Olympic Provisions Salame

 

 Finding a good salami isn't as easy as you think it would be.....Once you taste a really good one, its all over.  No cheap charcuterie can satisfy you now!  So you're usually left sadly wandering the meat department at your local grocery store, checking under that pile of laughing cow cheese....looking for one that may resemble that delicious piece you had.   But it's never there.....

That's what I felt like. A sad salami-less soul 2....  

I had my first great salami at the Beverly Hills Cheese Shop (Canadian brand which they said they can't receive because of some new change in customs?)and now I'm always on the look out.  Around the Bay area I usually find good pieces from restaurants that do their own charcuterie in house.  But most of them do not sell to the public.  And Fatted Calf has some amazing complex ones, but sometimes I just crave a small one to enjoy at home.  Last year, I stumbled across Olympic Provisions "Saucisson Sec" at the Good Food Awards in 2011.  Was so tasty, fatty and I love the smell.  Like a bakery that just bakes savory pork buns.  Plus, it's a great deal at $10/salami.  You can easily get their Salami at Bi-Rite or order their Salami of the Month Club.  Can't wait to visit them on our next trip to Portland!  

1.  This post sounds super filthy to me now that I'm reading it back....

2.  I couldn't resist....

Sweet Jo's Biscuits and Chili

Basically this is what happened last Monday night when we heard Sweet Jo's Chili n Biscuits was the pop-up at The Window (side window of Coffee Bar)  Being a 5th generation Texan, I must eat biscuits at least once a month and I always jump at the opportunity to eat them out.  Because, otherwise I have to make a batch myself!

We got to the Mission and it was cooollldddd.  But this made the anticipation for biscuits n chili all the better.  We scanned the menu above.  Settling on Biscuits n' Gravy and a bowl of chili.  

The chef ladled out some gravy and plopped some biscuits down on a small plater.  Every time this happens the song Hallelujah starts up in my head.  On a personal note, I usually prefer white cream gravy because thats what I was weened on as a kid.  BUT, this Sausagegravy did the job just fineeee...

Now regarding the biscuits, THEY WERE DELICIOUS!!  Very buttery and perfect crumb inside.  Not too sweet and there was no use of some weird spice to make it look fancy.  Just exactly how I like a basic biscuit!  I would of bought a box to take home, but a box of 24 was too much for the two of us.  Next time I'll ask if I can buy a box of 12.  

My dear Mr.Phi wolfed down the chili.  He even went back up to buy some cornbread, after we overheard someone had gotten some with a take-out order.  The cornbread was super moist and almost tasted like a dessert bread.  The combination of the savory chili and sweet corn bread was almost too good to bear.  

We chatted for a moment with the chef Joanna Karlinsky.  She looked worn out, but had the sparkle of a tough lady cook you'd expect to walk out of the kitchen at a 1920s Chili Parlor.  She said she was famous for these biscuits and we professed our love of them.  Asked her if she had honey, and she said possibly the next time.  So we procured another order of biscuits(FRESH FROM THE OVEN!!), this time with the Meyer lemon curd.  We lied to ourselves and said we'd save them for a snack in an hour.  They were gone the minute our patooties sat down in the car.  

Lard of a Lifetime

One of my goals for the New Year was geting my illustrations in a Food Magazine.  So you can imagine my excitement when Pork Memoirs chose my piece to appear in MeatPaper!!

Here is the illustration below and you can also get a copy of it in Meatpaper 17.

"At Age 4, I watched as the ladle dripped sausage gravy all over the hot butter biscuits and felt more baptized at that moment, than I ever have since.   By the time I reached Age 6, I knew my Abuelita's chorizo and eggs could cure any ailment.  Every day the year I turned 8, I prayed that my mother would fix a bacon quiche for dinner..  Finally at age 10, I found the holy grail at my local mall in the form of Hickory Farms Sausage.   These are my crispy recollections of my religious years through my love of pork.  Amen"


PS I know I'm behind in some cheese posts.  Expect some good ones next week.

PPSAnd in other news, my animation film Chocolate Milk played to rave reviews at SXSW.  Great times and amazing bbq was had by all!

Queso Fountain

So I've been away in New Zealand and hopefully I can give you a small food report from there in a few weeks.  But at the moment, I'm getting ready to go to SXSW for the premiere of my animation short film "Chocolate Milk" and still have a bunch of tasks to do to prepare for that.  So I'm pretty "ack" currently, especially since this is my first big film festival.  So used to hiding in my animation studio hole, its been a pretty intense few weeks of press interviews and self-promotion.  

So I decided to do a small post for this week about the popularity of Cheese Fountains at parties and weddings.  This is something I joked about having back at my wedding.  I mean, who wants a chocolate fountain when you can have one bubbling with gooey yellow cheese.    This is so American, I LOVE it.  Why have a piece of fresh fruit to dip in chocolate when you can have a fried tortilla chip to dip in processed cheese.  People have even tried to build a 6 cheese fountain ever since they talked about one in "Talladega Nights".

You can behold one here in all it's glorious cheesiness!  Bow down to a constant stream of hot queso waiting to leap onto your tortilla chips.   But, don't check out the fountains that do a chile con queso waterfall.  That just seems really wrong....

Oh! And here is a few awesome cheese events happening around the Bay area this coming week.  I really WANT to attend this Cheese tasting Bike ride but my schedule is too hectic this weekend!  And of course, I'll already be out of town on Thursday for this pop-up grilled cheese night!  Ah well, can I really complain when Texas BBQ is headed my way.  Hopefully, I can give you a good queso report when I get back from Austin!  Oh sweet queso, you'll get me through SXSW...oh yes...you will.

Cheese Monday: Sir Francis Drake

Ahhh, Valentine's Day, when a girl's thoughts turn to love and stanky, gooey cheeses....

So of course I have to post about one of my favorite cheeses to spread on crispy baguette!1   SIR FRANCIS  DRAKE!    A triple cream Cow cheese that some say has a lil taste of the Pacific ocean, which makes me think it is a love letter to the actual sea captain Sir Francis Drake.2

In any case , it's buttery, nutty and  exceptionally spreadable.  All my favorite things in a gooey cheese!!  Sir Francis Drake is made by the famous Cowgirl Creamery and they source their milk from my always favorite Straus Family Dairy.

As usual, this is very hard to find beyond the Bay area, but can sometimes be founds in a Whole Foods in California.  But, the best place to check is the Cowgirl Creamery Cheese Counter .   Seriously though,  people go crazy for this cheese, camping out at their local cheese shops March-April waiting for it's surprise appearance!3

The reason it is so rare is that the cheese happens by complete accident!  Basically, all of this occurs  during the aging process when Cowgirl's famous Mt. Tam cheese gets a bloomy rind thats a lil slimey, instead of it's usual silky texture.  So they wash those slimey cheeses in Beaume de Venise (French Dessert Wine) and sprinkle some yummy dried currents on top!  TA-dah! A deliciously addictive cheese emerges and you have a beautiful bloomy number to enjoy on your platter!

Definitely, let Sir Francis Drake ripen, so you can get the full effect of spreadable cheese!  I sit mine on the counter for a good hour, even though it stinks up the joint.  But, hey, thats what scented candles are for!

And here's a lil valentine for you to enjoy today.  

1  That sound a lil tooo like sexual innuendo...hah enjoy the day!
2 Or it could just be that their Point Reyes location is on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard....  
3 Well mayyybbeeee, not that intense.  I always think of the "Blossom" episode where she camped out for C&C Music Factory tickets when I daydream of intense waiting......

            If I was Ginger Rogers, I would totally have a piece of cheese in my pocket to snack on between twirls.  But, I'd probably be way too heavy for Fred Astaire to lift in the air then....
Anyway the whole story behind this comic is about when I worked at a cheeseshop and the owner told me I needed to pronounce gouda the correct way, which is  ɣʌuda (How-da).   So I started doing this but then realized no one knew what cheese I was talking about and I sounded like a BIG pretentious A-hole, so I stopped.  I mean, everyone knows Gouda as Goooo-daa and thats how it is.  When I go to the Netherlands though, I'll be sure to pronounce correctly.

            So in keeping with the pretentious A-hole theme, my cheese review of the week is Beemster XO Gouda!  If you love an aged gouda, like many of my friends do, then you'll be in heaven with this one!  Beemster has been producing cheeses for over a century, so they got the cheese knowledge to make your mouth go BOOM with Happiness.  XO is Aged for over 2 years in old warehouses at a co-op in the Netherlands to get that yummy butterscotchy taste! 

This cheese is unique in the way it manages to be creamy, yet still have that crystallization I know many of you crave. 

Their gouda is made with pasteurized cow milk that comes from a sustainable program called Caring Dairy, so you can feel good about buying Beemster products!  Also, they use the same dairy cows that provide the milk for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  So if you like ice cream, you'll definitely love this cheese hah!.  

So if you're craving a nice Dutch Cheese or something everyone at your party will enjoy,  definitely look up Beemster XO Gouda as it can be found at many grocery stores throughout the country!  

Also, if you're interested in cheesemaking, here's a great recent article about it.  I've only experimented with making ricotta or shaping mozzarella out of curd.  I hope to one day make some sheep and goat cheeses, when I can finally actually own one!! A girl can dream, ehhhh

Never have truer words been uttered, eh?

Actually, the above was said by my brother-in-law to my sister one night when they were about to head to their fave Tex-Mex joint....   And THAT inspired me to do a few Texan Valentines this year!  So keep your eyes peeled for a few more before the big day.   Do any of you have plans for  Vday?  

Mr. Phi and I are going to our usual grilled cheese tasting dinner.   Wooooooo  I'll try to actually post a review this year.  I know, I know.... big talker!

Also, I still owe you a cheese review this week.  Took longer than I expected! eeks  Well here's a Cheese Valentine done by Murray's Cheese to tide you over until tomorrow....