Dan Perlman's Blog, page 8

A Little Dance Interlude

Just a little break from food and wine with some videos from one of Henry’s recent dance performances. It was a concert by Antonio Escalante, an amazingly talented Peruvian singer, with an evening of classic Peruvian songs in homage to his well known, and now retired, professor, Augusto Polo Campos, who is considered one of Peru’s greatest living composers. Henry was invited to perform three different dances with a trio of his partners – two Peruvian folklore dances (a tondero and a marinera)...

The Bread & Soup Project #6 – Antigua & Barbuda

It’s been a couple of weeks since the last post in The Bread & Soup Project, one week spending my days off in Uruguay, and the other, fighting off a bit of a cold. I told you this was going to take a few years to work through all the countries!

Next up in the alphabetical list, Antigua & Barbuda, a duo (inhabited) of Caribbean isles with a strong British background. There are also a number of smaller islands, for the most part uninhabited or close to it, that form part of the nation. The cuis...

Plate by Plate: In Like a Loin, Out Like a Lamb

In Like a Loin, Out Like a Lamb

The lamb: Trim lamb loins, setting the fat aside, toss the silverskin. Cut into serving sections. Season with salt and pepper, lightly coat with olive oil, and vacuum seal in bags, side by side, ready for sous vide cooking. Pull out your trusty Nomiku (or other sous vide circulator), and cook the lamb for two hours at 56.5C/134F (medium rare), remove from the water bath and set aside until ready to use (you can even cook and refrigerate these the day before). F...

Uruguayan Wines – Round 4

Over the years, I’ve visited Uruguay four previous times headed to wineries… a first solo visit to Pisano in February 2005, the first time I’d been to Uruguay (pre-blog days, and I’m not counting it as a winery tour), in August of 2005, with a former friend, just us, visiting only two spots Pisano and Pizzorno near to Montevideo. Then a whirlwind tour in June of 2006 with INAVI, the national wine bureau, which resulted in an article for Wine Business Online; and then again, less of a tour (wi...

It Doesn’t Translate

Let’s start with He Who Cannot Be Named, or, rather, the restaurant that apparently cannot be. Those of us who spend any time in Barrio Chino know the place, it’s at Arribeños 2122, it’s got lacquered ducks hanging in the window and all sorts of buns and parts and such on display, and is basically the poster child for -a hole-in-the-wall. Everyone calls it Comida Tradicional China, including all my fellow blogger folk, because it’s the only sign that isn’t in Chinese characters in or on the...

…And More Smoke…

With smokers being all the rage these days (okay, two other spots I know of, Kon Kon and La Carniceria), it’s good to reflect back to the start of it all. Just a few years ago the very concept of smoked meat, other than perhaps a small sliver that had been infused with a modicum of fumes from a “smoking gun” or similar modernist apparatus at one or another of the temples of molecular technique, or a slice of salmon on a pseudo-bagel, simply didn’t hold ground here in BA. Then along came Larry...

Plate by Plate: Hopping Down the Bunny Trail

“Best rabbit I’ve ever eaten!”

New plate that’s been in the works for a bit:

Rabbit Loin with Semolina Gnocchi.

Rabbit: Salt and pepper a rabbit loin inside and out, roll, and tie. Sear until lightly browned on all sides, finish in hot oven for 6-7 minutes, until just medium. Rest. Untie. Slice. Separately, saute the kidneys (there’s usually one with each loin, at least the way they arrive to us), in a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

Semolina gnocchi: Bring 5 cups of milk to a boil, very g...

The E Files #1

Oh the vagaries of email, the trials and tribulations of dealing with folk in other parts of the world who just aren’t quite on the same page as we are. The names have been removed to protect the guilty. None of this is a complaint, it’s just… amusing. I’ve been sharing lots of these over time with a couple of friends online, and it’s been proposed that some of these are worthy of writing a book around. I’ll stick with blog posts. For the moment.

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I can only eat things that are prepared in a home or restaurant kitchen. If it’s prepared in an industrial kitchen of any sort, I’m allergic to it – and I can tell.

Umm no, no you aren’t, and no you can’t. Seriously. You wouldn’t have a clue. “Not to worry, it’s all home cooking here.” (And, it actually is in terms of things like sauces, and condiments and such, but if you think I’m going to brine my own olives….)

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I see that tonight’s dessert has lemon. I don’t eat any kind of fruit, don’t want to see it, don’t want to smell it, don’t want it near me. Change the dessert.

“No. I asked you a month ago about dietary restrictions, you said you had none, and honestly, I don’t cater to likes and dislikes, just allergies, especially at last minute. I can offer you a cheese plate if you like.”

You’re my fucking private chef for the evening, you’ll do as I say.

“No I’m not, and no I won’t. I’m sending you a refund, please don’t bother to show up, at this point I’d prefer not to have you in my home.” [She actually did show up, paid in cash at the door, and rather than making a scene, I let her stay. She turned out to be charming, a great conversationalist. She ate the lemon tart. She sent me a very nice thank you note. Also, what is it about fruit, she’s maybe the fourth or fifth person in the last month who’s told me they don’t eat any kind of fruit. Is there a new fad diet?]

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We have to cancel for dinner. Return our deposit immediately.

“I’m sorry to hear you won’t be joining us, however, we were quite clear upfront, your deposit is non-refundable this close to the dinner.”

Yes, I understand that, but what does that have to do with you not giving me back my money?

As the meme goes, “Sometimes I use big words I don’t fully understand in order to sound more photosynthesis.”

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I’ve been trying to reach you for some time to make a reservation. I’ve sent emails to various email addresses requesting one. I’m new to email and still figuring it out. Just today, I found what you list as your official email address for the restaurant, which was very difficult to find. So I’m following up here. I’d like to request a reservation for 4 people on _____. I do feel I have to say something about the other emails. I spent a lot of time sending them out to various addresses and I do think it’s a bit rude of you to not respond to any of them, even to tell me what your correct email address is. I hope we can proceed on better terms.

Ummm… “What addresses did you send to? This is our only one, though I do have personal email. However I’ve not gotten any emails from you. I’m sorry you found it hard to find our email address, it’s posted on our website in several places, but I’ll take a look and see if we can make it more obvious.”

[Responds with a list of four emails addresses, none of which have anything to do with me, or Casa SaltShaker.]

“I’m afraid none of those are ours, so we simply never received the emails. I’m sorry that none of the people at those addresses responded to you to tell you you had the wrong address.”

I don’t understand why YOU couldn’t have done that so that I wouldn’t have wasted my time.

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Welcome to my life.

The Bread & Soup Project #5 – Anguilla

First, a little “business” – I’ve gotten a couple of emails and some facebook messages asking about whether all is well at Casa S, as I haven’t been writing up dinners. All is. We’ve sort of moved into a phase where we’ve pretty much got a solid repertoire of recipes that we’re using, the long promised cookbook is finally coming together, and there’s just not a lot new to report. Mostly I’m tweaking dishes that I’ve written about before – here and there when we have a completely new dish that...

Where There’s Smoke…

I was going to start this post with a disclaimer about how rarely I eat red meat and this and maybe one or two more might be the exception. And I don’t eat a whole lot of it, but I also don’t avoid it. Much of it tends to be in the form of my burger and shawarma search kind of projects, or pizzas with sausage or bacon, or similar sorts of things. I guess, it comes down to more, I rarely go out and have a steak. But if I’m going to have red meat, a steak is probably a better choice in terms of...