Risotto, like polenta and grits, is one of those dishes to which the maxim "patience is a virtue" is frequently applied. And this photo, taken by Elise at Simply Recipes, beautifully illustrates why. A bowl of creamy, nutty grains of perfectly cooked rice, crowned with mushrooms that have been sautéed and cooked in cognac and cream, is glorious payoff for the constant care that risotto requires. While the idea adding cup after cup of stock to a pot of slowly cooking rice may not be everyone's idea of fun, results such as this one prove -- to borrow yet another maxim -- that good things do indeed come to those who wait.
As much as I adore my job, I tend to get the Sunday evening blues and have found as of late that labor-intensive cooking projects prove to be wonderfully soothing. It might be a bread knead, a painstakingly crimped lard crust pie, or, as it's manifested for the second week in a row, a unexpectedly soul-stirring risotto. Emphasis is on the "stirring" part, I assure you, as two times now, I've darned near sprained a forearm muscle with the non-stop drag of the wooden spoon through the ever-thickening starch. It's worth it, though -- the constant, meditative motion -- when it suddenly, palpably, audibly even, transforms the individual rice grains into a sumptuous, silken mass. It's the sort of culinary alchemy that transforms me from a solitary kitchen wretch into someone who suddenly wants to feed everyone she's ever met.
Last week's Acorn Squash Risotto from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano cookbook was a rousing success with my husband, as evidenced by this habitual leftover-snubber's willingness to dig back in on subsequent weeknights. This week's pulled pork variation, made on a whim, was a hearty treat tonight, and I've got a sneaking suspicion the flavors will meld well over the next few days.
Try for yourself. My Pulled Pork Risotto recipe is after the jump, and if you've got any soothing cooking rituals you'd like to share, I'd be more than grateful to hear about 'em.
At the first hint of a chill in the air this past October, I seized the opportunity to cook that month's Bon Appétit cover recipe: Texas Beef Brisket Chili, a beyond-hearty stew of melt-y beef, earthy dried chilies, and, surprisingly to me, butternut squash. The mild sweetness of the squash resonated beautifully with the spicy and fruity (due to the dried chilies) components of the dish and also gripped the gravy nicely. I'd found a new carnivorous delight.
More recently, though, I discovered that the carnivorous part was, if welcome to a meat-lover like me, incidental to the success of the chili. Planning for the arrival of houseguests, one of whom is a vegetarian, I wanted something that could simmer in the slow-cooker while I visited with my friends. I thought of this chili, tossing the bacon and brisket and subbing in a mix of red and black beans. I also threw in a couple of julienned red bell peppers, which I browned with the onion to give the dish a bit more depth.
Success! The squash got tender before the beans did, but the squash still held its shape just fine. I now believe that butternut squash could jazz up any favorite chili recipe. Try it with yours!
What could be more Southern than eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day? How about sweet tea, deviled eggs, pimiento cheese, ambrosia, three-bean salad, shrimp boats, red beans and rice, corn pudding, fried okra, red eye gravy, cream doughnuts, cup custard, lemon icebox pie and divinity? If your mouth is watering from that recitation of down-home specialties, you'll like Screen Doors and Sweet Tea, a Southern cookbook which escalates the competition in a crowded field.
According to her bio, author Martha Hall Foose is a Mississippi Delta cook who studied in France, and the cuisine bears this out. True Southern fare -- heavy on the influences delta and soul -- is approached with reverence and then presented with signature spin: Foose is not the first cookbook author to prepare banana pudding (page 198) in individual servings, but she may be the first to suggest you do it in canning jars. As far as I know, she is definitely the first to make sweet tea pie (page 203) -- a recipe so crazy and that it would have made my grandmother applaud and so good that, according to the head note, it got Foose into the state fair pie baking contest. She didn't win, but then again, the winner probably didn't go on to write a cookbook as good as this.
It's funny how the push for new scientific foods is running alongside some truly old-school techniques. Now we just have to wait for the day that the delicate, intricate tiny food is teamed alongside a large and steamy serving of mac and cheese. Now that would be divine.
But I digress. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has posted an article dipping into what they call this season's prized treasure -- time. Now it doesn't start off particularly strong premise (I could never say truffle oil has overstayed its welcome), but there are some interesting bits of information inside.
Basically, the piece isn't so much about slow-cookers, but dry or wet roasting in your own oven. 14-Hour Brisket, 7-Hour Leg of Lamb ... it all looks good!
There's an extra-stabby brand of self-recrimination that comes about when one comes home, mouth slavering for the vegetable stew, several-bean chili or pulled pork shoulder that's occupied one's thoughts all day, only to come home to an air redolent of exactly nothing. No warm waft, no indicator light all a-wink with the tease, nay, promise of a hearty, slow-cooked dinner because (shudder....sob...sigh...) one neglected to actually engage the Crock Pot's "ON" button.
Is there a term for this happenstance and/or the all-day nagging feeling that one's forgotten to flip it on, but is too far from home to remedy the situation? If not, howzabout we put it to a vote? Cast it below, or suggest a better one in the comments.
And lest anyone fret, Jeff later reported that he in fact came home to a lovely, fully-cooked chicken cacciatore.
UPDATE: Commenter Jenna has suggested "crock blocked," which I'm entirely jealous I failed to coin.
My personal favorite cold weather, no barrel smoker, slow-cooker pulled pork recipe is after the jump.
What is your day job, or rather, what do you do when you're not food blogging?
I'm a writer and a homekeeper.
How long have you been blogging with Slashfood and what is your favorite post?
I just started with Slashfood but I've written a couple of pieces for AOL Food. I still get email from a piece I wrote last autumn about cafeterias, that wound up also being about my grandmother. I guess that, to me, they're linked.
Do you have any non-food-related, non-blogging hobbies?
I love classic films, especially women's pictures from the golden era of Hollywood, 50's melodramas, 30's musicals, exploitation flicks and midnight movies, the French New Wave, and silents. I also love contemporary art and I follow that scene. And I love books, especially Beat literature and anything related to the Beat literary movement.
As I wrote several weeks ago, a pig pickin' is a North Carolina tradition involving a pig, a converted petroleum drum cooker, a bunch of charcoal and a whole lot of time. But a pig pickin' is not the only way to cook a whole hog - cultures across the world have been spit roasting, grilling and burying pigs in hot ash for thousands of years. In many places, pork is the cheapest meal available, making pig roasts an affordable way to have big festive meals for the whole community. Here are a few whole hog traditions from around the world:
Hawaii: Possibly the most famous whole pig preparation of them all, the kalua pig is a staple of the Hawaiian luau. The pig is "dressed" (gutted, the outer layer of skin and hair removed) and salted and placed in an imu - a banana leaf-lined pit filled with hot stones. The pig is covered in more dirt and left for hours until smoky and falling apart tender.
Cuba: Cubans love their lechón (suckling pig), a Christmas Eve tradition. Pigs are often cooked in backyard roasters made from bricks or cinder blocks. One popular version of the homemade roaster is called a "caja china" (a Chinese box), a rather coffin-like device in which the pig is placed on the metal-lined bottom and a tray of coals is placed on top, cooking the meat through indirect heat.
Italy: At the annual Sagra del Maiale festival of pork, Italians grill whole pigs over a food fire and lovingly dis-articulate them to feed the whole village. Skin becomes crispy and meat is buttery soft and succulent. And not a big of the porker is wasted - even the ears and trotters are fair game. Not headed to Italy any time soon? Some Italian restaurants in NYC and other cities have their own Sagra del Maiale.
The Philippines: The image of the golden-skinned pig spinning on a spit over a roaring fire is a reality here in the South Pacific, where Filipinos adore stuffing the pig's belly with herbs and spices, impaling it horizontally, and roasting it until the skin crackles and the meat is meltingly tender. The dish, known as lechon baboy, is a festival day favorite.
I am a big fan of cooking in a slow cooker. I mentioned in this post that I have four slow cookers in graduated sizes for when I want to cook a little bit or a lot. I love that I can pop something into the pot and set it to cook overnight while I sleep (I often do this with chicken stock or a turkey breast).
I love this little cookbook called Crockery Cookery (there's something very pleasant about saying that out loud), written by Mable Hoffman. It was first published in 1975, when the slow cooking trend first started to sweep the nation. It contains recipes, tips, tricks and a guide to all slow cookers that were available in 1975 (not particularly helpful these days, but an interesting blast from the past).
My copy has a receipt in it from a Salvation Army Thrift Shop from 1983, marking the recipe for Turkey Tetrazzini. It uses canned mushrooms, but other than that calls for fresh veggies and good ingredients, showing me that not all recipes from the seventies are a wasteland of processed ingredients and horrible chemicals.
1- 7 to 9 lb. Smoked Pork Shoulder 1 Cabbage 1 Rutabaga (Sometimes called Yellow Turnip or Horse Turnip) 1-2 lbs. of Carrots 2-3 lbs. of Potatoes (Plain White, Yukon Gold, Fingerlings, Peruvian Purple- whatever you like.) 4-6 Sweet Onions 1-2 lbs. of any Root Vegetables of your choice (Parsnips, Turnips, Celery Root, Sweet Potato or Yam, Sunchokes, Radish or Daikon, Beets, etc.- Beets need to be cooked separately) 4-6 Garlic cloves 1/2 tbs. of Black Peppercorns 2-3 Bay Leaves 1 tbs. pickling or other cooking spices (Allspice, Cloves, Mustard Seed, Coriander, Ginger, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, etc.) 1-3 Bottles of Dark Beer
Total cooking time is 3-4 hours. (apx. 25-30 minutes per pound)
Yesterday I asked the question, "Corned Beef or Smoked Pork Shoulder for dinner?" and now I have an easy recipe for a St. Paddy's Day feast of a Boiled corned Beef and Vegetables dinner. Tomorrow I'll have the same for the Boiled Smoked Pork Shoulder dinner.
So get yourself out to the store and grab some meat and veggies, they should be on sale and if you hunt around you can put together a feast for your friends and family for relatively little money. I got enough to feed 10 people for around $25.
1-2 Corned Beef- get twice or even three times as much as you think you'll need so that you have tons of leftovers for sandwiches and hash. 1-2 lbs. of Potatoes- Small boilers or Yukon Golds, I like the small Peruvian Purples for their combination of floral and earthy taste that goes so well with this dish and the great color too. 3-6 Sweet Onions- like Vidalias or Peruvian Sweets 1 Small Cabbage 1 lb. of Carrots Any other root vegetables that catch your fancy like turnips or rutabagas, parsnips, beets, etc. Assorted spices- Pickling spice or make your own with black peppercorns, bay leaves, mustard seed, coriander seed, allspice, clove, etc. Six Pack Guinness Extra Stout
Not long ago I posted about an event at the Astor Center in NYC, the annual Head to Tail Dinner put on by Chris Cosentino of Incanto restaurant in San Francisco. I was lucky enough to attend and want to tell you all about it. We'll go behind the scenes in the kitchen before, and just prior to the meal; and follow all the way through the dinner itself. It all started three days prior when I was invited to join the chefs in the kitchen as they started prepping for the dinner.
Chris and his pal, Chef Jonnatan Leiva of the Jack Falstaff Restaurant in San Francisco had flown in on a red-eye after finishing work late the night before. With what little sleep they had on the plane, they went straight to work in the Astor Center kitchen, as they engaged on a three-day binge of Red Bull to keep them alert and local microbrews to keep them sane. Other chefs from around New York state showed up to volunteer and help put the event together.
I just have to tell all you Slashfoodies about the new Astor Center in New York City. Some of you may have heard me mention one of my favorite shops, Astor Wine & Spirits before; like when I reviewed St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur. When I lived in NY I stopped by there on a weekly basis, now it's more like 6 times a year, which is pretty good when you consider it's over 400 miles from my new home in Mid-Coast Maine.
For the past three years I have been hearing rumors about the Astor Center being developed by Astor Wines & Spirits and they finally opened just last month. The Astor Center is a state or the art culinary education and events center where they have panels, workshops, symposia, seminars, courses on every aspect of the food and beverage world. They have three beautiful spaces for their events, courses, and seminars. The Study- a seminar hall with stadium seating looking down to a teaching kitchen and podium from comfortable seats set at counters set up for professional tastings; with a light box, running water, and a sink for every seat. No spitting in nasty slop buckets here. The Kitchen- A huge, top of the line teaching kitchen with every gadget you can imagine. The Gallery- a multi-use space for wine pairing dinners, food festivals, lectures, and other events.
Their presenter list is nothing short of amazing with top experts in all areas of the culinary world joining together to explore both the cutting edge and historical aspects of food and beverages. There is a strong focus on wines, spirits, and cocktails; something you would expect from the Astor Wines folks. F Paul Pacult, Jim Meehan, Maximilian Riedel (of Riedel Crystal), Kara Newman, Brian Van Flandern, Timothy Sullivan, Henry Sidel, and more experts on various libations are on hand to delve into the glorious world of all that is wet and tasty; for beginners and experts, consumers and those in the trade.
Waters' cookbook, The Art of Simple Food, is a fantastic introduction to the slow food movement.
The movement was founded in the late 1980s by a group of people who wanted to bring back local food traditions that had taken a backseat to technology as our lifestyles picked up speed and changed course. Slow Food International, the non-profit, member-supported group that popularized the idea, does not pretend to have discovered a revolutionary idea. Instead, it reiterates principles that people in places like Italy and France have lived by for thousands of years: celebrating biodiversity in our food supply, utilizing local ingredients and taking the time to enjoy and appreciate our food and where it comes from.
But back to the cookbook. Waters' recipes echo the food she serves at her own restaurant, Che Panisse - she pays close attention to details, and the dishes are full-bodied and well-rounded. The book features a much-needed "techniques" section, and accompanying each recipe is a nice description of the dish, and several variations on ingredients and preparation. Even if you're not yet a slow food convert, recipes Waters' Spicy Cauliflower Soup and Chocolate Crackle Cookies will win you over.
We can change the way we make eggs -- scrambled, poached, fried -- but what about changing the eggs themselves? Mix up your scrambling routine with quail eggs.
I am a big fan of cooking in a slow cooker. 
Not long ago I posted about an event at the Astor Center in NYC, the annual 
I just have to tell all you Slashfoodies about the new 
Waters' cookbook, The Art of Simple Food, is a fantastic introduction to the slow food movement.
Second Helping of Slashfood - June 19
Competitive-Eating Contest to Pit Humans Against Elephants
The Backyard Boom - The Hungry Bride
