The Ideal Barbecue Food

Today being Memorial Day, I am writing on The Ideal Barbecue Food as suggested by a reader. While I don't have outdoor space for a grill presently (though I'm thinking about getting a small grill for the roof of my apartment building), and hence had rotisserie chicken for dinner instead, I can still reminisce about the best food to marinate and slap on a hot grill. To keep you, the current reader, in suspense for a few more seconds, my hint about this item is that my vegetarian friends can enjoy it without reservation.
The Ideal Barbecue Food is...the grilled mushroom. This can be a white or crimini mushroom tossed on the grill as an afterthought, a marinated portabella mushroom, or, if you want to get fancy, shitakke or other exotic mushrooms from the market. The earthy, smoky taste of the grilled mushroom, along with its lack of cholesterol, and the element of surprise and sophistication it can add to summer dishes, is why I have chosed to elect this charred fungus to the prestigeous title of Ideal Barbecue Food. Served alone, on a sandwich, or with rice, grilled meat, and a squirt of Sriracha hot sauce, the grilled mushroom is incomparable.

14th Street Tacos

Editorial note: I realize I've been neglecting this blog for the past month, but weddings and banquets and Maui have kept me away from the computer. I'm back, though, and will be posting on a (more) regular basis. Still planning to officially "re-release" The Gourmet Gazette in all its blog-glory within 1-4 weeks. Below is a post I started working on in April...

On 14th Street between 8th and 9th in Manhattan, several women set up a taco cart on Sundays. This cart is the same one that sits near 97th Street on weekdays. Two dollars bought me generous serving of carne asada (grilled steak) on two soft corn tortillas. Metal containers hold condiments: avocado-cilantro salsa, salsa roja (the spicy stuff), pico de gallo (a mix of tomatoes, onions, and cilantro), and lettuce. Other choices are tacos with other meat such as chicken and pork, quesadillas, and gorditas--all sold for the same low price. A gordita was freshly fried and served with crumbed white cheese (queso fresco?) and bits of fried pork, which I promptly doused in avocado-cilantro salsa and a shower of lettuce. Nearby are other intriguing food vendors--a man hawking churros, women in front of glass pitchers of horchata and aguas frescas, and piles of tamales next to assorted odds and ends for sale. I plan on returning another Sunday morning for a two dollar taste of heaven.

Spicy tofu rolls

I am eating a lunch of spicy tofu rolls, along with cucumber rolls. Here's how you make them.

Make sushi rice ( short grain white rice + salt+sugar+rice wine vinegar, to taste). Spread on sheet of nori (seaweed). Add toasted white sesame seeds. Add slivers of cucumber and 3 long pieces of tofu, about the thickness of an asparagus spear. Top with generous squeezes of Sriracha hot sauce. Roll, then cut into 1/2 inch pieces with a sharp knife. Enjoy right away with soy sauce, or put in container and fridge for later.

Chipotle Websites

Who ever knew Chipotle had such a huge fanbase? For those who are shaking their heads in confusion right now, Chipotle is a fast food chain that serves burritos, tacos, and something called a "burrito bol". While Chipotle's menu is limited, and the majority stockholder is McDonald's corporation, Chipotle does manage to serve burritos that resemble those from California more than the ubiquitous "Fresca Tortillas"/"Happy Taco Grill" venues in NYC, and its Mexican-inspired fare was recently featured in an article in the Sunday New York Times magazine. Chipotle's ingredients taste fresh, credit cards are accepted, employees are happy to give you a sample, and Bell and Evans chicken and Neiman Ranch pork are on the menu.

Given these factors and others, there seem to be an array of websites with strong opinions about Chipotle. www.chipotlefan.com gives nutrition information (that convinced this writer to cut her burritos in half), forums for discussion (including a posting about the plausability of the "Chipotle diet"), recipes and advocates for a smaller burrito. This website also has an entertaining and somewhat silly feature, called a "burrito soulmate" search. There are websites that contain Chipotle fanlistings, and a site called www.chipotlelovers.com that contains articles, polls, and loads of other " 'potle"-related information/opinions.
On the other hand, Chipotle often inspires long, negative posting wars on the website www.chowhound.com and the New York blog www.gothamist.com recently published an entry bemoaning the sudden appearance of Chipotle on every corner.

While perhaps the buzz (and controversy) about Chipotle will die down in the future, at present there seems to be a great deal of interest--in traditional publications and cyberspace--in this tacqueria-style chain.

Bacon

Bacon isn't quite the villian it's been made out to be. While I don't recommend having two slabs of bacon with your eggs and toast on a daily basis, I've found that bacon is a vital component of several dishes. Take Cobb Salad, for one--bacon adds a neccesary savory flavor and crunch. And who ever heard of pasta carbonara without the smoky, charred taste of bacon?

When using bacon, there are certain rules one should follow:
1) Use small amounts to add depth to your dishes. People will wonder what's different about your bolognese sauce, fried rice, or chili.
2) Add it to tomatoes. Pungent, crisp bacon loves the acidity, sweetness and juice of tomatoes--some ideas are pizza topped with thin slivers of bacon, roasted tomatoes served with bacon slices, the classic BLT, and macaroni pasta fried with chopped tomatoes, onion, and bacon.
3) Use it to flavor seafood. My mother used to wrap trout in bacon, and shrimp and scallops beg to be wrapped in it and grilled.
4) Marry bacon to something sweet. Bacon-wrapped roasted figs or dates are a delicious starter to a meal.
5) Try it crumbled on top of: mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, risotto, romaine salad, and soups (such as mushroom or clam chowder).
And finally, other considerations....
6) Don't eat everyday. Aside from the obvious health implications, the delicious smokiness and salty flavor will lose its novelty.
7) Give your cat (or dog) a piece. She or he will love you for it.

Exciting Link

The other day, while surfing one of my favorite food websites, www.chowhound.com, I discovered a poster's recommendation for a Vietnamese food website. Interested and a little suspicious (some posters are very enthusiastic about Vietnamese food but not very knowledgable), I clicked to check it out. The site is called Viet World Kitchen, and it is a creation of a writer named Andrea Nguyen from Santa Cruz, CA. It's fantastic, entertaining, and somewhat useful, with a list of common Vietnamese cookbooks out in print, archives of articles she has written (including a fascinating one on the ubiquitous, savory table condiment, Maggi), and a short list of recipes, among other things.

http://vietworldkitchen.com/

Bananas

Helpful tip--if you're heading out for a long day, place a banana in your bag. You never know when it'll save you....

Recipe--Cinnamon scented rice

Combine basmati rice and a stick of cinnamon with the usual amount of water in a rice cooker. Cook, toss with 1-2 tablespoons of butter, and enjoy with a gingery chicken dish or maybe curried tofu.

Raisins

There's something to be said for raisins--and I'm going to say it. For the last few days, I've packed raisins in my lunch. They taste intensely sweet, giving hints of their sun-dried nature, are satisfyingly chewy, and come in small pieces suitable for snacking. I started eating these raisins not because of an uncontrollable urge at the store, but because they were left over from a chicken recipe that called for them. That brings me to another thing to be said for raisins. Raisins are quite versatile, allowing themselves to bring sweetness to dishes without overpowering them. Think of raisins in spinach, blue cheese and walnut salads, or tossed with rice, toasted almonds, sliced green onions and a little bit of butter. Raisins add just the right amount of sugar to oatmeal, and who has ever removed raisins from Raisin Bran (besides the picky ones)?

Peet's in New York

I was picking up groceries in the store across the street, when I noticed something new next to the case of croissants and muffins. I usually go to the Gourmet Garage for the varied cheese selection and the olive bar (where there are usually toothpicks set out for sampling), but today the coffee containers caught my eye. Instead of offering the store brand for freshly brewed coffee, they were now selling Peet's. Peet's is a local coffee house in the San Francisco Bay Area which is known for its delicious, deeply flavored coffees. I also saw that the store was selling packages of grounds. I poured myself a cup of the Sumatra blend, mixed in a small amount of milk and sweetener, and savored the familiar and distinct taste. While Starbucks still dominates the New York market, it's nice to know that a there's little cup of California, right across the street.