The Deuce Fo’

As I continue to ramble about the gloriousness that is cast iron…

Life updates coming soon? Yeah probably…

So I had the right idea, but it was about the tastes of burnt associated with his methods of cast iron cooking:

“I adore dissonance in food–two tastes fighting each other. It wakes up your palate and surprises you. As you’ll see in many of the recipes in this book, charring or even burning adds an extra dimension to breads, vegetables, and fruits. The right amount of burning or charring can be delicious and seductive: a burnt tomato, for example, has a dark crust bordering on bitter, while the inside is soft and gentle in texture and taste.

I believe that many chefs and cookbooks make entirely too much of harmony. Frankly, it can be boring. If you sleep in a very comfortable bed but sometimes take a siesta on the warm ground in the shade of a tree, you know that the experience of the one highlights the virtues of the other. In the same way, disharmony in cuisine calls attention to the basic nature of the ingredients. I’m not talking about silly combinations attempted by novelty-seeking chefs–there’s a difference between discordance and a hopeless mismatch. What appeals to me is the elements of danger and excitement in creating a burnt taste. Take the burning too far, and it destroys the dish. Stay just this side of the line, and it is lovely.”

- Francis Mallman

A few days ago I started a draft on the wordpress ap of my iphone:

“Today, I opted to take a break from the usual routine. This is something that I find myself doing more and more often these days… I enjoy doing something new and different but this one I really enjoyed. Every once in a while it’s important to take a sec and sit back and enjoy life a little. Despite my unabashed love of enjoying life, sometimes things get a bit hurried in my pursuit to do it all and create the freedoms in my life neccesary to enjoy it all. As I am learning more and more, there are times and places for everything, the key is balance.”

So I decided that I would take a nap in the sun in this park:

I got a lot less accomplished than I normally would, but it was a good mental refresh. Since that day, I’ve managed to go back to the park for picnic lunches, runs, even just a spot to sit and read as the daylight progresses from late afternoon to early evening.

Not enough nature in my life.

For some reason I am running across several different influences (books, websites, posts, people I talk with) and they all seem to exhibit an understanding of something that I haven’t quite incorporated enough into my own life. These trends seem to pop up often enough and I find that if enough peopel are all sort of speaking the same language, better get with the picture.

In this case, I think that the picture involves living a little bit of a rougher life. I’ll find the real quote, but in the Seven Fires book, he relates his open wood fire and cast iron cooking to that of some of the finest french cookware and gas ranges, as well as sharing part of his life view…

something about how it’s wonderful to have a wonderful bed with tons of pillows and fine linens, but sometimes you really need to go outside and sleep beneath a tree. It’s enjoyable in it’s own right, and provides some perspective about why you really need that stuff in the first place.

I’ll track it down soon, but I’ve been thinking about it and I think that it’s something that I would enjoy incorporating more of into my life. Maybe it’s just the summer talking… who knows…

-J

So I saw this post in a food blog that I follow, and decided to order the book from Amazon. I received it just before Forth of July weekend, just in time for one of the most popular grilling stretches of the year. I opened it up and spent about an hour thumbing through it admiring the spectacular photography of Patagonia, open wood fires, and all the delicious recipes… Immediately, I was possessed by the urge to cook something over an open flame. I wanted to make a chapa which is kind of like a large flat griddle that sits above the flames. In the book there are many awesome examples of these cast iron chapas and parillas (grated like a normal grill, over open flame), but I am not exactly sure how to go about making one of my own. We have a small fire pit thing and I am trying to figure out how to construct some setup with legs that I can rest the small griddle that I have over it. No luck yet, but this week I think I will call around and see if i can fanangle some cast iron scrap metal and get that set up. I REALLY want to be able to do this! Apart from being totally badass and primal, there is a certain sense of satisfaction that comes from cooking over a wood fire that charcoal and gas just doesn’t compare to. The recipes in this book look phenomenal, and the overriding cooking philosophy delivers as well. Here’s a link to the NY Times article about the book that I stumbled across as well.

Although I’m not really sure why, I haven’t ever had a burning desire to go to Argentina. That’s changed now in a big way. The anecdotes and breath taking scenery in the book has instilled a real sense of adventure to this land. Something about throwing together massive amounts of cast iron in awesome hand crafted shapes in order to better accommodate different types of fires, adding in massive amounts of meat and vegetables, and having a massive feast atmosphere with friends and family, it just really does it for me. Combine that with an amazing outdoor atmosphere, good wine, and some chimichuri… I don’t know what else to say. I want to go there, I want to make this setup so I can do it, I want to have an outdoor woodfire oven in my future home. Francis Mallman has really connected with me on this one with his culinary intuitions and lifestyle. I love it and can’t wait to employ some of the techniques and recipes from this book.

-J

So last night, upon the suggestion of my good friend, I went for it. I’d tried the 60 minute which I thoroughly enjoy. I’d tried the 90 minute which was interesting and complex, but I’m still partial to the smoothness and drinkability (thanks Bud Light) of the 60. Well I sucked it up and bought myself a $10 bottle of beer.

Wow. It’s pretty amazing overall. It’s a wave of contradictions running through my head in each sip¹. It’s sweet, bitter, bold, subtle, complex, smooth, buttery, orangey, and so many other adjectives that I wish I had verbalized as I was drinking it. I found out that it’s really good to share a bottle as it’s difficult to consume in a single sitting², but I took a good hour to casually sip and enjoy it. Here’s a sweet vid I found all about it. Much more informative than I could be:

I also picked up a sixer of the Dogfish Head Raison D’Étre as well which was also highly recommended to me, hoping to crack into those bad boys tonight hopefully!

Holla!

-J