An Effing Foodie

Word of the Day: Spatchcocked!!

Leave it to a Fergus Henderson menu to teach you a nifty new word:

"A spatchcock is a poussin or game bird [prepared by] removing the backbone and sternum of the bird and flattening it out before cooking." [via Wikipedia]

So, Spatchcocking = Butterflying.

(But way more fun to say and use in Scrabble.)

Spatchcocking in action (1:30 to 4:15):

Sounds mean and laborious, but it's a good way to ensure faster, more even cooking of a critter that was never gonna fly again anyway.

Those interested in eating ox hearts and other rare Brit delicacies, enter the sweepstakes for FerguStock via TONY's The Feed.

Shoutout: Ryan Skeen's Allen & Delancey, LES, NYC

The youngest Effing BroBro just celebrated the anniversary of his hatching!  Since Baby Bro is a fan of Resto and Irving Mill, the newly rebooted Allen & Delancey with Sir Ryan Skeen at the helm seemed mui appropro for the occasion.

(Being that it was a family outing and that the lighting can only be described as shadow-puppet sexy, I didn't bust my camera out.) 

But if any of you out there were wondering about Skeen's new environs and vittles, rest assured that his latest move is a fortuitous one.  The broodingly-gritty-pretty downtown digs flatter Skeen's familiar and delicious fall menu, and the accomplished cocktail-craft going on at the bar is a cherry on the proverbial organ meat sundae.

We had:

Grilled Lamb Belly with Bibb Lettuce, Curried Almonds, Goat Cheese & Grapefruit: Served miniaturized saam-style, the gaminess of the tender meat and creamy cheese nicely spiked by grapefruit supremes. SOOO tasty.  (Hope they serve these at the bar!)

Shellfish Tagliollini with Cockles, Mussels, Shrimp, Sea Urchin & Bacon (pictured here, scrolling): The pasta ribbons were satisfyingly chewy-but-elastic, bathed in a salty pork/briny-sweet seafood broth that we lapped up like Gentile kittens.

Poached Halibut with Italian Olives, Artichoke Barigoule & Roasted Tomato: Buttery, savory, balanced not only in flavor but texture.  Pescetarians need not fear being shortchanged here.

Roasted Strip Loin with Heirloom Tomato Panzanella & Bone Marrow (pictured here, scrolling): Rock beats scissors, and steak beats fish.  The marrow was merely a helpful boost for a beautiful, charred piece of cow, and the crispy bits of tomato-bread salad were a welcome interjection.  (Volume-geared beefheads be warned--the steak is of the sliced-for-you, portioned variety.)

Chocolate Sponge Cake Creme Brulee: Not my favorite, but brilly idea--a ramkin half-filled with moistened chocolate sponge cake, and topped with creme brulee.  A cake-smuggling dessert device.

Panna Cotta Cake with Strawberries and Blueberries (pictured here): I liked this hybrid a better--'twas a milk cake with a layer of panna cotta on top and fresh berries artfully arranged over all.  So pretty, fresh, tinglingly tart and dairy-touched.  Effing BroBro and I only wished that the dessert chef would consider placing the cake in a milk puddle (a la tres leches cake) so the panna cotta and cake would merge a little more smoothly.

Recession Recipe: Brekky/Brinner Strata with Arugula and Gouda

We're in a recession!  We're out of a recession!  Whatever the current CNN status is, your average eater is a little strapped and cautious at the moment...

So it seemed an appropriate time to address this comment:

What does the effing f o o d i e eat when she is home? Us humble ham 'n eggers want to know.

Short answer: Scraps.  If it can't be finagled from rotating produce and pantry power, I'm probably not eating it at home...which boils down to lots of cold udon, bean soups and homemade pizza:

...and eggs. LOTS of eggs.

One may be inclined to blame the economy for my egg-sucking ways, but I've always been grossly fond of them.  Those closest to me know that I adamantly believe EVERYTHING can be improved by putting an egg on top, and that the only thing better than brunch is brinner.

The recipe I'm about to share is totally money for the following reasons:

1. It's stupid-easy, but to impressive effect.
2. It can (and should!) be made ahead of time, for as many or as little people as you need.
3. It costs mere pennies to make, and encourages scavenging/repurposing.

TahDAH!

<Readers squinting>  Is it quiche?  Bread pudding?  Souffle?

Yes and no, to all of the above.  It's strata!  Think savory bread pudding, but puffier and more custardy, with more egg than bread.  It's the answer to your large-scale brunch-making prayers, the quiche-esque solution for those with no talent for crust-making or fluffing egg whites.

Don't let the golden-brown crusty look fool you--as intact and tough as that crusty bread looks in the picture, the long soak ensures that the whole is soft and yielding, with nary a trace of dryness.  I served this bad boy with a spoon!

Some basic principles:

• Use stale or toasted hard-crust bread: It's time for that half a rock-hard baguette to shine!  With the moisture drawn out, the bread will be more receptive to soaking up your custard mixture, making your end result puffier and crisper on the exterior, and more tender on the interior.
• Use whatever you have on-hand (or, whatever appeals to you at the moment): Magically, if you use whatever odds and ends you've got, your strata is likely to be just as delicious as if you choose to procure special ingredients.  It's a recipe that dresses up as easily as it dresses down, whose success and eater-satisfaction is not dependent on pricey add-ins.
• Think omelette with your fillings: I.e., precooked.  Roasted/grilled/sauteed veggies, browned sausage, melting cheeses--nothing raw or weepy, as you'll overcook your eggs trying to cook the fillings, or create an excess of liquid that won't cook off in time (mmm, swampy strata). 
  
• Give yourself time: Strata requires very little active preparation, but soaking = love.  Rush egg/bread bonding time at your own peril.  If you want to have strata for dinner, toss it together that morning or afternoon; if you want it for brunch, assemble the night before. 

Ready? 

Boiled Critters, and Keeping the Faith: Crab Boil @ Back Forty, East Village, NYC

Food peeps are notoriously predictable in their calendar of coverage--Summer means lots of writing on barbecue, grilling and burgers.  Not JUST burgers...retro burgers!  Nuevo burgers! Retro-nuevo burgers, so that we may justify another year of reinventing burgers!  GAHHH! 

I like drippy burgers and BBQ.  I can chase banh mi and prose-like cocktails with the best of them.  But with blogs and pubs piping out fall trends (what shall we pickle and braise now???) it's hard to work up excitement over food and food coverage of late, and that includes my own.

And then it became obvious...who gives a sh*t??  Procrastination makes fools of us all (okay, ME) and I'm not going to let 'lil things like seasonal propriety keep me from telling you what you should've ate this summer...and can still eat, if you're not too busy trying to chase the newest stupid foodie craze.

Case in point: The Back Forty Crab Boil.  Logic dictates that piles of steaming blue crabs on newspaper go the way of flipflops and white linen past Labor Day...but why?

The Decapod Destroyer (dear friend, employer, and all-round seafood enthusiast) and I had caught wind of the boiled crab bonanza last year, but sadly missed the cutoff date.  This year, we were 2 crazed otters on a mission...which yielded 3 weeks of "sorry, seats are sold out" auto replies.  Cruel, cruel summer. 

Thanks to coverage from NYMag and buzz from last year's crab boil series, it was more challenging to get 2 seats at a communal table of crab slurpers than it was to get a table at FN Babbo or Per Se.

But all was not lost!  Back Forty (run by Peter Hoffman of Savoy) showed rare and admirable traits in the restaurant industry: Compassion, AND response to customer loyalty and demand.

Because I had played the online reservation lottery a few times, the restaurant had my email address; they took it upon themselves to contact me, announcing that in order to accommodate the overwhelming popularity of the crab dinners, they were setting aside 5 days of nothing but all crabs, all the time, with people who had been rejected as the key audience.

How AWESOME is that??? 

This restored my faith in humanity, in hospitality, and that's no overstatement.  After years of building up a thick dining skin in NY, tolerating sub-par entitled service, price gouging, and impossible booking practices, Hoffman reversed the tide with something simple, distinct, and priceless: You want crab.  We want to serve you crab.  So come and let us serve you crab.

And serve crab they will, every Tuesday until the end of the month, September 29th.  To book a table, please visit Back Forty's site for the rundown on the crab rezzy procedure.