Simple, delicious, dangerous: The Southside. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.
I'm such a homebody, I dread book tour trips and typically stress about them, and I nearly always return thrilled to have gone and surprised and amazed by what I encountered. Last week was Chicago and the schedule was so tight that I took a taxi from O'Hare straight to the Chicago Tribune's test kitchen where Monica Eng, formerly a food reporter now on the investigative beat, reverted to her former purview to join me in making an easy Coq au Vin from Ruhlman's Twenty (I forgot how good it was till I tasted it—haven't made it since Donna took the pix). I had time for a quick lunch after across the street at The Purple Pig (pig ears and the artichokes), excellent casual place recommended by a twitter friend.
That night there was ...
I was cleaning out my iMovies and came across this quick clip my son James filmed a while ago. I'd just been to Bar Symon to break down a hog American style. Matt Harlan was the chef there (he's now back at Lolita, front of the house) and the kitchen was huge; he had a hog ready and a big table to break it down on. I'd done it and written about it but needed to be able to teach someone else to do it. And I needed to be sure my verbal descriptions were accurate. After we'd finished both sides, and Donna and I were packing to go, Matt, aka Chatty Matty, gave me a piece of their prepared pork skins. His boss, Michael Symon, had picked up the technique from Paul Kahan, who serves them at Publican in Chicago. Often, cracklins, ...
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