World Dinner Club

World Dinner Club
World Dinner Club

Friday, August 26, 2011

Jambo!

Enjoyed this Spin the Globe article by Jorma Taccone of Lonely Island in Afar (which is awesome by the way) earlier this year.  The video doesn't inspire me to get into Swahili rap soon, but this is still kinda funny.




Thursday, August 25, 2011

The Other Cheese

Boxing Room's Justin Simoneaux on Boucheries and Gumbo - San Francisco Restaurants and Dining - SFoodie:

'via Blog this'

The Boxing Room is a great Cajun place we discovered here in Hayes Valley, San Francisco.  The beer list is superb and the oysters at the raw bar are delicious.

I liked trying the hogs head cheese, which is the other white meat rather than cheese. Head cheese is basically cooked down calf, sheep or pork head (no brains, but there is sometimes tongue) that is set in aspic (in this case, gelatin from the pig's foot) and turned into a terrine.

You can see the final product of old school pork charcuterie on a bed ofrisée below.


Head cheese is well known in much of Europe, but rarer here in the U.S. with the exception of Louisiana.

Here you can hear a nice old lady describe the step by step Cajun way of making this:

The Shark Fin Soup Controversy Heats Up

Excuse me waiter, there’s a shark in my soup - FT.com:

'via Blog this'

An excellent column in today's Financial Times, by David Pilling

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

It's not just about the cheese in Milwaukee

So I was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a wedding over the weekend.  Raquel and Teo threw quite a party and we had a truly great time. When not enjoying the festivities.  I investigated the obvious....There were lots of great places to drink microbrews, sample cheese or both!

Our friends Karl and Katie who live in Wisconsin explained the finer points of cheese curds. These are solid parts of soured milk that are battered and deep fried. I've decided that cheese curds are a easily addictive when they are hot, lightly battered and served with ranch dressing.


On a surprising note, we drank some good boody marys at brunch at Wicked Hop in the Third Ward with beer chasers; another Wisconsin thing. This concoction was truly a thing of beauty.
Who knew that Wisconsinites were so big on crazy garnishes on bloody marys? The liquid brunch included a beef jerky stick, mushroom, olive, gherkin, shrimp, lemon, lime and string mozzarella garnish on a bloody mary.... well done Milwaukee, well done. They also have this available in a glass boot! I'm not making this up!

Home - They Draw & Cook

Home - They Draw & Cook

Love these very visual recipes.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Monday, August 1, 2011

Garlic Fest

S and I spent yesterday afternoon at the Gilroy Garlic Festival  in Gilroy, CA—the garlic capital of America.  The festival is world renowned and has been featured on the Food Network.


The turnout was pretty impressive.  There must have been thousands of people there.



I ate garlic pizza, bratwurst, kebabs, garlic buttered corn, and stuffed mushrooms. It was the best carnival food you could imagine.


The open kitchens behind the stalls in Gourmet Alley were no joke.


Bad Ass award goes to this group with the awesome smoker from the Bethany Community Church.  They had some nice looking BBQ chicken and ribs.



There was lots of Scope on hand, but it was a lost cause.  My breath may be deadly for the rest of the year!