Notes from the kitchen
After an 18-hour layover in Shanghai (courtesy of a $500 roundtrip from SF via China Southern Airlines), I got to my empty hostel in Ginza and immediately scrapped my itinerary.
I had initially planned to bullet train my way through Kyoto and Osaka afterwards, but a 3-day trip to Tokyo quickly turned into a week and a half. As a city kid, there was too much to see.
This list comprises friends’ tips, the best of the travel guides out there (shoutout to Monocle), and things I stumbled upon.
Cote des Blancs and Dry Ale Yeasts
Focus really, really hard and you may notice a recurring theme here. Dinner was served at the European hour of 12:30am.
Modelo-battered anchovies
Grilled sardines with salsa verde and olives
Caramelized melon with mint and feta
Grilled branzino, grilled oranges and thyme
Toast with corn butter and heirloom tomato
Simple salad of sucrine lettuces
Peach blueberry pie/cobbler
Dinner for 16, minus dessert. Wish I had pictures.
I finally got the chance to check out the Fatted Calf in Hayes Valley over the weekend. They’ve got plenty of weird stuff that is right up my alley, but I went for the Liberty Farms’ duck breast with an easy curing project in mind – duck prosciutto.
I’m adapting Ruhlman‘s recipe from Charcuterie which involves a straight salt cure overnight then a week or so to air dry. My girlfriend refused to let me hang it in her closet, so I’ll need to find a nice cool spot in the new apartment for it to cure. Depending on how it turns out, I might smoke it after to make it my version of a duck speck.
