw stinging nettles
3 medium garlic cloves
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese, finely grated

1. Using tongs or gloves, measure 3 tightly packed cups of raw young nettle tops. Add them to salted boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes, drain immediately and then place the greens in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking [didn't do this part - ed.]. Cool, strain and squeeze dry using a tea towel to remove every drop of moisture that you can.

2. Coarsely chop the nettles to make about 1 cup. Add them to the bowl of a food processor with the garlic cloves and pine nuts. While pulsing, slowly add the olive oil, 1 tablespoon at a time. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese. You might add a small knob of soft butter and a squeeze of lemon juice if it needs brightening. Blend once more to incorporate the final additions [i didn't do this part - ed]."

10E2023: Bachelor Dinner | 3

Basically the burgers and mushrooms are a coleslaw-delivery-system. Homemade 'slaw FTW.

It can get a little silly celebrating (or mourning) the countless anniversaries of celebs, but it is currently Bukowski's birthday anniversary, the anniversary of Elvis' death, and would have been Julia Child's (not Childs') 100th birthday give or take a day.

The only pictures we have in our kitchen are an old B&W of my bruv at The Rosebud diner, and a photo of a younger Elvis. #fans Copy of EP's early album Sunshine on RDIO right now - hat tip to TheFoxIsBlack, no relation. Sunshine basically a studio version of the songs Elvis was doing on the Louisiana Hayride tour/radio show. Good stuff.

Further reading; Bachelor Dinner, Bachelor Dinner-2

10E2015: Julia Child's 100th Birthday

To celebrate what would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday on August 15th, WGBH is hosting a month's worth of Julia. The remix above might not hit Mr Rogers levels but it brings a smile. Huge fans of JC here at 10e - so more to come on this upcoming "birthday". If anyone knows of corresponding events in Somerville/Boston give a shout.

10E1995: Whole Larder Love - the book

Have been waiting for this book to drop for a while and whipping through the preview/galley brings a huge smile. If you have been following Rohan Anderson's blog WholeLarderLove  (which captures the ingredients, the gear, the rural surroundings, and finished dishes perfect for foodies, farmers, hunters, gardeners, even urbanites looking to inject their lives with a little rural romance - to paraphrase the official blurb) you will recognize the tone of the writing but also be surprised and delighted that almost all of the photos are new to the print publication. Have a few quotes and images below courtesy of the publisher powerHouse Books. 

"It’s not an all-or-nothing approach. I’m far from perfect when it comes to food. Living completely ethically involves living in a cave, cold, and no doubt rather naked. Not my cup of tea really. But to be able to make some changes in our lives that can have a positive impact on the health of ourselves and our environment is a good thing."

"Pesto of Parsley: There seems to be some debate about whether flat leaf parsley is better than curly. Seriously? It’s bloody parsley-stop being so damn precious! It tastes great, it’s good for you, why would you not want to grow it? Either variety. When you have plenty growing, make a few batches of this pesto. Eat some fresh with pasta, use as a dip, or as a spread with meat. It’s pretty versatile."  

The page on chili-oil stopped me in my tracks. Genius. Not sure why I'd not done this before. Will now though. A few pages of "gear" scattered around to geek out on, and subtle peeks of tartan linings and brown duck canvas. Our friend Christine Mitchell has a fantastic game/fish/veg illustration inside the front cover but I'll leave that a surprise...

One more nugget. Rohan intends on travelling to the US to promote the book in late October (?) so watch  this space for news on that. A certain Somerville library might be holding an author reading...

whole larder love over at mr. blanc

Rohan Anderson of WholeLarderLove takes the guys from Mr. Blanc foraging. Intro below; can read the whole [oh! -ed] thing here.

If the love of the food and the lifestyle were originally the catalyst of Rohan’s passion, then a desire to live a more sustainable existence is now providing the major impetus.  Having completed a resource management course at university and participating in reforestation programs Rohan realised that a larger, more positive, environmental impact could be achieved by sharing his ideology. With the complexity and sheer scale of our environmental plight often leaving the average individual feeling hopeless and despondent, Rohan’s simple hands on approach provides a positive and empowering option to idleness. Don’t get me wrong, he is a realist and understands that the majority of the city dwelling population cannot achieve total self-sufficiency, but he believes it is well within everyone’s ability to live more sustainably. And why not?

hog island oyster co.

Been back from San Fransisco area for about a week but Sis took these great shots of the Hog Island Oyster Farm from one of the day trips. Raw or grilled. Lemon or tabasco. That is as complicated as it should get on vacation...

the toothpick

I like these historical narratives that are created using objects, e.g. the books Salt, and Cod. The Toothpick by Henry Petroski does something similar but happens to also intersect with the Maine logging industry and the story of American manufacturing generally. Plus, I bet you know someone who mysteriously started using toothpicks after seeing the movie Drive... this book is for them too.

The Maine Historical Society is holding a series of discussions in the upcoming months, "Extraordinary Histories of Ordinary Things" with The Toothpick as one focus. More info here. Sidenote, the book is also a testament to the power of research (and not using Google), as the author finds many mistruths online and has to dig for hard data with interviews and visits to various repositories. I'm a bit late to the party here as book out a few years ago but looking forward to this. Excerpt below;

The plain wooden toothpick, it may be argued, is among the simplest of manufactured things. It consists of a single part, made of a single material, intended for a single purpose–from which it gets its simple name. It is also among the most convenient and ready of things. It can be used directly out of the box–there being no instructions to read, no parts to assemble, no priming or booting required, and no maintenance expected. When it has served its purpose, it is simply discarded.
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The very simplicity and banality of the thing made the toothpick and its manufacture an artifact of tacit knowledge and trade secrets. Even in the late twentieth century, Japanese visitors who showed up at a Maine toothpick factory were turned away, lest they see the tricks of the trade. An American scholar, who should hardly have been seen as a potential competitor, was similarly denied entrance to a Minnesota counterpart. He had to go to Sweden to see some toothpicks being made.

Secrecy coupled with a dearth of reliable, confirmable documentary material makes the task of uncovering the real story of a common object a challenge for ordinary scholarship relying on the usual scholarly sources. But there are other sources of information, not least of which is the artifact itself and the documented social and cultural context in which it has been made and used. Much of the story of the toothpick must be coaxed out of the thing itself and its milieu. With patience, slivers of it can be teased out of even a closed box of toothpicks the way a stubborn seed eventually can be dislodged from between the teeth. Insights into the use and misuse of things can be gleaned from both the froth and the detritus of society.
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To an engineer, the challenge of mass-producing something like a toothpick with sufficient efficiency that it can be sold at a profit holds a special fascination. The origins and rise of the mechanized toothpick industry in the latter half of the nineteenth century make for a fascinating chapter in the history of manufacturing, as do the human stories of inventors and innovators such as Benjamin Franklin Sturtevant and Charles Forster, along with their inventions, their patents and patent rights, and their struggles through failures on their way to achieving successes. It is in this chapter of the story that the history of the modest toothpick assumes heroic proportions and provides especially poignant lessons for the technological enterprises of today and tomorrow.

oyster knives

Just found a very informative article about the various types of oysters knives used traditionally, and now, and their variations. The journeyman below is a American design called a Boston ("Bostons feature long, moderately narrow stainless or high carbon steel blades with long oval-round or pear shaped wooden or synthetic handles"). A longer blade would make it a Boston stabber, Cape Cod or Cape Cod stabber. Love this sort of stuff... Excerpt below, or just go read the 5,000 word article here.

Any chef or meat-cutter gracious enough to loan out his or her fine cutlery is doing somebody a real big favor, as merely dropping a fine knife on the floor accidentally may ruin it forever. Telling someone to please not drop one's oyster knife is more likely to be interpreted as kind concern for another's foot rather than the survival of the oyster knife.
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Hence, a good knife-maker can't bank on all that much repeat business with his oyster knives, at least not in terms of replacement. A new oyster knife of high quality that is priced under US$ 20 is always a bargain - the price of merely one dozen oysters on the half shell ordered at a nice restaurant. The only way to beat that bargain price down even more and still end up with a quality oyster knife is to buy a good used one.
-via oysters.us

erskine's grain store -rural needs from a to z

Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, so by the law of meatball lunches that meant that Erskine's Grain store in Chester VT had their customer "thank you" on the day before. Lucky me; we hit it on the drive up from Boston. Haven't been in a few years, though Pops never misses, but it is really something to add to the calendar if you live or visit in Southern VT.

This yearly tradition has been going on since the 1980s, and the offerings of tomato or Swedish meatballs, bbq venison, bread and cheddar, and get seconds chili provide a place to catch up with other customers you only vaguely know from previous meetings, and the staff who you see twice a month anyway. Sis won the raffle last year so I picked up her commemorative t-shirt.




They have the hard to find Woolrich made in USA buffalo hats. 'Course they do.

Had not seen these Fiskars axes in the wild. V tasty. #zombiehunting

Felt crushers. Must wear wool trousers at the same time. Great for snowmen too.

Huge selection of Hav-A-Hank bandanas.




Wall of work gloves. #heaven. The intern even liked the food. Hey kid, keep your Jolly Ball away from my chili.

the knife man

Amolador is the Portuguese word for grinder, or knife sharpener. These skilled knife sharpeners push their bikes through the streets, playing a distinctive tune on pan flutes to signal their presence.

Their bikes serve as a mobile workshop, with a sharpening stone mounted on the top tube, a tool box strapped to the back, and umbrellas draped over the handlebars.

Apparently there used to be many amoladors, but with the advent of cheap knives and scissors it's a dying profession which is too bad because it's pretty cool.

I found a Popular portuguese saying, "quando há amolador, há chuva": when the knife sharpener is around, it's going to rain.
-words and video by mattquann

how to shuck an oyster

This is a few years old, but oysters dont change... Don Merry from Duxbury, MA (farmer to Island Creek Oysters) demonstrates shucking oysters by the lollipop method. Bam, now you know. Can do it with a bottle opener or screwdriver even. Nice tip about flipping it over too...

vergennes laundry

Photo courtesy of Travelling Near And Far.

Julianne Jones and partner Didier Murat created this bakery in Vergennes, VT (midstate, west side) last year after great feedback from their appearances at farmers markets, and a kickstarter campaign to finance the custom build dual level oven. Julianne is the baker and Didier makes the sweets. Serious about their espressos. Check their site for more; Vergennes Laundry. #mmmcroissants #roadtrip

Photos via Food and Wine, © Corey Hendrickson.


Photo via Pop Wars

whole larder love -gets cooking

Rohan Anderson of Whole Larder Love gets busy with a pesto made from gone-by rocket (called arugula in the US) and local (that is Australian) cheese and other ingredients. Fantastic. This guy is publishing a tabletop book of his blog but I'll say it again, thinking a cooking show might be in order as well...

tim hayward deep fries a turkey

Hayward, writer/editor of Fire&Knives and frankly one of the good guys in my view, has a bit of fun in this feature for The Guardian and deep fries a turkey. Good safety tips here as well (turn off gas when lowering turkey etc). Some friends of ours do this on the regular (Mr and Mrs QuailFarm if you have been following along...) and I can confirm that it tastes damn good. Deep fried quail ain't half bad either.

pawlet game supper 2011 -roundup

My in-laws were at the Pawlet Game Supper two weeks ago (home turf) and took some pics as we could not make it. Again, this is a community style supper put on by, and for, the volunteer fire department of the town of Pawlet, Vermont. It is held on the first day of deer season and features the trinity of bear, deer, and moose (with chicken pot pie rounding out) and squash, pies and lots of cheddar cheese. It is pretty much a belt buster. Long tables and a wait to get in create a great atmosphere. We make it every other year; last year did the double bill and hit the fireman's breakfast the next day 2 towns over...

Anyhow here is the round up from November 12, 2011. Thx Mike.

The fantastic Mach's store in Pawlet almost got washed away by Irene in September. If you visit, you can look down through the overhang (featured below) and see the river (Flower Brook) going underneath.

Waiting in line at 6-7pm on a Vermont November is not a joke. Not too bad this year looks like.


Each table gets macaroni salad, pickles, rolls and butter, and a plate of cubed cheddar.



Rug rats and Libble D hats. The wool count pretty high as well.


THAT is what I am talking about. Paging Wm. Brown... Venison meatloaf? Yup.


Yes that is a Ball-wine-glass. You can get yours here.


A slice of Americana. Or go crazy as below. The joke is; the supper is free -you pay $12 for a slice of pie.