Remember to leave your exhaust vents open when grilling or smoking. Closing them could cause creosote to condense on your meat & veggies and make it nasty bitter.
What a week it’s been, seems like a month has past so much has happened in the last 7 days. Thankfully it’s coming to a happy ending, a 3 day weekend and my favorite salami, the Sicilian al’arancia. A wonderful Sicilian style salami with a tad of orange zest, rounds out perfectly over the tongue. The special this week lists as a Probably Quail stuffed with figs. MmmmMmmM Probably Quail, my favorite! I love these little guys, brined to sweety juice and boneless. They’re perfect in the smoker or grilled indirectly, should take about 50 minutes. 1 per person is the way and a nice different way to share on a July 4th’s celebration. Buy heavy on the Wild Mushroom Crepinettes, these are one of Fatted Calf’s best versions and go quickly once presented. A good way to grill them is to sear over high heat for a few minutes per side, then cook indirectly. Remember, don’t cook too long, they tender.
There are many good things listed this week, make sure you stop by and get yourself some. Now go read their newsletter …
Fatted Calf
Phone/Fax (510)653-4327
Ever ride your bike around town? It is one of my favorit e things to do, for so many reasons. In my mind, there are two kinds of bike riders: the kind who do it for exercise (you’ve seen them up in the hills, pumping and sweating), and -my kind-the ones who use their bikes for errands and leisurely transportation. Want to arrive somewhere in a good mood, scarce parking be damned? Feel the breeze, smell the flowers, see the streets you thought you knew so well from an entirely different perspective. Want to feel 10 again? Ride your bike to the grocery store, to a friends’ house, to the park, to the cafe. Nothing is quite like the feeling of freedom you get riding a bike. Perhaps because a bike somehow represents that first taste of freedom, the feeling that you got once the training wheels came off. Wow. Speedy, self-powered, glorious glorious feedom. For that extra dose of nostalgia, invest in a wicker basket or handlebar streamers. Hey, if y ou live in the Bay Area, no one will even bat an eye. Want to feel a little more, well, continental? Ride your bike to the Farmer’s Market. You really will need a basket of some kind, or a backpack. Park your bike near the market, no riding while shopping, now, and check out the bounty. You’ll feel so healthy, so refreshed, so, sustainable. Fresh food, fresh air, calories out, calories in, life is good. C’mon, try it. And be careful out there.
And, as you know, Jan and Dr. Biggles did a bang-up job at the Berkeley market last weekend. All the other Fatted Calf-ers who weren’t able to be there thank them from the bottom of our meaty little hearts. This Saturday’s menu might not be as epic as most, but in this case brevity=genius. Check it: Quail stuffed with the sweetest most aromatic, market-fresh figs, and, speaking of aromatic, Wild Mushroom Crepinettes. Ohhh, yeah.
See you at the Market!
SPECIAL
Probably Quail stuffed with figs
Sausage
Wild Mushroom Crepinettes
Merguez
Calabrese
Sweet Italian
Toulouse
Mexican Style Chorizo
Breakfast Sausage
Bordelaise
Beer Brats
Pates, Confits & Terrines
Guinea Hen Terrine
Duck Pate with Brandied Prunes
Duck Confit
Duck Rillette
Rabbit Rillette
Salumi
Fegatelli
Saucisson Sec
Sicilian al’arancia
Other Meaty Goods
Duck Demi
Glace de Viande
Sugo di Carne
First you begin with a wonderful disertation on the art of “smoking meats” then take us down the asphalt road of riding ones bike. Is this all by chance or are you really just gearing up for the “Toure d’France”!? I’ll bet that is it. You heard that Lance Armstrong is retiring after this one and you’re just getting ready. Afterall, I understand that there is a special meal if you win the Toure ~ you get to have Crow Pie!!
Big D!
I just went for a three hour bike ride…sweating and all that. But July 4 is our annual barbque at the Montview Mansion and I be taking my King Cobra and Schlitz over. Send ya’ll a reeport then.
Biking is great but I trade it for the pool once it starts breaking 105º on a regular basis here in Phoenix.
Dig the grill. Is that an old Meco?
Hey Chef,
Yeah it is. And I wish I could find another like it. The hinged lid, adjustable grill height, easy ash clean-up and bitchen easy to use intake air vents make it a wonderful grill. Plus it’s far larger than the ones I remember. Between that and my smoker I was able to keep 50 people on a 10 hour feed line. I pulled meat out for 10 hours MAN !!! Some people stayed the entire time. By about 6 hours they were not only stuffed & bugeyed, but in total awe of the sheer volume and quality. They said in 10 hours there wasn’t ONE bad or mediocre piece of meat. Ahh, the good ol’ days (Last August).
Biggles
Truly my favorite “desert island” grill. Some of the best ribs I’ve ever made were done on a Meco like that. Don’t they still sell them at BBQ Galore and places like that?
Hmmm. Same thing but different:
http://www.bbqgalore.com/store/item.bbq?invky=5823344
I went and did a search too, found some good stuff. But those are all smaller than what I have. Mine is large enough for two blow holes, very cool. Those others are a tad too small, I actually use the larger grill size. Yeah I dunno, I may have to suffer with the smaller one.
Biggles
The older ones rock, no doubt. Great fire control and the perfect size.
You know, I’m not sure we always leave those vents open! Seems like common sense, but I’m sure we occasionally forget, and I have tasted the bitterness. 🙂
http://thefatguy.com/?p=4411
Hey Joaquin,
Man, wait until you see the two pork roasts I did this last weekend. Holy cow.
If you really like figs, then you might be interested in trying the fig confit from Holy Food Imports. A friend gave it to me awhile back, and I haven’t found any better fig in existence.