Monthly Archives: March 2009

Bolognese With Bite

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A meaty bolognese cooks up with some surprising ingredients.

Alas, I don’t think I’ll be boarding a plane to the UK anytime soon. Not with my pitiful bank account.

And alas, that means I won’t be dining anytime in the near future, either, at the acclaimed Fat Duck restaurant.

So I did the next best thing.

I made “New Style” Ragu alla Blogonese, a recipe published a year or so ago in Saveur magazine that was inspired by one in “In Search of Perfection” (Bloomsbury), the book by the Fat Duck’s award-winning chef, Heston Blumenthal.

A Brit cooking an old-school Italian dish?

You bet.

A Brit adding ketchup, fish sauce, and star anise to ragu?

Heck, yes.

Along with Worcestershire sauce, those ingredients heighten the meaty or umami taste of the dish. In fact, I even added a tad more fish sauce to up the ante.

I can’t say that this particular bolognese edged out my favorite one, Perbacco’s 5-Hour Pork Sugo. But it’s a definite contender. Unlike the Perbacco version that calls for ground pork, the Blementhal one uses boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1/4-inch dice. Whereas the Perbacco version cooks up into a cohesive, thick, rich sauce, the Blumenthal one has a texture more like chili, with distinct chunks of meat.

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Tasting Terroir In A Surprising Way

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Which rib-eye will be victorious?

Its flavor was straightforward. Perhaps a little mushroomy. Maybe a little gamey. And as I swallowed, the finish lingered moderately so.

Nope, it wasn’t a glass of Pinot Noir that I was tasting blindly.

It was a rib-eye steak, of all things.

It was a steak-off in the comfort of my own home, where I tasted four different rib-eye steaks from four different ranches, without knowing which one was which. If you’re used to just chewing without giving it much thought, tasting meat in this way is an eye-opening, palate-awakening experience. When you concentrate on texture (or body), flavors, and finish, just as you do with wine, you pick up a spectrum of nuances you might otherwise miss.

The box of meat.

Santa Rosa-based Oliver Ranch invites you to experience it for yourself. The company, which sources sustainably raised beef from across the country, has created a tasting pack of steaks, each from a different rancher. Choose from filet mignon, New York strip, top sirloin, or rib-eye packages. Prices start at $79.95.

Cook each steak the same way, then taste, jotting down notes with the handy tasting guide that comes with each kit. At the end, you can peek at the pamphlet to discover where the meat was raised, how it was aged, and what breed it is.

“It’s a way for people to enjoy the terroir and provenance of beef,” says Oliver Ranch founder, Carrie Oliver. “The breed, the growing area, the practices of the rancher and of the slaughterhouse — all those things can make a difference in taste and texture.”

Oliver created the kit in 2007, after noticing that when she tasted beef blindly with friends, they all had different opinions on what they liked best. The kits are now the most popular items the company sells.

“It’s not a hard sell,” she says. “I ask people, ‘You like wine tasting? How about trying a beef tasting then?’

“You should see their eyes light up. And it’s not just men.”

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Pigging Out at Ad Hoc

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Ad Hoc's mascot. (Photo courtesy of Ad Hoc)

Satisfy your porky appetite at Ad Hoc in Yountville on March 25, when the restaurant will be featuring whole roasted pigs cooked in a caja china.

Sealed inside a big roasting box, each young pig is cooked for hours underneath a big layer coals. The result is fork-tender flesh and skin so crisp it shatters.

The three-course “Wine & Swine” meal, served family-style, includes greens from the French Laundry’s garden, and dessert by French Laundry Pastry Chef Claire Clark. The price of the dinner is $65, including wines. For reservations, call (707) 944-2487.

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Twelve Chefs Plus Six Farmers

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Chef Dominique Crenn of Luce restaurant. (Photo courtesy of the InterContinental Hotel)

Put them together and you get, “A Moveable Feast,” a series of seasonal suppers held at a different restaurant each month to celebrate the relationships between local chefs and local farmers.

The event is the brainchild of Dominique Crenn, executive chef of Luce Restaurant in the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco.

Each multi-course dinner, which will be prepared by two chefs, will be held the first Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m., beginning March 3, and continuing for the next six months.

Each dinner is $80 per person or $100 with wine. A percentage of each ticket sale will benefit CUESA, the Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture, which operates the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco. Purchase tickets online  here.

Chef Bruce Hill of Picco. (Photo courtesy of Picco)

Here’s the line-up:

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South Bay Chef Battles In Kitchen Stadium

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David Kinch of Manresa restaurant challenges on "Iron Chef America.'' (Photo courtesy of the Food Network)

There have been a parade of big-name San Francisco chefs who have duked it out on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America.”

But now, those of us in the South Bay, finally will have one of our own to cheer on in Kitchen Stadium.

None other than David Kinch, chef of the two-Michelin-star Manresa in Los Gatos, will challenge an Iron Chef on Sunday, March 15. Of course, we can’t be a spoiler and tell you how he fared or what the secret ingredient was when he taped the show. But we can say that he goes chef’s knife to chef’s knife with Iron Chef Bobby Flay.

Those who know Kinch’s earnest demeanor and perfectionist nature when it comes to cooking might be surprised that he agreed to participate in such a zany cooking competition.

“We are serious about what we do, but hopefully don’t take ourselves too seriously,” Kinch says. “We like to have fun, too. And more than anything, I knew it would be a new experience and a lot of fun.”

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