Michael Ruhlman's Blog, page 83

CSA Pickles: Revised Ratio!

Chef Pardus blew through Cleveland a couple weeks ago, and with summer in full swing we had loads of little cukes on hand (we also did veal heart again, got it on video, stay tuned).  While there was much to do in getting dinner out (tongue salad with new potatoes, calves liver and onions, corn [...:]

California Travel Fresh Spring Rolls with Viet Dipping Sauce Recipe

Flew out to southern California last week to be with one of Donna's oldest and dearest, almost entirely beaching it, but found time for one great restaurant meal and one day exploring little Saigon south of LA with the extraordinary White On Rice Couple, Todd Porter and Diane Cu.
Diane, born in Vietnam two years before [...:]

New York City Travel

What began as a Bourdain initiated boondoggle turned into a great break in NYC for me and Donna with several restaurants I'd been eager to try.
We arrived early, unloaded our bags at the most excellent Ace hotel (I highly recommend), then headed south to Balthazar, where we had hoped to get some breakfast—love their shirred [...:]

Ratio App Now Available for Android Devices!

At last, thanks entirely to app developer, marketing genius and avid cook, Will Turnage, and graphic designer Leah McCombe, the Ratio smart phone application can be downloaded by those who use android devices! Thank you Will and Leah.
Android users, scan this QR to go directly to the app in the market.  Let me know in [...:]

Goodbye, Harvey Pekar

Cleveland Lost a great literary artist and story-teller yesterday when American Splendor author Harvey Pekar died at age 70.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer devoted much of Page 1 to the news.  William Grimes wrote a worthy obituary in The New York Times.
And while the appreciations are beginning to flow, no one has written a more thoughtful [...:]

Zucchini Fritters Recipe

You'll never guess what was included in our CSA haul this week.  Zucchini!  That's right, amazing as it may sound, there they were, three big fatties at the bottom of the bag.
Seriously, it's not that I have a problem with zucchini, itself (though I did publicly disparage the zucchini a while back on Iron Chef [...:]

How To Truss a Chicken

I've long wanted to post a chicken trussing video because there are so many silly videos out there that make it seem incredibly complicated.  Of the many good ways of trussing a chicken, Brian's method here is solid and simple.  Brian of course is the co-author of Charcuterie and chef/owner of Forest and Cinco Lagos [...:]

Butter-Braised Radishes with Snow Peas

Butter-Braised Radishes with Snow Peas, photo by Donna


This was a last minute dish on Saturday to follow the fritters.  We had radishes, we had snow peas.  I had some mint in the garden.  Why not?  Crunchy, refreshing, satisfying, a fine vegetable dish.  You see, I don't ALWAYS have to throw cured pork products in (though, [...:]

Quick Deviled Eggs

So Joe and I got to playing with the video camera early this spring, just to have some fun. Please excuse awkward editing. Also, it's a bit on the longish side (6:30) so if you want to cut to the chase, the point of this thing happens between 2:30 and 3:10 minutes.
I love deviled eggs, [...:]

CSA Week 4(recipe: Spring Potatoes with Tarragon and Chives)

OK, things are starting to roll a little faster here.  Delighted this week to see peas in our CSA haul!  Still a helluva lot of lettuce (which, truth be told, my belly needs a little a more of).  We were a little disappointed in week three, when some of the lettuces had rotty ends, suggesting [...:]