One of the fascinations of reading Charles Dickens is the great expectation that some homeless kid will eventually connect with some secret benefactor and all will be made right.    Frankly, I doubt that things were “made right” any more frequently during the times of Dickens then happens today.  Nevertheless, I remain optimistic that dreams can come true and virtue will be rewarded.

My conviction was recently justified when I learned that fast-food giant McDonald’s had adopted the London 2012’s Olympic mascots, “Wenlock and Mandeville.”   While there are any number of critics who suggest that the mascots for the London Olympics are the worst in history,  I think this is a marriage made in heaven.   Only McDonald’s – that signature icon of the fast-food culture in America – could embrace these stoned mascots that resemble plastic toys manufactured in China that appear to have been overexposed to lethal doses of radiation in a Disney laboratory.

Mind you, many of the Olympic athletes are  blood-doping, using human growth hormones, steroids, and quite possibly the juice imbibed by these bizarre mascots.   Wenlock and Mandeville may simply be representative of the synthetic athletes currently manufactured in most countries.   It is sad, but lest we forget, the Olympics is just big business.   Personally, I think Pippa in her white bridesmaid dress would have attracted more eyeballs.

So, grab a coke and a big Mac and enjoy the show.  I’ll be reading the adventures of Pip and Miss Havisham.

Vince Lombardi Time Magazine Cover

It’s easy to become hostile and aggressive for Americans since we have been brought up to respect “winners” and dismiss “losers.”   Subtlety, ambiguity and shades of grey are not terms that come to mind when discussing politics with most Americans.  Generalizing – and this is a very bad and lazy thing to do -  I suspect that most Americans would buy into Vince Lombardi’s famous phrase “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

Like many people , I listen to the news in the hope that I will become more knowledgeable of some of the “big” issues facing our political leaders.  Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that listening to the news can be hazardous to your health and, most certainly, to your sense of well-being.     I suppose things came to a head when newscasters were handicapping the presidential election by focusing on changes in the unemployment rate.  Specifically, if the unemployment rate falls it is “good” for President Obama’s reelection chances and “good” for the Republicans if the unemployment rate goes up.

While selling “winners” and “losers” may make it easier for the American public to digest the news along with their pizza and Coca Cola, it seems bizarre to me that the misery of others (i.e. the unemployed) should be seen as “good” or “bad” news for any political candidate or political party.

A similar discussion is now shaping up over the issue of taxation and already the “talking heads” of the media and many political leaders are shaping the discussion to satisfy their own reelection chances.  Specifically, the discussion is over tax rates and tax revenue.   It is fashionable to argue that the rich should pay more in taxes and the Democrats will argue that we should increase the tax rates.  The Republicans argue that if you decrease the tax rate, you will actually increase tax revenue.    Now this discussion is not really relevant for most Americans, since 54% pay no Federal Income Tax.

For the other 46%, I suspect that the discussion is somewhat more meaningful, but hardly important.   There is a huge difference between discussing “tax rates”  (more specifically “marginal tax rates”) and tax revenue.   If increasing the marginal tax rate would generate more tax revenue for the Federal government, then I think this might lead to a meaningful discussion.  Unfortunately, Milton Friedman showed long ago (1950-1960s) that over history changes in the marginal tax rate have had no material impact on the level of tax revenue raised by the government as a percentage of gross domestic product.   In other words,  discussing “tax rates” as a tool to raise tax revenue is just plain silly and deceitful.   I wish the Talking Heads would just wake up and tell the truth for a change.   It is clear that our tax code is a matter of political expediency and not public good.

As I do not expect the dumbing-down of the American electorate to end any time soon, I have decided to turn-off the news and tune-in to WQXR Radio, which is our classical music station.  Mozart may have been unfaithful to his wife, but his music still rings true.

In order to quell the outlandish behavior of the paparazzi, I have reluctantly agreed to share one of the dishes that will be served this Easter: Jamie Oliver’s Overnight Slow-Roasted Pork.   (Note to Langston:   I prefer roasted rabbit and prunes, but in deference to granddaughter Corinne, we are giving the Easter Bunny a pass this year).    I assume that hard-core Gourmay readers have already prepared my favorite Easter biscuits which have been featured twice on Gourmay:  Sedgemoor Easter Biscuits.

Jamie Oliver's Slow Roasted Pork

Like many of Jamie’s inspired recipes, this recipe uses very few ingredients and it is almost impossible to overcook.  When something cooks this long, the flavors tend to meld together to make something quite rich and extraordinary.  Jaime’s Slow Roasted Pork is a recipe that will have your guests queuing for seconds.

This year, my accomplished sous chef, Dan “Pit Bull” Broderick will have the honor of preparing Jamie’s Miss Piggy, while simultaneously managing five Fantasy Baseball Teams from his iPhone.   We know that this recipe is quite forgiving, but Thérèse is concerned that Pit Bull might opt to drink the bottle of white wine rather than add it to the pork during the last hour of cooking.  We certainly hope not!

Now, Jamie’s recipe for Overnight Slow-Roasted Pork is from his cookbook Cook with Jamie, but is reproduced all over the internet.  The recipe below is from Dish.com and is re-printed in its entirety.

Jamie Oliver’s Overnight Slow-Roasted Pork

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to maximum.
2. Smash the fennel seeds with the salt in a pestle and mortar until fine.
3. Put the roughly chopped vegetables, garlic, and thyme sprigs into a large roasting pan.
4. Pat the pork shoulder with olive oil and sit it on top of the vegetables. Now massage all the smashed fennel seeds into the skin of the pork, making sure you push them right into all the scores to maximize the flavor.
5. Put the pork in your preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until it’s beginning to color, then turn your oven down to 250 degrees F and cook the pork for 9 to 12 hours, until the meat is soft and sticky and you can pull it apart easily with a fork.
6. Tip all the wine into the roasting tray and let it cook for another hour to give you a perfect sauce.
7. Once the pork is out of the oven, let it rest for half an hour before removing it to a large board. Brush off any excess salt from the meat, then mash up the veg in the pan using a potato masher. Add the stock to the roasting pan, put it on the heat, and boil until you have a lovely, intensely-flavored gravy (you can thicken it with a little sieved flour if you like). The pork is great served with some good cranberry beans, braised greens, your roast veg mash, and tasty sauce.

Enjoy and Happy Easter to all!

One of our favorite restaurants in Greenwich is Jean Louis.   We should frequent it more often, but generally save it for “big” occasions when we want a meal that is truly first class.  A meal at Jean Louis is as close as you can get to Europe without buying an airline ticket.   The food is classically French without the heavy sauces that often tend to mask the flavors of the fresh ingredients that are carefully selected by Jean Louis each day.  Jean Louis is shown here together with his lovely wife Linda.

A couple of days ago, we celebrated a milestone birthday for Thérèse.  Invoking the Jack Benny clause, Thérèse claims to be not a day over 39 and still looks pretty hot to me!  Nevertheless, my optometrist claims that  my eye-sight is beginning to fail as well as many other vital functions the young take for granted.

We consulted the maitre d’ and he suggested  “short ribs (for two) that had been cooked 72 hours.”   According to Jean Louis Gerin, the recipe is from the chef of La Chaumière in Washington, DC, who was kind enough to share this delightful recipe with other inspired chefs.

Now there are two things that I cannot resist on any menu:  ris de veau (sweetbreads) and short ribs.  I was in luck these evening as Jean Louis had both.   As short ribs are not a noble cut of beef,  it requires much care and patient cooking to bring out the robust flavor of this cut.  Usually, I am terribly disappointed with the outcome as it often resembles stew meat that has been overcooked or it is rather chewy and unappetizing.     Surprisingly,  the best short ribs I have ever eaten were served at a diner in Indianapolis, Indiana when I was a Freshman in college.

Jean Louis’ inspired treatment of short ribs was well . . . decidedly French!    According to Jean Louis, the boneless short ribs had been cooked Sous-vide  for 72 hours.    The boneless cut of meat looked like a brisket and was cut at the table at the time of serving in slabs 3/8″ thick cut across the grain.    Instead of the traditional well-cooked short ribs, you could detect a bit of pink in Jean Louis’ version which he served with a beef sauce  accented with the delightful taste of bone marrow and other goodies.  This was truly an inspired creation which does credit to French cooking.

For dessert, Thérèse had a rum baba served with one candle.  Fortunately, no one sang “happy birthday.”  I settled for a variation of chocolate mousse which I washed down with a generous glass of Sambucca.  In short, it was a great birthday celebration for a very classy gal at a restaurant that continues to set the standard for French cooking on this side of the Atlantic.

Thanks Jean Louis for adding to the great traditions of French cuisine.

I have received several inquiries from people who have missed my occasional blog posts on Gourmay.  To those concerned few, I say “Thank You!”

No, I wasn’t on a secret foreign assignment unless you consider Port Chester (the barrio next to Greenwich) a foreign country.    The fact of the matter is that the internal hyperlinks in Gourmay broke-down and I didn’t know how to fix it.  The problem, I suspect, is that Gourmay is hosted by  GoDaddy.com and every once in awhile they upgrade their servers and crash everyone’s website.  I have always felt that it was caused by Danica Patrick – the GoDaddy Girl – who either had a bad hair day or crashed in the first lap of her Indy Race.

Danica is certainly an attractive young woman, but this is not sufficient reason to use GoDaddy as your hosting service.  In fact,  no self-respecting techie will use the services of GoDaddy because of its unreliability and somewhat checkered history.  I use it because I don’t know any better and haven’t invested the time to migrate the website to Host Gator, where I park most of my websites.

I am like most people and throw up my hands in disbelief when technology lets me down, but I have recently found a great solution to deal with these issues:  oDesk.   oDesk is simply a website that aggregates solution providers from around the world who bid on contracts brought to them by clients.

Some of these contracts are quite sophisticated and long term (building an App for the Apple iPad or writing copy for SEO purposes), but many – like mine – are quite mundane.  I simply needed someone to go into my WordPress website and fix the linking hierarchy.  I set a fixed bid of $10 and had over 30 bids within 2 hours (some for as low as $2).  I settled on a gentleman from the Middle East who agreed to fix the problem for $8.  I hired him and the problem was solved in a few minutes.  (Note:  Their bios include previous work, experience, test scores and reviews by clients).

Now for those who dabble in technology, oDesk is a revolutionary and easy way to hire great resources at affordable prices to help address your technology needs.  I have used them on several occasions and have always been satisfied.  I rarely call the support desk for any tech company and prefer to go directly to oDesk.

In any event, I am back in business and will be reporting shortly on the latest foody trends in NYC.

Readers of Gourmay are aware that I think highly of Jamie Oliver as both a chef and and as a crusader to help overhaul the unhealthy school lunches that are served to millions of  children daily.  Now the crusades lasted 200 years and, judging from the hostile reception Jamie received by the Los Angeles School Board, it is likely to take Jamie far longer to convince our corrupt politicians and agribusiness lobbyists to stop killing our children with processed food.

They say that you can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear, but Jaime gives it a go with this delicious recipe of slow-roasted pork belly with braised fennel.   Pork belly is simply uncured bacon and some years ago was served frequently in fashionable restaurants.  It is still offered, but I have yet to find anything this delicious.  Jaime suggests that the salsa verde is optional but it is the perfect foil for the pork belly.  Cooking time is 3 1/2 hours so plan accordingly.

Important Note:  Experienced Italian cooks know that you should only use male fennel when using them for cooking or making a salad.   Sex bias legislation in the United States prohibits favoring male fennel over female fennel and, as such, they are grouped together in a bin in the vegetable section.  A male fennel has a full round bulb and is generally shorter than his elongated female companion with a thin bulb.  A male fennel is packed with more flavor and far more sturdier when served in salads.  Be a discriminating fennel shopper and always buy male bulbs.

Slow-Roasted Pork Belly with Braised Fennel

Ingredients (serves 6 to

• 4 1/2 pounds of pork belly on the bone, preferably free-range or organic (we used 3 pounds w/o bone)
• 2 Tbsp fennel seed (or 1 tsp of fennel pollen which is far more concentrated)
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 bulbs fennel (male fennel, please see above), each cut into sixths, herby tops removed and reserved
• 1 bunch small fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 5 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• olive oil

Ingredients for Salsa Verde (optional but highly recommended)

• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• Handful capers, drained
• Handful gherkins, drained and finely chopped
• 6 good anchovy filets in oil, finely chopped
• 2 bunches fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 bunch fresh basil, leaves picked and finely chopped
• 1 bunch fresh mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• Red wine vinegar
• Good-quality extra-virgin oil oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Preparation

• Preheat your oven to its maximum temperature.  Score the skin of the pork belly with a sharp knife (see photo above)
• In a pestle and mortar, bash up the fennel seeds with a Tbs of salt until you have a powder, then massage it into the scores of the skin.
• In a roasting pan, toss the fresh fennel with the thyme, garlic, a good splash of oil and some salt and pepper.  Place the pork belly on top of the fennel and put into the preheated oven.
• After 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 325º and roast the port for one additional hour.  By jolting the temperature right up at the beginning and then turning it down, you will start the crackling off nicely, the meat can then continue to cook slowly.
• If you plan to use the salsa verde make it now.   Finely chop the garlic and put in a bowl.  Add the capers, gherkins, anchovies, parsley, basil and mint.  Mix in the mustard and 1 to 2 Tbs of red wine vinegar, then 3 good lugs of olive oil, adding more if needed to make a loose mixture.  Balance the flavors with pepper and, if necessary, salt and a little more red wine vinegar.
• When the hour is up cooking the pork belly, take the tray out of the oven, pour away any excess fat, add the white wine and pop back in the oven for another hour.
• Now remove the fennel and keep warm while you put the port back in the a final hour until the skin is golden and crisp and the meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender.  If the wine starts to evaporate during this time, add a splash more, or a touch of water to loosen and make a light gravy.
• Allow the port to rest for 10 minutes and you’ll have a beautiful read-made gravy and lovely sweet, soft fennel.  Carve the meat into large chunks and serve with the gravy, salsa verde (if using) and the reserved fennel tops sprinkled on top.

Hey, this is a wow dish if you are in to eating Miss Piggy!

A couple of years ago, I volunteered to participate on the Transportation Committee for the Town of Greenwich who were tasked with the responsibility to formulate transportation policy recommendations for elected town leaders.  Now I have absolutely no “transportation” or “urban planning” credentials that I could bring to the table other than the fact that I still can drive a stick-shift automobile.   Fortunately, the other committee members were kind enough to overlook my lack of skills and experience.

Parking USA

The Transportation Committee met once a month and had a few ad hoc meetings with town planners and other  planning committees.  Much to my surprise, I found the planning process quite interesting and a real-world example of how small town government works.    Unlike D.C., our town leaders still talk to each other.

While there is a tendency to focus on the minutiae of town planning such as sidewalk repair priorities and the cost of deploying digital signs to warn drivers of traffic congestion and detours,  there are a number of very important strategic town planning decisions that can and will affect town residents for many generations.   My thinking on town planning and transportation changed dramatically after watching this 15 minute video by Chuck Marohn on the difference between streets and roads:

Now, I have watched this video several times and became one of the early members of Strong Towns since his common sense explanation of the impact of the automobile on town planning has and continues to have a stupefying hold on town planning.    I don’t mean to raise the alarm bells, but one certainly needs to scratch one’s head when you realize that we have an estimated 500 million parking spaces in the United States.   If true, then parking  in the United States now occupies 3,590 sq. miles, which is larger that the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined!

I don’t know about you, but when tourists visit Rome, I think they would rather see the Colosseum than visit the parking lots where the Romans parked their chariots.   Couple this with the fact that over 50% of Americans over the age of 65 don’t  (or can’t) leave their homes on any given day, I would argue that we may have a bit of a problem on our hands with the level of urban sprawl.

Needless to say, this useless but eye-opening information has caused me to think about retirement planning in a big way.   Studying the US census projections, I learned that one-third of the active population in the United States (ages 20-64) will be supporting two-thirds of the dependent population (0-20 and from 65+) by 2030.   I do not intend to voice an opinion on retirement age or other social issues, but clearly want to retire in a state that is young (growing faster than the national average). Also, it needs to have a University that offers inexpensive programs in “continuing education.”

Now the fastest growing state in the 2005 US census was Nevada and I suppose if  you like dry saunas this could be a great retirement location, but not sure that the Andre Agassi Academy is what I had in mind for “continuing education.”  Enter the Black Swan Theory by Nassim Taleb and you realize that predictability is not all that predictable:  I now understand that home prices in Nevada will not return to their 2008 levels until 2030.  Pretty scary!

Look, I have no idea where I want to park myself to retire, but vacant parking lots seem abundant on America’s landscape. Maybe a camper is in order.

With new bank branches opening up all over Greenwich, I often wonder whatever happened to electronic banking.  Let’s face it, we have more bank branches on Greenwich Avenue than Starbucks and McDonald’s combined.   I am not a particularly clever person (as Thérèse reminds me each day), but it strikes me that banking is largely electronic.  Your “personal banker” is far more likely to be found in some call center in the Philippines or a data processing center in India than your next door neighbor golfing buddy who offers you a coffee as you come into discuss your mortgage loan.

The cynic in me believes that new bank branches are popping up because they are simply moving into vacant buildings the banks have repossessed as their commercial loan portfolio turns south.  Fortunately, I have had to reconsider this opinion following a lovely dining experience at Boulud Sud.   Of course, Boulud Sud is the brainchild of acclaimed chef Daniel Boulud, serving “vibrant Mediterranean cuisine.”  Located near Lincoln Center, this restaurant was rebuilt from the remnants of a Citibank branch.  As a former banker, I think this is a delightful trend and would encourage Citibank to reach-out to the Facebook crowd with electronic banking rather than fill our towns and cities with nondescript modern branches that seem strangely out of place in towns with so many foreclosed homes for sale.

Grilled Octopus from Bouloud Sud

Sheila and I arrived around 9 p.m. and decided to sit at the bar rather than the restaurant itself.  We had a nice chatty bartender from England who was quite competent and helpful in making recommendations and wine pairings.  We shared three dishes:

• Octopus a la Plancha (Grilled octopus similar to the one shown above) served with Marcona almonds, arugula and Jerez Vinegar
• Cured Spanish Anchovies served with shaved fennel and Crispy Socca (a cracker made out of chickpea meal)
• Rabbit Porchetta with watercress,Treviso radicchio and wild mushrooms.

All were excellent.  The rabbit porchetta was particularly delicious and  paired nicely with a Côtes du Rhône rather than a rather nondescript Pinot Noir that we had initially selected.   The bartender was dead-on with his wine  recommendation and we are most grateful.

Thérèse succumbed to the dessert menu and ordered an elaborate grapefruit dessert that had been prepared by a truly talented Tunisian pastry chef.   I do not recall the name of this dessert, but a hollowed-out half of grapefruit was served on a bowl of ice and included a grapefruit sorbet with a caramelized top and cream.  Thérèse claims that the various textures and tastes ranked this dessert a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.  Personally, I prefer Bo Derek but I settled for a Sambuca.

A very nice dining experience.  The bar is great for a quick bite before the Opera.

Featuring Chang's famous Crack Pie

As Gourmay readers are aware, one of my favorite dining experiences in NYC is a visit to David Chang’s acclaimed restaurant, Momofuku.   I don’t get to visit his restaurant as often as I like.  There is always something new going on at Momofuku as David tinkers around to improve the dining experience.  The last time we visited he had moved the Milk Bar (desserts and bakery) across the street to make room for a wine bar.  The wine bar has now been converted into  a “special” restaurant dining experience for only 33 people.  No reservations.  We picked up the menu, but haven’t checked it out yet.

Again, I don’t like to dine at restaurants blaring “A Hard Day’s Night” from the Beatles in the background, but I do make an exception for Momofuku:  the food is so damn good and creative.  This time we were seated at the bar across from the bartender, who seemed particularly busy.   We sampled a couple of his favorite preparations:

• Scottish Navy Sour:  Aged rum, Scotch, Lime and Clove.  When I was younger I used to drink whiskey sours to show my “feminine-side”  but haven’t had one in years.  This one was particularly good (“shaken but not stirred” as all citrus based bar concoctions should be!).
• Momofuku’s special margarita (not on the menu).  Tequila, fresh limes, agave and anisette sprayed over the top.  I too was skeptical, but it does work.  Quite amazing.

Momofuku Pork Bun

For dinner we had the following small portions which we shared:

• Royal Miyagi Oysters from British Columbia served with Lady Apple, Lime and Chili
• Steamed Pork Buns:  The Momofuku classic with pork belly, cucumber, chopped scallions and hoison sauce.
• Market greens (in this case it was Swiss Chard) served with Xo sauce (sort of a fish broth)
• Veal sweetbreads with almond, sauerkraut and Thai chili
• Catfish with Kabocha squash curry, green mango and peanuts.
• For dessert we sampled (read “ate the whole thing”) his grapefruit pie featuring a hint of cream, jellied grapefruit crunch and salt in the pastry.  Perfect balance.

Dining doesn’t get any better than Momofuku, although the throbbing music and crowds can be a bit off-putting to many elderly fans of great food.

Many months ago, Dan and Miranda gave me a gift certificate to dine at Maialino, Danny Meyer’s restaurant located in the Gramercy Park Hotel.   I hadn’t been in the Gramercy Hotel for many years and was therefore overwhelmed by the stunning artwork and lively decor.  The Fernando Botero painting hanging over the fireplace in the hotel lobby attests to the edgy chicness of this trendy hotel in lower midtown Manhattan.  But we were here to eat, not sleep.

Sheila and I had twice made reservations at Maialino only to be thwarted by Hurricane Irene and an ice-storm.  Since it is almost impossible to secure reservations at any of Danny Meyer’s restaurants (Union Square Cafe is our favorite), we decided to risk an early seating a few days ago.  Thanks to the great diplomacy skills of Thérèse and my own modest acting skills of feigning a heart attack, we were quickly seated at one of the tables in the bar.  It’s a bit noisy, but certainly adequate and Maialino’s efficient staff was soon plying us with wine, which I explained to this nice young woman is far more effective at clearing blocked arteries than Lipitor.    They had a special on Sicilian wines and we found them quite comforting.  My chest pains disappeared almost immediately.

If you plan on dining at Maialino, you need to go in “whole hog.”   Following Dan’s glowing recommendations,   Thérèse and I split the roasted pork shoulder and potatoes shown above.  The crackling was precisely the right consistency – about 1/4″ thick and crunchy rather than chewy -  and the pork was as moist and flavorful as any I have eaten.  I was told that the pork roasts for about six hours and I can attest after many painful experiments, it is next to impossible to get pork cooked this perfectly.  Brilliant.

We also split a pasta dish of Bombolotti alla Gricia, which featured pasta similar to penne, but cooked to perfection with black pepper, guanciale (pig jowl) and a bit of Parmesan cheese and oil.   Wow!     The spinach was delicious and I also sampled the sweet breads wrapped in prosciutto.  Simply an amazing dining experience.   Bravo!!