The Cured Ham

The Silver Fox Steakhouse, Richardson Texas

Another steakhouse review which means bone-in ribeye and creamed spinach and finally a surprise...creamed corn!

The Silver Fox is located in a strip mall in the suburb of Richardson, just outside of Dallas. Once inside the freestanding brick building, the interior could have easily been mistaken for a Morton's or Fleming's. I ate at the bar as the main dining room was full for the evening.

As mentioned, I went with my standard steakhouse meal, rib-eye and creamed spinach. The Silver Fox actually serves their steaks with a complete plate, rather than a la carte steaks. The complete plate includes mashed potato, snap peas, green beans, and creamed corn. I frankly could care less for all the other nonsense if the steak is really good, but I'll always make an exception for creamed corn.

Early experiences with creamed corn I think were from the Jolly Green Giant and hopefully will never be repeated. Recently, when Wayfare Tavern opened in San Francisco, my brother raved about the creamed corn, until of course they changed the recipe two weeks after he tried it. The change was disappointing. Here in Texas, I'm guessing the recipe at the Silver Fox hasn't changed in many years. Great. Please don't change it, it's delicious. Creamy, sweet, and a wonderful balance in order to taste the corn and the cream. Such a treat.

My steak, a wet-aged, corn-fed, bone-in, medium-rare (no more hyphens) Nebraska raised and slaughtered animal was good. Well seasoned and perfectly rested I enjoyed my steak. But I am noticing a big difference between wet and dry aged beef and I'm liking the dry aged better. Nick and Stef's in downtown LA dry aged on the premises. Carnevor in Milwaukee also dry aged. Urban Farmer in Portland, dry aged. Bourbon Steak dry aged and cooked in butter. These are the steaks that stick out in my mind for flavor. Make no mistake, the steak at the Silver Fox was good and well executed, this may simply be an issue of preference. I will make an exception for Gibsons in Chicago as they wet age, but their cooking process occurs in an 1800 degree oven.

As for the creamed spinach, it was a loose style with whole leaves of spinach rather than chopped or pulverized. Again, well seasoned, wonderfully creamy (but a different creamy than the corn) and tasted great. However, I like a rougher chop and a thicker cream, similar to the creamed corn consistency. Again, a matter of preference rather than execution.

Overall, I enjoyed my evening at the bar at the Silver Fox. However, I couldn't help overhear one conversation from some medical professionals about the quality of Napa and Sonoma County wine. First, they felt Napa was better (I dispute that claim) and secondly one doctor in particular educated his party on everything from proper cooking to proper winemaking. Right up until he went on and on about how wine in Sonoma County was more cedar spiced because winemakers use cedar barrels to age their wine. Hopefully, he's a better surgeon than winemaker. Moron.

T.L.'s Metal Fabrication Shop, Fresno

Nothing says Thanksgiving like a brand new BBQ. Well, from the metal fabrication shop in Fresno comes T.L.'s latest backyard creation. What used to hold bulk grape juice from L&P (and shipped to Healdsburg no less) has been transformed into a multi-use BBQ / Smoker / Grill. The tube on your left can smoke or grill with the ability to hang meat from a sharp metal rod off the roof of the canister. The Cured Ham was part of the early stage design and fabrication. This sweet baby gets a full workout this weekend when I cook for 80 people at a 40th birthday party in the wine country. Pork will be BBQ'd for about 16 hours over a variety of woods.

Handwritten Recipes or Italian Hieroglyphics

Some of you may need the Rosetta Stone from ancient times to read this, but there are two recipes on this return envelope. There isn't even a title for these recipes. Can anyone guess what these make? Does anyone want to try and make either recipe? Talk about a great Top Chef Challenge, "Italian Aunt and Niece UnTitled Recipe Challenge."

Yes, these recipes were written on the only paper available on that day in June of 1997, a return envelope. Now you know this is authentic. Trust me, I couldn't make this up. And I've got some other winning recipes form the family.

 

Sous Vide Bacon?

Sous Vide Bacon...WTF?!

From Wikipedia: "Sous-vide (pronounced /suːˈviːd/), French for "under vacuum",[1] is a method of cooking that is intended to maintain the integrity of ingredients by heating them for an extended period at relatively low temperatures. Food is cooked for a long time, sometimes well over 24 hours. Unlike cooking in a slow cooker, sous-vide cooking uses airtight plastic bags placed in hot water well below boiling point (usually around 60 °C or 140 °F)."

The Cured Ham's definition of Bacon: A crispy and delicious combination of pork fat and meat from the belly area of the pig. Bacon can be served at breakfast, lunch or dinner. Bacon is good and good for you. There's always room for Bacon.

I've been eating lunch and dinner at One Market Restaurant in San Francisco for years. It's a staple for me and many colleagues for the Business Lunch. I'll continue to eat here.

However, one thing last week challenged my palate, Sous Vide Bacon! As part of the One Market Heirloom BLT, sous vide bacon acts as the base to a creative interpretation to an American classic. The heirlooms were varied and delicious, the greens were fresh, and the ring of bread was crisp. But the bacon was never intended to be crispy. Bacon when cooked under sous vide becomes gelatinous. The bacon tastes the way it's supposed to taste, but the texture is unfamiliar, think thin slices of bacon flavored Jello.

As someone who likes all things pork, I may have found an exception...Sous Vide Bacon. But I'm glad I tried it and it made for good conversation at lunch.

Frank Pepe, New Haven

Chicago Pizza is the best! No wait, New York. No, Me'n Ed's in Fresno. The debate will rage on with no end in sight. In fact, I'm a bit tired of all the arguments and comparisons between New York or Chicago pizza. Frank Pepe's in New Haven, Connecticut was some of the best pizza I've had outside of Italy. Since 1925, Frank Pepe's has been making pizza in New Haven, CT.

Shaherazade and I ordered two specialties, a White Clam Pie (pic below) and White Spinach, Mushroom, and Gorgonzola Pie. While basically a round pizza, each pie is served in a more typical 'old-school' Italian square pizza pan (just like I serve at home). Any pizza restaurant can slap toppings all over a pizza, clam and garlic is no exception. But where the pizza debate gets interesting is the dough, the crust, and the cooking process.

The heat of the oven is a big deal at Frank Pepe's. They use coal, that's right coal to fire their ovens. It burns hot and dry and can maintain an even higher temperature than wood. This heat blisters the skin and areas can burn around the crust. It's a fast process. The result is a crackling crust and a moist inside. If too hot, the middle won't cook. I remember that phenomenon in Naples; the oven was so hot it burned the edges and the middle of the pie never cooked. Frank Pepe's got it right on both of our pies.

As for the flavor of the dough, I can't say I've had a pizza dough so tasty. I'd compare the dough to the finest baguette I've ever tasted. Or the difference between boring bread in Florence and fabulous bread in Locorotondo.The bread becomes the star of the show rather than the backdrop for toppings. It enhances the flavor of the meal, compliments it. I think we chose wisely in not topping our pizza with tomatoes, the dough just worked well with our toppings. We were both very pleased with our choices.

So enough with the pizza debate.The Cured Ham thinks Frank Pepe's in New Haven should have a seat at the Greatest Pizza on Planet Earth table. It's that good.

Centro Espresso, Santa Rosa

Stagecoach Rd. Suite 150

Santa Rosa, CA

707-545-1532

As it is one year to the day that I was in Florence, Italy, perhaps it was Karma or The Force or the Ancient Mayan Coffee Gods that brought me to this wonderful little cafe in Santa Rosa, Centro Espresso. Truth be told, I was purchasing some lambrusco from Traverso's next door for the summer.

They bake all their own muffins on-site. I sampled the lemon poppy seed muffin and I rather enjoyed it. ALl of the muffins looked uniform in size and were golden brown on the outside. I can only speak to my lemon poppy seed muffin which was also moist on the inside.

Anyway, I ordered an espresso. The barista immediately picked up a proper espresso cup, NOT cardboard. I had to make a comment.

"I see espresso is served properly here?"

The Barista responded,"You'd be surprised at how many people we need to convince that paper cups aren't the right way to drink espresso."

Now for the real proof, was it made properly?

Yes!!!

The Cured Ham Roasts an $18 Chicken!

Chicken? Boring right? Not when it's perfect (arrogant SOB, I know). But I only cooked it properly, someone else raised and slaughtered it properly too.

I wandered around the Farmer's Market today and talked with one of the ranchers and owner of Gleason Ranch, Tony Prebilich. Tony sells properly raised and ranched pork, lamb and chicken. He and his daughter encouraged me to try one of their whole chickens. I was already sold on the package of chicken livers they offered (reminds me of Italy) but a roasted chicken on Saturday night sounded good.

Just over 3 pounds, the whole bird cost $18. We're not talking a Safeway special here or the pre-cooked chicken from Costco for $6. No Sir. This is where the rubber meets the road in the regional supply chain. Known as Farm-to-Table cooking and why Wine Country and San Francisco restaurants are charging $29 dollars for chicken. It's not just the real estate, proper linens, and fancy wine glasses that jack-up the price, it's the products they're sourcing too.

So $18 for chicken? Kind of changes my mindset on what I'm going to do with this bird. The $6 Fully Roasted Costco chicken has some level of disposability to it. Hell, you can buy three Costco chickens for the price of my one. But what are you going to do with the chicken? Will you eat it left over? Will you take the carcass and make a chicken stock? Will you take the offal and make a pate (are Costco chickens born with livers?) Or will that pre-cooked dried out carcass sit under the clear plastic lid for three days before you decide that it's time to buy another one? 

I heard a couple voices in my head during my chicken purchase, an Italian mother who didn't waste anything 30 years ago and an Italian chef that insisted, top quality animals deserve top quality treatment in the kitchen. So tonight after my bird was cooked, I made a stock with bones and will probably cook risotto this week. I'll strip what remains of the meat for a sandwich or two. I also took the giblets and combined them with some of the livers I purchased to make a pate (A bit of balsamic at the end brings out the flavor in pate. Acid and sweetness is critical). Pate needs to be eaten in moderation, for sure, but think how many meals I'll get with my salads with a container of pate (I know, plastic container pictures aren't the sexiest. I suppose I could have put a piece of sage or something on top).

The final picture below is the meal I had this evening. I know I treated this chicken right. Notice how the breast isn't twice the size of the leg/thigh? That's because this chicken wasn't a genetically, juiced up freak or overfed in a short period of time. And yes, it did taste good.

The Habit, Fresno

Another chain restaurant comes to Fresno! No news there. Chain Burger restaurant with patio comes to Fig Garden Village, Home of The Elbow Room (required mention of The Bow according to Fresno Code). No news there. So why am I writing about The Habit, the latest chain burger joint to hit the Fresno strip mall scene? Because this burger was an affront to burger joints everywhere in America!

It's been about a month since The Habit came to Fresno. The Habit, originally started in Santa Barbara, CA in 1969. Not too dis-similar a story from In-n-Out or Original Tommy's. Franchise/Corporate owned burger stop makes it big in Southern California and eventually spreads. Great story in American Capitalism and my sincere congratulations to the owners for their success.

But what's all the fuss about? I recently ate at The Habit and well it's a burger. And you can order fries with that burger and a drink if you like. Yawn. Yawn. I checked the corporate website. There are 34 Habit Burger locations in California. Wow! 34 locations is proof something is working well.

These burgers look delicious and they certainly have an eye for the camera. But they lack inspiration. They lack character. Frankly, they lack messiness. The burger is constructed perfectly such that I didn't need to use a napkin after each bite or both hands to pick it up. Boring. The bun didn't shred apart after my second bite. The proportions of bun, to patty, to toppings are within military grade specs. There wasn't a pool of tomato juice, mayonnaise, and all-beef patty drippings all over my tray. What's wrong with this thing? It's a burger for Christ Sake, not high tea cucumber sandwiches at the Ritz. Why don't they just serve this burger with a fork and knife and put it on a 12 inch white plate! AHHHH!

And look at the fries! No fry is different from it's brother. All golden, all the right size, evenly salted, slightly crunchy on the outside yet soft on the inside. What is wrong with this place!! Ketchup is neatly squirted into mini paper receptacles so as not to soil the tray or worse, damage or soften the French fries. Maddening!!

Normally, The Cured Ham enjoys attention to detail and exactness with ingredients, and above all, consistency. Yes, risotto should come out the proper way each time. So should pasta. Minimal room for error. Pasta cooked al dente is a matter of Italian pride. And a burger that doesn't make a mess is Un-American. It's shameful.

A burger that doesn't make a mess and fries that were cut with a laser beam must be expensive? No. Based on all the measured perfection here and the space-age tools they're using to construct their No Mess Abomination, you'd expect a high price tag. Try under $7.

I suppose you should try The Habit for yourself. Take your clean freak, worried-about-appearances, has to eat at the newest restaurant in town but doesn't eat just salads, anal retentive, slightly-weight-conscious, semi-organic, worried about fat, cholesterol, rickets, and scurvy acquaintance; I didn't say friend, to eat here. They'll have a marvelous time.

But if this is the future of the American Hamburger, I'm moving to another country or at least another state. I think there's No Substitute for a Messy Burger.

Organic Shmanic, Backyard Farming is Better

It's citrus season in the Central Valley of California and for those homeowners who were smart enough to plant a lemon or orange tree, it's probably time to start picking.

I've captured a few pictures of our latest harvest. Didn't cost anything, just a little time. They're about as "organic" as it gets. They were certified in Grandma's Backyard Farm, by Grandma.

My second proof comes with photos. That's T.L. picking oranges out of the tree and The Ham is behind the camera. Here are the oranges in a recycled box. They don't get any fresher.

So if you have the room in your backyard, plant a tree that produces some fruit. It tastes better than the stuff from the store.

Ravioli 3 Ways

A family dinner party was the inspiration for a couple hours of ravioli making. While a Northern Italian pasta dough has some ratio of flour to semolina to eggs, the ratio can change as can the ingredients, depending upon where you wander in Italy. Generally, more eggs are present in the dough the further North you travel in Italy. My basic dough for orecchiette, a pasta staple in Puglia, has only water and flour.

Enough about the dough, what about the filling? From classic spinach and ricotta to more exotic flavors, the combinations are infinite. As my title suggests, I made three fillings; the first, sweet potato, ricotta, and mascarpone. The second, ground short ribs with spinach and a touch of ricotta. The third, polenta and mascarpone. The third one is an oddball, I know. But guess what, it worked.

And finally for the sauces. With my sweet potato ravioli I went with a basic browned butter with freshly cracked pepper. Typically I would add sage, but I forgot to pick it out of the yard. For the second sauce, I will tip my hat to Cousin Jeff. His red sauce or gravy, as some call it, was a classic pairing for the other two ravioli. Jeff is also the Pit Master, known the world over for his BBQ and grilling skills. 

The wines I chose were both from Forth Vineyards. A 2002 and 2005 All Boys Cabernet from Dry Creek Valley. I've been drinking this boutique for many years. Each of the wines had real structure, distinctive fruit, and soft tannins. A bit overpowering for the sweet potato ravioli, but perfect for the red sauce based varieties.

I also received a late breaking report from my brother, who was also having a dinner party. He created an American Gastronomic Classic...Meatloaf and Potatoes for his 8 Top. Early returns said it received high-marks from the crowd. He mentioned they were drinking Trader Joe's Dunkel.

It was good to see everyone at Cousin Jeff's and I'm pleased to report we're kicking off the New Year with a classic Sunday Dinner.