Grant Achatz, chef of Chicago’s Alinea, spends some time in the kitchen of his business partner, Nick Kokonas, showing how he would cook a Thanksgiving turkey. En sous vide. In a zip-lock bag, at that. With stuffing on the side — cooked in a bag, too. This is way too cool.
Recipes are supposed to follow soon.
2 Comments | 
Cooking, General | Tagged: Alinea, Cooking, Food, Grant Achatz, Nick Kokonas, Sous Vide, Thanksgiving | 
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Posted by Varmint
Thanksgiving is without a doubt my favorite holiday. It’s non-commercial, revolves around food, and is all about family and friends. I think another one of the reasons I enjoy it so much is that I want anyone and everyone to come to my house for dinner. I like taking in Thanksgiving “orphans”, as everyone should eat with a family, regardless if it’s their own. On Thanksgiving, everyone is family.
One final reason that I love Thanksgiving is that the food I’ll make on Thursday will be quite similar to what I ate as a child. I cook a lot differently than my mother, but with the exception of a few minor improvements, it’s pretty much what she made 40 years ago. I don’t show off on Thanksgiving and keep the meal simple. Here’s our tentative menu for Thursday, which is as ordinary as you’ll find. But damn, it’s good.
Shrimp cocktail
Roast turkey
Dressing
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Deviled eggs
Asparagus
Carrots with maple syrup
Pickles
Cranberries
Homemade rolls
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Bourbon pecan pie
Everything is made from scratch, but it’s all easy stuff. Did I forget anything? Oh, a little bit of wine, too.
Tell me about your Thanksgiving traditions.
14 Comments | Events, Family and Food | Tagged: Food, Holidays, Thanksgiving | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
Andrea Reusing, chef of Chapel Hill’s wonderful Lantern, recently signed on with publisher Clarkson Potter for worldwide rights to a new cookbook. According to a trade publication news release, seven different publishers were competing for the rights to the book. The cookbook will feature over 100 recipes organized by season, with an emphasis on cooking with local ingredients, one of Reusing’s focuses at Lantern.
This is no “Lantern Cookbook,” however. “I wanted to do a book about cooking at home, focusing on using local ingredients,” Reusing told me. “I wanted to create a snapshot of our local food community and not focus on any single ethnicity. I want this cookbook to be used, with food stains on the pages. I don’t want it to sit on a coffee table.”
The book does not yet have a title, and unfortunately, won’t be out until the fall of 2010. But the writing has begun. Her first draft is due in a year, and trying to write while managing a restaurant and parenting two small children will be quite a challenge, but nothing should surprise us anymore about Reusing. As we wait for the cookbook to come out, we’ll all just have to go to Chapel Hill and get the real goods right from the source.
1 Comment | Books, Chapel Hill, chefs, Food writing, General, Restaurants | Tagged: Andrea Reusing, Chapel Hill, Cookbooks, Food, Lantern | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
Here I was, surrounded by icons of North Carolina barbecue: Wilber Shirley of Wilber’s Barbecue in Goldsboro. Chip and Charles Stamey of Stamey’s Barbecue in Greensboro. Samuel Jones of the Skylight Inn in Ayden. And Ed Mitchell of Raleigh’s The Pit. We were assembled there to celebrate the release of the fantastic book on North Carolina barbecue, Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue
15 Comments | Barbecue, General, Restaurants, Southern food | Tagged: Andy Price, Barbecue, Eastern style North Carolina Barbecue, Lumberton, Nelson's Barbecue, North Carolina Barbecue | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
Coquette opened 16 days ago to a fairly small crowd — maybe 60 or 70 guests. Yesterday, they served nearly 300 customers — for lunch! A recent story from the News & Observer, focusing on Coquette’s owners, Kevin and Stacey Jennings, hasn’t hurt, but the restaurant served over 400 patrons this past Saturday, the day before the article came out. Coquette is easily the hottest restaurant in the Triangle, and folks aren’t letting something trivial like the crappy economy get in their way of being seen at this new brasserie. Hell, I was amazed at how much wine was being poured at lunch yesterday — yes, it was Veteran’s Day, but still, this was lunch. The restaurant was caught off guard a bit by the number of yesterday’s customers, as they were a bit understaffed in the bar area, but service was still pretty efficient.
I only recognize about 1/3 of the servers at Coquette, as there has been a fair amount of turnover. That’s natural for any new restaurant, but it’s still sad to know that so many people couldn’t make it here. I’m pleased to see Jeremy Tornow, the ex-Marine Air Force member, still there. “I’m not going anywhere,” he tells me with a grin as he hurries to get wine to one of his tables. When a restaurant is this busy, a waiter can make a really good living. Particularly a good restaurant.
Coquette has also started its breakfast service, offering a small number of pastries, quiche and omelettes along with some fruit and house-made granola. Here’s the menu:
Les Omelettes et Les Quiches
Fine Herbes $6
Lorraine $6
ham, caramelized onions, gruyere
Asparagus & Chevre $6
Quiche du Jour $7
Les Cereales et Pan
Croissant de Buerre $3.50
Croissant Amandine $3.50
Pan au Chocolat $3.75
Chocolat Eclair $3.95
Vanil Eclair $3.95
House-Made Granola $6
rolled oats, almonds, cranberries, raisins, hazelnuts
Les Fruits
Bowl of Fresh Fruit
with European Style Yogurt $7
Grapefruit Brulee $4.50
18 Comments | General, Raleigh, Restaurants | Tagged: Coquette, Food, Raleigh, Restaurants | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
In the last few weeks, I’ve made apple crisp, a traditional apple pie, a sour cream streusel apple pie, and apple sauce. I’ve tried two different kinds of apple cake and tasted apple and brie crepes. Needless to say, my kids (and particularly my oldest, the 14 year old boy) love apple desserts. So I’m going to be looking to you, my faithful readers, to help me with some new apple desserts, as I’m looking at doing something different. I’ve made apple turnovers and puffy french apple pancakes. I’ve not made apple dumplings or a classic tart tatin.
So, what do you got for me???
12 Comments | Cooking, General | Tagged: Apples, Cooking, Dessert, Food | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
Sorry, but I had to use a pun to keep this blog food-related. Ugh. Anyhow, PLEASE get out and vote today (if you haven’t already).
6 Comments | General | Tagged: Election, Food | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
Lunch Menu. Click for full-sized image.
Today was the first day lunch was being served at Coquette, and quite honestly, everything was spot on. The kitchen crew is doing a spectacular job, putting out some of the best tasting food in the area. The service is more than acceptable, particularly after only a week and having let go at least a dozen initial hires. Moreover, there was a fairly decent buzz in the room for a Monday afternoon.
Our group of three had six dishes between us, including two soups. The onion soup gratinee was incredibly flavorful, without the overwhelming amount of salt often found from cutting corners and not using slowly-cooked, rich stock. No such problem here, as Coquette’s version is one of the best examples of this iconic dish. If you say you don’t like pea soup, you haven’t had this rendition: sweet peas with a tasty ham stock — folks, this is heaven in a bowl. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | General, Raleigh, Restaurants | Tagged: Coquette, Food, Lunch, Raleigh, Restaurants | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
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