Innehållsförteckning för Winter 2018 från SAVEUR

I took part in a panel discussion recently on the future of technology in the kitchen. We panelists were asked to name a timesaving gadget we hoped to see invented. I’m not a Luddite. I like to talk to the voice in my car. At home, I like the music to follow me, magically, from room to room. But I was stumped for a tech upgrade I needed in the kitchen. I could see the value in a dishwasher that could reach out and clear the table itself. Or an app that would remember to remove the cheese from the fridge at an appointed hour so it’s not too cold to nibble on when I get home. Beyond that, though, when it comes to cooking I mostly subscribe to the…

On a rainy Monday morning last autumn in the Chinese city of Suzhou, it was warm and dry inside Ren Xiaochen’s noodle shop, Yu Mian Zhai. Three young rich guys, who had parked a blue Maserati on the curb, tucked into bowls of wild duck noodles. They were missing out: Autumn brings rain in this part of eastern China, but more importantly, it brings hairy crabs, and hairy crabs mean crab soup. An ancient city best known for its canals and Chinese gardens, Suzhou is less than half an hour from Shanghai on China’s sleek new bullet trains, and it’s perhaps eastern China’s best place for a bowl of noodles. Ren, an accountant who retired to pursue her love of cooking, worked in silent coordination with her cook, Xu Hongden.…

Here is what happened to Erez Komarovsky, the oracle who brought the first post-pita, postchallah bread to Israel: In 1994, he came home to Tel Aviv from Northern California, where he had interned at Acme Bread Company and Metropolis Baking Company. Previously, he had trained in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu and studied kaiseki cuisine in Japan, and he had come back to Tel Aviv before, but having been trained in those very rigid culinary traditions, he was bored simply implementing what he’d learned. He felt like a mechanic. So he went to California because he heard great things about food in San Francisco, and there, he became entranced and inspired by the art of sourdough bread making. In Israel, bread was plain. It was pita, it was challah, it…

La Moderna is the café of your surrealist Andalusian dreams—and the perfect place to start a day with pan con tomate. Calle Larga 67. Restaurante Albalá is one ofeduardo Ojeda’s go-to spots for creative contemporary cookery in central Jerez. Don’t miss the Iberian pork lomo tartare and roasted red peppers with local prawns. restaurantealbala.com La Carboná is the place to try a variety of sherries and the foods they pair with. The daily catch comes straight from the Gulf of Cadiz, the anchovies are by Don Bocarte, and the artichokes are amontillado’s best friend. lacarbona.com Bar Arturo, located on the outskirts of town, is an unfussy seafood eatery with the power to render visitors giddily happy with the simplest and freshest of dishes. Highly recommended. Calle Guita 9. La Fonda…

TASTES, TRADITIONS, AND TECHNIQUES INSPIRING US IN THE KITCHEN RIGHT NOW Nose-to-tail eating sometimes gets more press than practice. Once the choice chops and tenderloins are gone, Jake Dickson, of Dickson’s Farmstand Meats in Manhattan’s Chelsea Market, often finds himself with an abundance of hog’s feet. We volunteered to take 20 off his hands, settling on a traditional technique from the Deep South: pickling them in a seasoned vinegar brine. While the hooves have little meat on them, the ample fat and gelatin from trotters are ideal for enriching dishes like stewed beans or braised greens, a tip we borrowed from Louisiana-born chef Jean-Paul Bourgeois of New York City’s Blue Smoke. Once brined, simmered until tender, and pickled in a vinegar solution, the pieces of pickled pork practically dissolve, bringing…

There’s a reason chef Cortney Burns of “A Living Larder” (pg. 22) has a basement filled wall to wall with jars. The art of fermenting vegetables is as simple as soaking them in salt and water, or—another technique she loves—rubbing them in salt so they form a natural brine. Spices, herbs, and other aromatics can take fermented vegetables to the next level. Here, a guide to fitting the produce to the brining method, and some flavor combinations to try. WEB-BRINING Works with whole or cut hearty, raw peeled vegetables of all shapes and sizes (but smaller shapes and cuts will ferment more quickly). Dissolve 1 Tbsp. kosher salt per 1 cup water to form a brine. Jar vegetables with aromatics and add brine to cover. Seal and store in a…

Rising rents across Los Angeles have forced would-be restaurateurs to consider some creative locations. Can’t afford a stand-alone retail shop? Open one inside a magic theater. Have an idea for a Mexican-inflected Korean spot but don’t want to deal with a standard retail space? Try a local swap meet. Then there’s the Bombay Frankie Company, run out of a family-owned Chevron station in West L.A. Their stuffed-naan roti rolls are selling so well they’ve got plans to expand to another Chevron station soon. CRYING TIGER THAI at a Magic Show Black Rabbit Rose is a house of illusion, with Prohibition-era magicians performing nightly shows—but the more potent sorcery is found with Crying Tiger, the Thai restaurant housed in its adjacent bar (with a street-front window for passersby). Diners indulge in…

CANARD À LA VIGNERONNE (The Winemaker’s Duck) Serves 4–6 Active: 30 min • Total: 2 hr. 40 min. I borrowed this method and these ingredients from a classic chicken recipe often made during the wine harvest with big bunches of red wine grapes. As the bird steams and braises in a terra-cotta roaster or Dutch oven, it releases its own fat and juices that make a rich sauce with the roasted grapes and shallots. Because it’s made in one pot and results in tender, juicy meat every time, this is a perfect duck dish for beginners. Choose the darkest, plumpest grapes you can find such as Concord or muscat. Serve with crusty bread, la cruchade (see following recipe), or creamy potato purée. 1 whole duckling (4–4¼ lb.)1½ tsp. kosher saltFreshly…

It wouldn’t be wise to arrive in Austin, Texas, and head to any old barbecue joint. The same goes for Chicago’s South Side. If you find yourself in Chicago, Uncle John’s Bar-B-Que in the suburb of Homewood (not to be confused with the Uncle John’s at 83rd and Cottage Grove) and Honey 1 BBQ in Bronzeville are your two best bets. On the next— still excellent—tier are Uncle J’s B.B.Q. in Bronzeville, helmed by another protégé of Mack Sevier’s, as well as long-tenured Lem’s Bar-B-Q.…

At home in France, Kate Hill, of “A Flock of One’s Own” (pg. 34), cooks and serves many of her dishes in handmade pottery from Poterie Not Frères, an artisan stoneware company near Castelnaudary, which many call the birthplace of cassoulet. The kiln has been in operation since 1857; Emile Not took over in 1936. Today, it’s operated by his grandsons Jean-Pierre and Philippe. The brothers hand-turn clay mined from their own quarry to make colorful plates and bowls, wide cassoles (the traditional baking dish for cassoulet), and these coffinesque diables. Originally intended for slow-cooking meats and stews in the fire, the roasters function like tiny clay ovens. The Nots’ diables are perfect for oven-braising poultry, such as Hill’s beloved local ducks. To her, the rustic glazing on these pieces,…

After testing and adapting author and culinary instructor Kate Hill’s recipes for “A Flock of One’s Own” (pg. 34), we found ourselves with a glut of beautiful white-gold duck fat. Since we could only fry so many eggs and potatoes in the stuff, we turned to Ariane Daguin, the Gascon-born head of boutique meat purveyor D’Artagnan, for more ideas. Daguin will often use the slightly funky flavor of the fat to reimagine baked goods. Duck fat doesn’t behave exactly like butter—it’s nearly liquid at room temperature and, like lard or shortening, contains no extra water, which minimizes gluten development when it’s added to pastry doughs. But there is a magic substitution that works in most simple baked goods like shortbread cookies, breakfast cakes, and biscuits. Replace 50 percent of the…

It’s easy for Americans to imagine Italy as a land of strict adherence to coffee rules— pity the tourist clueless enough to order a cappuccino after lunch. But this supposedly extremist coffee culture tolerates an imposter at virtually every café. It’s a caffeine-free roasted barley drink called caff è d’orzo that’s made in an espresso machine and could be said to taste sort of like coffee, if you’re being generous. As plain espresso it’s a little boring, even if it mimics the real thing’s deep brown color. But made into a cappuccino, the barley’s malty notes mingle with the foamed milk to create something more satisfying. It’s not hard to see the appeal — if nothing else were available. Which, in fact, is how Italy came to love the drink.…

The first tell is the battery of tinctures, tisanes, spices, and pickles crowding her new test kitchen, a collection so varied and impressive it could probably sustain a family of four for a couple of years if it came to that. The second is the talk of not really needing any human interaction, relayed as she puts the finishing touches on a fermented harissa that’s spicy and sour and just about good enough to eat with a spoon. But the clearest sign that chef Cortney Burns is adjusting well to life at the edge of the Berkshires comes a bit later on, when she shows off a slick collection of Japanese donabe, puts on a Keith Jarrett record, and fixes me and a few of her new collaborators what was…

The fiery Andalusian sun would soon be disintegrating over Jerez de la Frontera’s horizon, all silhouetted palm trees, Moorish fortress towers, and spindly Gothic spires. For now, its platinum radiance bleached the cloudless sky, making it appear completely white. “The sunlight is fierce here in the winter time,” said Eduardo Ojeda. The legendary sherry winemaker slipped on his sunglasses and opened another bottle of amontillado. After a leisurely lunch in Ojeda’s book-lined fifth-floor apartment in the center of Jerez, he’d suggested we finish up with a drink on his balcony. We were joined on that balmy December afternoon by his son Eduardo and his two grandsons, the eldest of whom is also named Eduardo. “My father is Eduardo, and his father is Eduardo, and his father’s father’s fathers were Eduardos;…

Papas Alinas (Potato Salad with Tuna) SERVES 6; Photo at left Active: 20 min. • Total: 50 min. You can find Andalusian potatotuna salads like this offered at any café or bar in Jerez, served at most hours of the day and night. Eduardo Ojeda ofequipo Navazos likes to make the dish as the starter course for family meals at home. He uses tuna belly preserved in olive oil, tins of which are sold in Spain as ventresca de atún claro. He also adds a serious quantity of olive oil, never measuring exactly. Just when you think you’ve added too much oil, he recommends adding a healthy flourish more. Serve with fino, ideally from Macharnudo vineyard. 1 medium onion (8 oz.), finely diced (1⅔ cups)15 medium red or Yukon Gold…

Pat Polowsky, the dairy scientist behind the Cheese Science Toolkit blog, taught us how to perfect the consistency of fondue using sodium citrate. A couple of teaspoons dissolved in a splash of wine turns globs of cheese into a creamy dip that’s stable at room temperature by breaking casein, or milk protein, into fragments, helping them emulsify. Even dry cheeses—like aged Gouda—melt just as well as a classic Gruyère or Emmental. Thanks, science.…

At the Glade Hill Cannery in Franklin County, Virginia, master canner Ronald David helps his neighbors process local heritage apples—like tart, vinous Staymans—into dense, jammy apple butter (see “Preserving Tradition,” page 18). The concentrated natural sugars, which turn the apple butter a deep chestnut color, also help to preserve it. David also stresses the importance of adding salt, which cuts through some of the natural sweetness of the cooked apples. Virginians traditionally pair apple butter with soufflélike cornmeal-batter bread for breakfast, but in the Test Kitchen, we love it on ham sandwiches or as part of a cheese plate. Apple Butter with Cinnamon and Cloves MAKES 4 CUPS Active: 40 min. • Total: 5 hr. 40 min. 4 lb. Stayman apples, or another tart variety such as Paula Red or…