When the Fatted Calf Newsletter rolled in today (sign up at their web site), I knew exactly what image I was going to use. The 5.5 hour smoked pork ribs I did this last Saturday. They were glazed with my home made BBQ sauce, rich & savory and tangy and wonderful. All done with the supervision of mesquite & hickory. And well, there they are. Perfect for these cool october evenings, don’t you think?
Well, I thought I was okay, then I found my heart in my throat as I read this week’s special; A Pork Loin on the bone stuffed with with erbette, garlic and lemon. If you have any sense left, you’ll want to place your order right now. Don’t hesitate, cause you’ll lose if you don’t. These stuffed pork loins are one of FC’s special wonders. Many have tried and failed to recreate them, the Meat Fu is too strong in this boy.
On the Crepinette side of life we have Guinea Hen with Prunes and Cipollini Onions, I’ll bet they even look great.
All that aside, there’s a fresh new sausage here that needs attention. It’s the Basque sausage, it looks cute and smells even better. Mama said it smelled of garden fresh vegetables and fruits, very bright. I mentioned, “Of course, it’s sausage.” I got hit. What gives this sausage is rosey color and warm flavor is the Piment d’ Espelette (Basque chile pepper). That’s some pretty fancy ingredient usin’ there, yup. The entire package ties together very well, this is a Desination Sausage.
So look, you’ve got some great reasons to get your lazy butt out of bed this coming Saturday morning and visit the Berkeley Farmer Market, get out there!
Please continue reading Kim O’Neill’s Fatted Calf Newsletter. Did you know she’s a published author in 7×7 Magazine? Yup, she pulled it off and done did very well. Congratulations Kim!
Author Archives: Biggles
Blair’s Wasabi Ginger Sauce (Wasabi Mayo)
I’ve recently rediscovered my taste for hot sauces and hot foods. 10 to 15 years ago we had hot sauces. We had chilies of all shapes and sizes, good ones too. But we didn’t have the huge volume of really cool hot sauces being created by the masses. That’s right, there’s more to life than Tobasco, Crystal & El Yucateco.
Scallion Pancakes (non-traditional) from Too Many Chefs
I love scallions, green onions or spring onions. Whatever you call them, they’re fresh, spritely and add fun to anything they’re used in. Plus they’re cool to look at when swimming in a sauce, cute little buggers.
So when I was over having a gander on Too Many Chefs and caught Barrett’s Scallion Pancakes? I was hooked.
When does Bacon go with Olives?
When Kevin from Bacon Press sends Meathenge Labs a gift of freshly cured olives! That’s when!
Pork Crepinettes with Chanterelle Mushrooms, Hoffman Farm Quail Stuffed with savory pork sausage and greens – Fatted Calf Newsletter
Our first ‘maters of the season. The starts were gifted to us by Chilebrown. He knows about such matters, as ‘maters. The weather this growing season has been quite cool, so they just didn’t take well. Even so, it was fun to pick these yesterday. I used my Nikon D70 with an old manual focus PK-13 extension tube and the AF-D 60mm f2.8 micro lens, a real close-up package.
Hey, just wanted to stop by and let ya know the crepinettes from last week were one of the best ever. They were of the pork variety and loaded full of greens and pine nuts. I wish I’d purchased another package. Okay, yeah well this week they’re stuffed with chanterelle mushrooms, oh man. And I know darned well there’s more goodies in there as well, they never disapoint. Hey, look there’s greens in the sausage that the quail is stuffed with. I wonder if that resembles last week’s crepinettes? If they’re anything close, jump on it. The little quails are perfectly matched for an early Saturday supper. OoOoo, lookie! The Guinea Hen Terrine is back! YAY ! Wonnerful. Sweet guinea hen meat is such a treat, especially with habanero salsa! And on your way out of the line, don’t forget to grab a portion of Mortadella, creamy best ever. All in all it’s a good week to be alive. Seeya on Saturday at the Berkeley Farmer Market!
Now, please read on to the real Fatted Calf Newsletter written by Kim O’Neill …
ps – If you’d like to reserve your order for Saturday, either for Berkeley or the SF Ferry Plaza market, please use this FORM.
Flame Height Adjustment – Old Gas Ranges
Do you have a 50 year old gas range? O’Keefe & Merrit? Wedgewood? Something similar? If you do, did you know you can adjust your flame height? That’s right with a greasy 9/16 wrench and a little guidance you can turn your weezy old flames in to towers of mighty blue jet streams. It’ll only take maybe 15 minutes to tune them all and it’s next to nearly almost safe. Are you interested?
Editor’s Note – Please read – 01/09/2010: Our local Gas Guy just left, I called because was concerned about my gas furnace and carbon monoxide. He got right to work with this sensor rig and found nothing. Then he set about my 1952 Wedgewood, checking all pilots, oven operation, venting … you name it, he checked it out from head to toe. For nothing. He was very impressed about how low my emissions were from my oven. He said that these older gas ranges do not have to have the oven vented to the outside. When these older gas ranges did have to be vented to the outside was when they had a heater or a wood burning side to the range.
He says he has more trouble with the newer gas ranges because when you turn on the oven, the flame will be high enough to hit the bottom of the oven. This causes the flame to smolder and create more carbon monoxide. The older range’s burner assemblies are mounted lower and the flame is never allowed to touch any metal and smolder. In other words, we rule.
The moral of the story is to call your local gas company. Mine even has a button to press when you call them so they can come light your pilot lights. They care, they don’t want you to die or get blown up and then die.
Braised Endive – A gift from Paris
WAhoo! I cooked a vegetable! And I owe it all to Meg in Paris over at Too Many Chefs.
Honestly, I’m not sure what happened yesterday. There was something so inviting (easy) about her Braised Endive recipe she posted on the 18th (yesterday). Everything fell in to place so quickly, I knew my corner market had the endives. The deal was sealed, I was off on a mission.
Review – Jones’ BBQ in El Sobrante – 2nd Try
Both Meathenge and myself have come a long way over the past few years. Initially, when I put down my thoughts about my local lunch haunts I wasn’t necessarily thinking about anyone but myself. What journalistic ethics, if any, am I bound to? Which side of the fence do I lean to? Yeah well, I am NOT getting paid for Meathenge. Everything you see here is paid for by me. I’ve never received any cash money for my efforts and so, I figure, I’ll do what I want to and damned everyone else.
That being said, I think it only fair that if I put up a review that gives a restaurant a hard time for one reason or another, that I should return in the distant future to see if anything has changed. I could have showed up on a bad day, it happens.
Back in 2004, June 17th to be exact, I had lunch at Jones’ BBQ. I really tried to like it, but it fell short on some major points. Today’s review? You’ll just have to read on if you’re interested.
Review – Torchbearer Sauce #23 Fever Sauce !!!
Man, am I slow or what? It’s been a few months or so since David Lynch of Torchbearer Sauces sent us a load of their new sauces to try and talk about on Meathenge. I set up Ms. Crepinette for a shoot on this last Sunday and knew it was time to grab another jar and see what the deal was. Uh, I grabbed #23 Fever Sauce and it was nearly empty. Aroo?
Little Lamb Leg Roasts with Olive Tapenade, Pork Crepinettes with Greens and Pine Nuts – Fatted Calf News
I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’ve been waking up for the last two days with the smell of fresh sausage in my mind. It’s been stirring my psyche so darned hard that I’ve been out looking under every rock and crevice, during my lunch hour, for some decent sausage. Sure I could drive to Oakland, maybe Berkeley or over to Rosamunde’s over in San Francisco. But I just don’t have the time, too much going on. I’ll just have to wait for this coming Saturday in Berkeley, oh well. Poor me.
This week I believe I’ll wave to the rich and wonderful Lamb Leg Roasts with Olive Tapenade and grasp me some handfuls of Mexican Chorizo, Breakfast Sausage for Sunday and some Toulouse to relax with during the week. OH yeah, look! Rabbit Terrine with Chives, okay one of those too. Oh no, there’s a Spanish Style Dry Chorizo! AAAAAh, I’m boned. What’s to become of me and my meat tortured soul? Tune in next week for … Biggles goes in to Meat Coma or There’s No Time Toulouse!
Note: Fatted Calf now has an online request form, so you may reserve meat for Saturday. If you are at all interested in that Lamb Leg roast, reserve it today!
Please click forward to read Kim O’Neill’s Fatted Calf Newsletter.
Goat Leg Roulade – Smoked
If you look closely, down low and in the near center there? You can see where a Chupacabra got a hold of it.
Last week some time Jlee asked if I’d show up early to the market on Saturday morning, she’d like a hand getting the Fatted Calf meat coolers out of the truck, they heavy. Sounded as though she was going to be by herself selling sausage until at least noon or so. I offered to come play and help out, it’s nice to spread the good word of the charcuterie, I am your guide. The weather was pleasant and there was a really cool Native American festival going on in the park 40 feet behind us. We got to hear music and smell flat bread being cooked and sell meat to hungry patrons, a perfect Saturday morning for Biggles.
Show & Tell – What’s yer kitchen look like?
The other day I stepped into something over at Seriously Good (look for October 4th 2005’s entry). It seems as though us food bloggers are doing a Show & Tell of our kitchens. I believe it’s a great idea, since what we’re about is food and cooking. Mrs. D over at Belly-Timber started it and I have to say, her kitchen really impressed me. More ways that one, you’ll see what I mean. Go look! If you haven’t already seen my kitchen, come along … (no, I’m not going to say, “walk this way”)
Lamb Crepinettes with Persian Mint, Cumin, Orange Zest and White Wine – Fatted Calf Newsletter
Chilebrown’s home grown habanero chile pepper!
I’m really at a loss for words once I read the Crepinette for this week was a lamb one with Persian Mint, Cumin, Orange Zest and White Wine. I know the special is the Bone In Pork Loin Roasts “Porchetta Style”. But even that doesn’t hold my attention like the Crepinette does. If you would like the pork roast, you’d better give them a call at 510-653-4327 right now and reserve one. The roasts & hams have been going at an alarming rate. Please read on to catch Kim O’Neill’s Original Fatted Calf Newsletter!
Heritage Meats – Ted Fuller’s Highland Hills Farm
2 weeks ago, I caught my brain feeding me images of beef meat, roasts to be exact. Not pretty little standing rib roasts or the lean ball-tip roast. But the big and mean looking chuck roast, the caveman type. I know you’re thinking, “yeah, so?” Well, I’ve never been a huge beef eater. Yes, I eat more beef than most beef eaters do. But my meat passion steers towards the piggy and most anything with feathers. Plus I’m a cheap bastard and good beef costs money. In this case though, I am obliged to follow the voices in my head, “Must Get Beef Roast”.
My Blog is Burning and it smells VEGAN !!!
Holy cow, what a month. And here we are at the end and the Is My Blog Burning – Vegan thingy is due, tonight.
It wasn’t too long ago that Sam called me out on this one. She specifically nailed Meathenge, which makes sense actually. I’ve ditched ALL but the Grilling IMBB years ago, just don’t have the time. I know everyone is praising the lovely Sam, “oh isn’t she JUST THE BEST???” Grrrr.
When she first posted the theme, I wasn’t phased. Some of the best meals I’ve been served have been at least vegetarian, maybe vegan. I don’t remember cause it was 15 years ago. In any case, what made me crazy was that I’ve never intentionally made a vegetarian or vegan meal. And what put me in to a mood swing last week was that I didn’t have a slammin’ vegan recipe or 3 to make people swoon. Dr. Biggles was in a rut without a jeep or shovel. What to do?