The Rest of Us

[Sneakeater]

On 7/30/2022 at 10:37 PM, Wilfrid said:

I have been seeing lamb breast in the supermarket, and you know that is just asking for the same treatment.!

When push comes to shove, I actually prefer the lamb breast version.

ETA -- Wait I already posted that.

[hollywood]

For the discerning New York diner.  https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fancy-feast-introduces-gatto-bianco--an-italian-trattoria-for-cat-lovers-301593678.html

[Wilfrid]

The recipes "take inspiration" from cat food. And traditional Italian cuisine. Yum.

[voyager]

I read at first glance "Amanda Hesser" and thought, "Has she no shame?"

[Sneakeater]

What is " between the Far West Village and the Meatpacking District"?  Is it in the middle Hudson Street?

[joethefoodie]

I understand we're all whores, but Cesare! Have you no shame?  Also, that picture is like 20 years old.

Quote

 The dishes at Gatto Bianco are prepared in ways that help cat owners understand how their cats experience food – from flavor, to texture, to form – in a way that only Fancy Feast can."

How much do they get for the kibble, I wonder?

[Sneakeater]

If you want to experience food the way your cat does, don't you have to catch it, play with it, and kill it before you eat it?

[joethefoodie]

2 hours ago, Sneakeater said:

If you want to experience food the way your cat does, don't you have to catch it, play with it, and kill it before you eat it?

Of course. And that's exactly what Rosie is thinking here...

However, she could also be thinking - yo douche, fill my bowl up, willya?

 

[Wilfrid]

4 hours ago, Sneakeater said:

If you want to experience food the way your cat does, don't you have to catch it, play with it, and kill it before you eat it?

Open the damn can lazy kitty. 

[Sneakeater]

I am pleased to say that tonight's dinner involved no cooking whatsoever (by me) (tonight).

OTOH, it seems a bit silly to have wasted that on the first bearable night in weeks.

Rolled beef on Orwasher's rye (no time to walk up to R&D for their supernal Shissel).  To make things interesting, Pommery Moutard de Meaux on one half, and Löwensenf Bavarian Medium (not Sweet) on the other.  The Löwensenf was very good -- but there's a reason whole-grain mustard like the Pommery is the go-to condiment for a sandwich like this.

On the side, some leftover spigariello salad with Bizarre Korean Ranch dressing (I have now determined that the Korean word for ranch is "ranch").  It was fine with the sandwich -- but let's be honest, macaroni salad and a pickle would have been better.

Given the total overriding goyishness of my local butcher shop, I was pretty sure their version of this vanished Jewish deli classic would be a wan reflection of the actual item, if it resembled it at all.  But no:  this was rolled beef.  It had the flavor and the texture.  OK!

I remember the first time I ate rolled beef, as a child.  I thought it was kind of gross.  It tasted like a paler pastrami -- but ewwww you ate it cold.  And the fatty meat, eaten cold, had this sort of slimy texture.  Of course, over time, I came to love it.    I came to think of the slimy texture as "silky".  Eating it tonight for the first time in years (I can't remember if the last time I had was at Sarge's or -- set the Wayback Machine -- Kaplan's at the Delmonico) (MUST have been Sarge's) (I remember when they still had it at the Carnegie), I found it very craveable.

The first rule of pairing wine with deli meats is:  have a beer or a Cel-Ray.  I've seen people recommend, with the standard hot deli meats, red wines like Beaujolais, Cab Franc, Mencia, Carménère, and even Zinfandel (all high acid, sure -- but come ON!).  I don't see it -- and I REALLY don't see it with a cold cut like rolled beef.  Indeed, I could think of only one wine that I could imagine going with this dinner:  an Alsatian Riesling.

2017 Laurent Barth Riesling "Granite"

And I was right!

First, rolled beef is closer to kind of stuff they eat in Alsace than to anything else I can think of.

Second, a bone-dry but aromatic (and very acidic) Riesling seemed to me to be just what you'd want to drink with moderately piquantly spiced, slightly slimy (not to put too fine a point to it) cold fatty meat.

And it worked just like that.  Delicious!

Barth is a Natural producer.  But this is another of those Natural wines that don't taste stereotypically "Natural", just pure and extremely focused.  Alsatian Riesling, a razor-sharp but immensely flavorful wine, is perfect for that approach.

[Sneakeater]

I can see what my butcher is doing:  right in front of the rolled beef was a Taylor Ham/Pork Roll (unlike the rolled beef, not housemade but sourced from Trenton).

So basically they're going after everybody's childhoods:  the rolled beef for the Jews, the pork roll for the Jerseyites.

I'll bet it'll work.

[joethefoodie]

As you know, still on the menu at Sarge's - and cheaper than their pastrami or corned beef sandwiches! (but only by $1 or so).

[Sneakeater]

Mussels and chorizo in white wine.

Cooking with chorizo is a bit of a cheat:  chorizo tastes so good that anything you make with it is bound to taste good -- no thanks to yourself.  But even if there was no glory in this, it sure tasted great.

Steamed Romano beans on the side (cuz you didn't want anything overflavorful trying to compete with the chorizo).

Patti Ann's ramp bread to sop up the sauce.

My knee started jerking long before I made it to a wine storage unit.

2018 Manuel Moldes Albariño "A Capela De Aios"

Albariño may be a knee-jerk pairing for this dish, but I give myself some credit for selecting this particular one.

Whereas most Albariño is grown on granite, this one is grown on schist.  Which gives it more the character of Muscadet than Sancerre, Albariño's usual cognate.  Which is pretty perfect for shellfish.

It's not totally Muscadetesque.  Muscadet is all mineral finish, almost no fruit at the start.  This has a long mineral finish and a a diminished start -- but not NO start.  A little bit -- well really a bit more than just a little bit -- of grapefruit there.

Boy was this good with those mussels.

[Sneakeater]

My fishmonger only sells mussels in bags, and I thought I would NEVER be able to finish this portion.  (Not that having leftovers would have been such a shonda.)

But nope, there they went.

[Wilfrid]

Long time since I had mussels, and they are so easy.