Earlier this month, June 8th, Jonathan Kauffman of the East Bay Express wrote an article about his travels around the San Francisco Bay Area in search of good meats to put on the grill. He hit some of the best around, Kinders, Bobby Lee’s Country Smokehouse, Giovanni’s in Pinole, you get the idea. He was also smart enough to stop by and pick up some goodies from the Fatted Calf. Unfortunately, he wasn’t pleased to say the least.
He says that the Fatted Calf was the biggest disappointment of the round. He’s entitled to his own opinion and he’s entitled to write about it. But he got a few fine points flat out wrong and his lack of cooking skills ruined some of this area’s best charcuterie.
We enter the paragraph with with him marveling over the Duck Rillettes (a smooth mixture of pounded meat or poultry combined with fat and seasonings, packed in small containers, sealed with fat and served cold, spread on bread). It took me a few reads through to see if he was complaining of the rillettes or not. Then I figured out why I had to reread it, he didn’t mention how they tasted. Ya know, if you’re going to write about food, one might think to mention HOW THE FOOD TASTES !?! I suppose the world will never know. Let’s move on to his Toulouse experience.
These are NOT Toulouse sausages, they are Fatted Calf’s Sweet Italians.
Here we find Sweet Italians by Fatted Calf, I don’t have any Toulouse on hand. The Toulouse are lighter in color and a tad finer grind than the Sweets. The reason for giving you this visual is to offer up this thought. When you go to cook any food, don’t you observe it first? See what it’s cooking characteristics might be? Or if you’re unsure, ask the person who sold it to you, that’s why they’re there. I can see from here this sausage has a thin casing with a good amount of fat (fresh sausage generally has a 22% to 30% ratio of fat to ingredients). This means low to moderate heat with a short cooking time. Johnathan remarked that the sausage spat and burned no matter where he put it on the grill. Don’t blame the food because you can’t work a gas grill or build a cooking fire. Rule #1 in ANY GRILLING adventure you MUST ALWAYS have a searing hot area, medium area and a safe zone for when things get out of hand. If you find your meat being beaten to death by the fire, put it in the Cool Zone, close the lid and cook it indirectly, foo. Basic Grilling 101 man. Let’s move on to his Crepinette adventure, shall we?
I’m sorry for the lousy shots here, this whole run took me about 15 minutes, I had to get dinner started for the chillin’s.
Here we find the accused resting unknowingly in their white paper wrapper. At $9.00 for 2, it is not an inexpensive meal by any means. But they’re labor intensive and take extra love & time.
These are the Lamb jobbies sportin’ Red Wine & Nicoise Olives, sounds good to me. His complaint was that as soon as he opened the paper wrapper, they fell to pieces. This isn’t possible, sorry. I wasn’t there and I know it didn’t happen. They’re wrapped in Caul Fat, a fatty webbing that bastes the meat as it cooks. See?
I bent them over and weighted them down, not even a whimper. Any falling apart? No. Meat Myth Busted, pally boy.
I would like to interject a closing thought. I’m glad he didn’t get a chance to grill the Crepinettes. If he can’t handle a little Toulouse sausage, the Crepinette would have brought him to his knees. Between the fat in the sausage and the caul fat, well let’s just say it gets exciting for about 8 minutes or so. I usually sear them quickly over a very hot fire, then toss to the side and slow cook them indirectly. Size up your meat and act accordingly, it’s all about tactics and knowing your equipment’s abilities.
Biggles showed up today to set the record straight, so I submit to you, the public. When reading food reviews, Meathenge included, take it all with a grain of salt. And in this case, half a grain.
Biggles
I don’t know anything about him, but he certainly didn’t prove his expertise by not knowing how to grill a proper banger. As you said, having a hot end/cool end on your grill is BBQ 101, especially with something with a blessedly high fat content like sausages.
I do like the snazzy gold ballast you’re holding that crepinette down with though…
:©)
No wonder that peckerwood screwed up…no Schlitz to wash it all down with. You gots to know how to pour a 3 oz. glass of Wild Turkey, then open up your ice cold CAN of Schlitz and tackle the meatunits accordingly. This guy must be some NoCal food kritic type. He best not venture too far east of Oakland lest he gets all confused and goes to Bubba’s in Jackson WY. He would no doubt love that sludge pit.
Good point, Joe Bob. BBQ is far too important to attempt sober.
Can’t find a cool spot on the grill? Move the dang grill up a notch or two!! Jeebus, what a maroon! …and if your grill isn’t adjustable, go out and get a REAL grill ’cause writing food reviews based upon TOY grills just doesn’t cut it.
I say we invite Mr. Kauffman over and show him how to bbq the RIGHT way.
Become the media, baby! BECOME IT!
Now, can the Fatted Calf give us Friscans a little wut-wut and start selling over here?
k.
Kingsford and a Weber? Whattya gonna do?
Fatted Calf selling regularly beginning July 9, Saturday Ferry Plaza Farmers Mkt. At least that’s the plan…
I dont’ know if I would describe rillettes as “pounded” so much as slow cooked and pulled apart, and you’re supposed to take them out of the fridge 45 mins before serving so they aren’t “cold” – and the FC duck rilliettes rock (IMO) BUT I’m glad Jonathan didn’t like them ’cause that means MORE FOR ME!
As you know, there are times when people don’t get the FLAVA of what people are producing…that just goes with American’s view of how meat and food should taste. To be honest, it took my father really showing me step by step what I was looking for in a good carne asada to know the diff. between good and bad. Then once I knew, I could just taste it…this guy might need the same tutorial…it’s sad when someone doesn’t see the art that you do, sometimes it needs to be pointed out, and sometimes it will never be seen.
It seems with food, some people have the love, and others are just pretentious critics. This guy doesn’t seem to have the love…
Sometimes the media needs to come along to remind us all in the know, and deliciously happy for it: more for me! they don’t like foie, more for me. thay don’t like FC, more for me and the others who swoon at the very mention of crepinettes.
Something I noticed recently was that i didn’t even have to oil the pan I cooked em in. It was nice in the end: tender juicy interior and a nice sear out side.
btw. rillettes are confit’d before they’re punded and incorporated into their own fat. I’m not a fraid of a little fat!
We had some of the lamb crepinettes and just salivated through every bite. SOme of the best food I have ever eaten, and at $9 for two, it is a treat that we will enjoy sparingly and lovingly.
Hey Molly,
It’s good to see you around. They’re so GOOD. I got back in to the swing today with 4 hickory smoked stuffed quail. Damned those little suckers are GOOD. The fig really makes it different, love different. Ya know?
Biggles
Like everyone says – what does he know? And more for us!
I can’t begin to tell you how much my authentic Frenchman is grateful for the Fatted Calf, in particular for their saucisson sec and their rilettes. We don’t need to fly to Paris for a fix any longer. So although FC maybe a little bit pricey, it saves us a ton on airfares and we find it to be worth every penny.
I love the crepinettes which have never fallen apart for me. Never ever.
Last week I tried the pancetta for the first time and now I have a new love. Just the smell of it raw makes me want to weep with pleasure.
FC isn’t perfect though – we once tried a pate which was a bit tasteless, but now we know not to order the pate and stick with all the other delicious FC delights instead.
yum, yum, yum, licks lips with pleasure at the thought of the FC goodies in my fridge and the clock which tells me it is time for some lunch!