Jakob's Bowl

Pistachio Black Pepper Cake

I developed this little number over a decade ago during my time as a caterer. It was actually used quite successfully as a 'base' in a savory application, at the time, since then I've used it a number of different sweet and savory ways.

This is a ‘sponge’ style cake, and without any yolks, it is lighter than a ‘pound’ style cake - but with the booze and butter it's still plenty rich. I believe I first whipped it together in one of my pastry classes, but I also suggested it to the executive chef of the catering company I was working for as the base for an hors d’oeuvre. The first few times I made it in bread pans like a pound cake, sliced it lengthwise about 1/2 inches thick, and then cut the slices into small triangles with legs of about 1-1/2 inches. I spread these out on sheet pans and dried them at low temperature like a biscotti. We then topped the triangles with thin slices of medium rare lamb loin and topped that with a tiny dollop of mint chutney. They were a big hit and were put on the permanent menu. We eventually baked the sponge in thin sheets to cut the preparation time.

Now I typically use the cake as a base fresh or dried fruit compotes, especially cherries at the beginning of summer, and fresh figs at the end of summer. I cut in wedges when I serve it freshly baked, but cut in slices when I serve it toasted. Traditionalists love to pair cherries with pistachios, while Modernists feel that the combination of cherries and black pepper is extremely tasty, so it works extremely well with a sweet cherry and red wine compote. It will also work with just about any properly preserved cherries or dried white figs reconstituted with a good desert wine with the liquid reduced to make the sauce. You will have a number of egg yolks left over, so you can also make a quick sabayon to top the dessert with - for just a touch of richness! Today, I baked it in my twelve-inch by six-inch pan, which is roughly equivalent to a round ten-inch cake pan. It is difficult to see the black pepper in the image, but it comes through nicely in the flavor.

A Single Malt Sob Story

There is no such thing as bad whiskey. Some whiskeys just happen to be better than others. But a man shouldn’t fool with booze until he’s fifty; then he’s a damn fool if he doesn’t.

William Faulkner

Having come to Single Malt whisky late in life via my experience with wine, I learned a hard lesson in 2009…when the sign says ‘limited to 815 bottles,' waiting to re-order something quite delicious leads to  nothing but sorrow.

I’ve acquired a taste for spirits relatively late in life, most likely delayed by slamming shots of Canadian whiskey on the sly during my late teens. Oh yes, I consumed my share of rum and coke at frigid football games, high balls, gin and tonics and what have you during my early twenties, but just a whiff of any brown spirit straight up would make me gag. Later in life, when I had acquired a love of well crafted wine, I believed that a civilized person just had to be able to appreciate Cognac and Armagnac, so I had to give brown spirits another try! Many of my trips to Europe connected through Heathrow, and I found myself buying a single malt or cognac in the duty free shop, bringing it home, opening it, taking a sip and gagging. Eventually, I had about a dozen bottles each with barely a sip missing. It just wouldn’t go down.

About five years ago, I became intrigued by two artisan spirits from the New World, Blue Agave tequila and Rhum Agricole, either because of an article I read or a documentary I saw, but I no longer remember which. I found that if I approached them like a glass of wine, focusing first on the nose, with a lot of inhaling, not only was there no gagging, but I actually really enjoyed them. At the time, I made no connection between this discovery and all the bottles sitting in my cupboard, that is, until about a year later when I gave away a bottle of single malt, Glenmorangie 18-yr old actually, that I had bought at least 15 years earlier. A few days later, I tried a small glass of Balvenie Double-Wood just as a lark, approaching it as I had Blue Agave, and with just a few sips I was hooked.

Three Shells & An Organic Bean

I stopped in our newest Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago for something cold to drink before I hit the park with Kazmer for his midday romp, and on my way to the cold beverage case, I passed through the ‘bulk’ aisle. I had spent the week doing a lot of research on Japanese short grain rice varieties, and I stopped to see what they offered. Most of their rices were from the Lundberg Family Farms just north of Sacramento, a very high quality grower and processor. Since I’m always on the lookout for good organic dried beans and lentils, I just moved down the aisle to see what they were offering. There was a decent selection, but mainly the standard, Pinto, Cannellini, Great Northern varieties. What I did find interesting was that unlike the rices, flours and grains, the beans and lentils did not have any source information on the individual bins or anywhere in sight. This was not always the case, and it made me deeply suspicious. Back in early 2005, I tried to source organic Cannellini, Borlotti, and Marrow beans from the Western Montana-Idaho area, the same place I was buying my organic lentils. I inquired with my supplier, and while he said none of the farmers he dealt with were growing them he might be able to get them for me. Several weeks later when our pallet arrived, on it were four 25-pound bags of organic Cannellini beans from…China. I was surprised and a bit annoyed, but this was before all of the ‘tainted’ food incidents occurred.

I visited several other Whole Foods, and a few other supermarkets with bulk sections with the same result. At first, I thought, ‘well, maybe they source from a lot of different farms, and think it’s too much trouble to constantly change the information on the bin.” When I visited the local food cooperative near my home, all of their bean bins were labeled with the country of origin “USA.” Subsequent online research indicated that China is selling a lot more than just a few bags of organic Cannellini beans! I also found an article by the Cornucopia Institute about Pacific Natural Foods switching to Chinese organic soybeans to make its soy beverages without informing its customers or the public. Why doesn’t Whole Foods tell its customer the source(s) of its dried beans and lentils?

Foxy Lady: Campania’s Coda di Volpe Grape

My ‘small’ Italian white wine journey started in Campania with one of my favorites, Fiano d’Avellino, and based that result, I was anxious to taste Coda di Volpe, the other even lesser known Campanian white. Coda di Volpe is only grown the Campania region, and it was well known to the ancient Romans - to the best of my knowledge it’s been in continuous cultivation in various parts of the region since then. For much of its recent history, the grape named for the resemblance of its clusters to a ‘fox tail,’ was used to blend with other indigenous white grapes, such as Greco, Falanghina, and Verdeca, to produce the various Bianco wines of the region. I believe that this grape has experienced a renaissance in the last several decades with a fair number of single varietal Coda di Volpe wines now available - although, according to Italian wine labeling laws a wine need contain only 85% of a single varietal to be labeled as that varietal.

Acute Seasonal Garlic Anxiety Disorder

The relatively warm weather since the end of the year has taken its toll…on my garlic supply. The last three winters have been on the cold side here in Seattle, and the dried garlic didn’t start to ‘go’ until late February with some sub-varieties still holding well into March – just about three to four weeks before the new season’s green garlic is ready. The Rocamboles usually go first, and in many cases its brown spots, shriveling and even a bit of rot. Most of other sub-varieties just start to sprout. Most of the garlic from Anselmo’s Organic Farm started sprouting  about a month ago, and it’s in full swing now, some more than others - the Chesnok Red and a few other Purple Stripes seem to be still holding up -  oh well…maybe it's just an annoyance.

I asked Marie about the new garlic this week, and it seems that even that will be early, thank heaven. She also offered me a sample head of Wonha, a Korean garlic of the Asiatic sub-variety that never made it to the Ballard Farmers' Market this year. I used the entire head for an Asian improvisation the other day. It was quite hot when raw with a very full ‘garlic’ flavor. It heat had dissipated to a sweet warmth when it was cooked. I will make sure that she doesn’t forget about it next year. I marinated some thinly sliced pork sirloin in dry sherry, Japanese Tamari, roasted sesame oil and sherry. Garlic, ginger, leeks, a whole dried Sivri Aci Chile with seeds and ribs removed, coarsely chopped baby Brassica greens, pork stock, more sherry, tamari, sesame oil, and black pepper composed the remainder of the dish. I served it on some Yume ‘New Crop’ Sasanishiki short grain rice from California. It all worked nicely together. To find the reason for my current episode of ASGAD just take a look at my 2009 Garlic Anyone album.

Salmon Sal(i)vation: A ‘Big Fish’ Story (Part 2)

Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps on it.

Sweet Thursday
John Steinbeck, 1954

It’s not surprising to find farmed salmon in many restaurants these days nor is it surprising that most have a ‘don’t tell unless asked’ policy regarding the word ‘farmed’ in place. I was surprised, however, that a number of our most celebrated chefs were still offering salmon raised in industrial pens and doing so without labeling it ‘farmed.’ on their menus. Even more surprising was the fact that a number of these chefs are known for having a particular reverence for quality ingredients, eschewing feedlots and factory farms for the organic, sustainable, and local…a contradiction?

Chef Charlie Trotter took foie gras off the menu of his famed Chicago restaurant because of concerns over the way it was produced, and on his website he states his philosophy:

The taste of free-range and organic products is so much better than the alternative. It is also good to know that you are eating unadulterated food and supporting farmers and growers who are directly connected with the land.

Very admirable, and yet he has been selling smoked salmon direct to consumers from his website for years: “From the icy cold water of Canada and Maine comes the fresh natural salmon Charlie Trotter has selected to bear his name.” The word ‘farmed’ is never used when in fact the salmon is farmed, and then there is that word ‘natural.’ James Beard Award winning Rick Tramonto of Tru in Chicago, offered this in a 2008 post on his blog:

as a chef I consider myself a steward of the Earth and understand the implications of over-farming, over-fishing and the inhumane treatment of animals.

“Scottish salmon” is on his menu with no mention of the fact that it is ‘farmed’ - Scottish salmon had the highest concentration of pollutants of all the salmon tested in 2004.