Monthly Archives: June 2010

Quick Deviled Eggs

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: June 30, 2010

So Joe and I got to playing with the video camera early this spring, just to have some fun. (Please excuse awkward editing moment.) Also, it's a bit on the longish side (6:30) so if you want to cut to the chase, the point of this thing happens between 2:30 and 3:10 minutes. I love deviled eggs, but after making this video I realized that there was no reason you even have to go through the rigmarole of mixing the yolks and mayo and mustard and piping all that into halved whites. For a last minute deviled egg, just top it with the same ingredients. Last minute Deviled Eggs 6 ounces mayonnaise (see video above for technique) 1 tablespoon minced shallot macerated for 10 minutes in 1 tablespoon lemon juice, then strained 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne 4 hard cooked ...

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CSA Week 4
(recipe: Spring Potatoes with Tarragon and Chives)

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: June 28, 2010

CSA week #4, photo by Donna

OK, things are starting to roll a little faster here. Delighted this week to see peas in our CSA haul! Still a helluva lot of lettuce (which, truth be told, my belly needs a little a more of). We were a little disappointed in week three, when some of the lettuces had rotty ends, suggesting they'd been picked many days before. Be critical and tell your CSA farmers if you're not happy with the product. Remember that just because they're local farmers, doesn't mean they're perfect. As with any craft, there is a range of quality of finished product, depending on how it's grown and, critically, how it's handled after it's picked. (A friend asked me recently what CSA stands for, so it bears repeating: community supported ...

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Salumi in America

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: June 24, 2010

On our trip to Italy, Brian Polcyn and I saw a lot of new cuts we weren't familiar with, so as soon as we returned, we made plans to break down a couple of pigs Italian style, bringing in chef Jay Denham, who was recently back from five months staging in Italy. We wanted to see how he broke a half animal into primals and we also wanted to learn the culatello cut. Jay had spent many weeks staging at Massimo Spigaroli's operation, learning this technique for producing what some consider to be the finest version of prosciutto di Parma there is.

From left, I, Brian and Jay tasting salumi

Jay and Brian arrived Tuesday evening and we started with a salumi tasting ...

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Posted in Charcutepalooza, Technique | Comments closed

Misleading Food Labels

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: June 21, 2010

It's our own fault. We alone are responsible for our own stupidity. We can't expect big business to have our best interests in mind, nor expect the media to stop ringing the all-in-one Salt-Is-Bad! Fat-Is-Bad! alarm bells. Big companies want to sell us their goods any way they can. If they can take advantage of our confusion about how to eat, they will, rubbing their hands and chuckling with delight. The New York Times editorial page can rail against such practices (as it did elegantly here), but that's not going to change anything. What will change big business is the consumer. But not until we start paying attention, not until we get smart. Here's a start: Don't believe any claims you read on packages, period, even seemingly objective ones like the above, just stating a ...

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Father’s Day

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: June 20, 2010

As Christopher Buckley writes in his extraordinary memoir, Losing Mum and Pup, this indeed is the happiest story there is, that I know at least: The grandfather dies. The father dies. The son dies. I'm midway through this story and pray it continues as told. I miss my dad more than words can say. I am lucky on too many counts to name, but chief by far among my gifts was to to be born to Rip Ruhlman. The photo above is from the summer of '68 I'm guessing; I would have been five, he not yet thirty. Best wishes to all dads today, but best wishes especially to dads who wish they could thank their father but can't, to all children young and old who miss their dads. Rip Ruhlman 9/24/38 - 8/09/08 Click to Continue Reading

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How To Make Sausage

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: June 17, 2010

Earlier this spring, my high school pal, JD, called and asked if I wanted to make sausage on Saturday. It's much easier with a few folks to spread out the work, but I wasn't prepared for something like 50 pounds of sausage. Nor did I expect JD to film the event. But, ever the overachiever, he did. Our other pal, Mac, the bearded one, joined us. So please forgive the Saturday shadow and numerous chins and the unscripted nature of the video and my limited editing skills, but do follow the basic steps to awesome sausage. There are five, follow them all, keep your meat really cold, and you'll have great links (or skip step 5 and make patties or use it loose). It's summer grilling season and there's ...

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Posted in Charcutepalooza, sausage, Technique | Tagged Charcutepalooza, how to make sausage, sausage | Comments closed

Classic Hollandaise Sauce

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: June 14, 2010

Making a traditional Hollandaise, yolks in a vinegar reduction (all photos by Donna).

[Please note additional thoughts following comments here and on Twitter]

Elise emailed a couple weeks ago to ask if I'd posted on Hollandaise. She'd posted the blender version, first popularized by Craig Claiborne in the 1970s in The New York Times, and wanted to link for contrast to an old-school version. The blender version is unquestionably a no-brainer and results in a delicious Hollandaise-style sauce, a lemony yolky butter, thin enough to pour. A classical French Hollandaise sauce is an emulsified butter sauce that is almost like a mayonnaise, nearly that thick, and, as I was taught it, includes an additional flavoring step, a vinegar reduction. It's considered difficult and temperamental but it's neither, as long as you pay attention and don't let it ...

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Posted in Eggs, Technique | Tagged Emulsified butter sauce, Hollandaise sauce | Comments closed

Literary Interlude: Unfinished Business

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: June 10, 2010

More than a year ago, the editor of Parade magazine was abruptly fired from his job, a job he cared deeply about and a job he worked very hard at, sometimes at the expense of his wife and three kids. Lee Kravitz and I went to the same high school, not ten years apart; when I was there, he'd taken a job in the alumni department but, an apprentice writer himself, he occasionally joined our weekly, after-hours writing seminars. Years later, an editor in New York, he met his wife, by chance the literary agent who had years earlier agreed to represent me and subsequently agented all my books. They had kids, both were successful in business, had a home in Manhattan and a home in the country...and then he was fired. At first adrift, he chose not to ...

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Posted in Books | Tagged cooking goals, lee kravitz, unfinished business | Comments closed

CSA, Week 1: Braised Kale with Pancetta

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: June 9, 2010

Our first CSA pickup, supplemented with bread and jam due to the fact that May isn't a huge harvest month in Ohio! (Photo by Donna.)

We joined a CSA this year to see how it compares with simply shopping at the North Union Farmer's Market. A friend suggested I write about how I use what find in our bag. When Donna dropped our daughter off at a friend's, the friend's dad appeared and asked, "How are you going to cook your kale?" He too was part of the CSA. Donna recounted that he intend to saute it, which reinforced the notion that this could use some writing about. Kale is not tender, needs lots of cooking. The morning we returned with our organic booty, there was delicious toast, raspberry jam, strawberries and poached eggs. The garlic scapes I ...

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Posted in Community Supported Agriculture, Vegetables | Tagged Community Supported Agriculture, Kale | Comments closed

Salume Tour, Part 2

By Michael Ruhlman | Published: June 7, 2010

Salumeria in Bologna: culatello, hams, pancetta and salami hanging

A salumeria in Bologna, hanging culatello, hams, coppa

I rubbed the brass pig snout in Florence hoping to rid myself of bad Florence karma (first time there, my girlfriend left me for another guy, second time there, Donna and I parted for what was planned to be a year’s separation; this time, only a crummy dish of carbonara happened to me, which wasn’t bad at all, so it seems the brass pig works).

Mandatory tourist shot: Expelling bad Florence karma

But even in May the place is thick with tourists, so I was only too happy to say arrivederci and head for the rural shelter of the Spannocchia. This trip was filled with out-of-the-way places not ...

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Posted in Salumi, Travel | Tagged culatello, Italy, lardo, salume | Comments closed

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