January 7, 2012: What I did today!

Besides watch NFL football playoff action of course.

After watching an episode of Top Chef last night, I was in a braising mood this morning.  I went to the butcher, figuring I'd pick up a pork shoulder when counter man, Spencer, directed me to the fresh, milk-fed goat they'd just got in.  Capretto!  My mother used to make it all the time!  I had them cut up a shoulder, then stopped by next door for some apples and pears…

Always sear off your meat before the braise. I usually coat the pieces in flour and spices (in this case salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and hot paprika) before transferring them to a hot cast-iron pan.

Sear them to a nice, brown finish, 2-3 minutes on each side.

Choose your braising liquid. In this case, I used some apple juice, apple sauce, veal stock, a couple of apples and pears, and a half bottle of ice wine. Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees, covered, and allow it to cook for 3 hours. Test the meat. It should be fork-friendly. If not, let it could until tender. Then, drop the temperature to 300 degrees and cook, uncovered, for another 30 minutes.

I finished it under the broiler for ten minutes, then served!

Since the guys are coming over for football tomorrow, I thought dessert would be appropriate.  Or, more to the point, dessertS.  First up: pistachio truffles.

Whenever I make truffles, people are all sorts of impressed but here's a secret for you: they're not that hard to make.  Chop 9 oz of your favorite chocolate (I prefer a nice Callebaut 70%), then either melt over a double-boiler OR heat up 3/4 cups of heavy cream and mix it with your chocolate.  Whichever way you choose to go, that's 9 oz chocolate + 3/4 cups heavy cream.  Whisk it up and add your flavoring. I always add a couple of tablespoons of some liqueur.  Frangelico and Kahlua are great choices as is rum.  Today, I went with Galliano (I like its relatively subtle vanilla flavor) and a half cup of crushed pistachios. Transfer the mixture to a refrigerator and let it cool for 3-4 hours or overnight.

Once it has cooled, it should be ready to roll…

Scoop and roll.

I use a mortar and pestle to crush the pistachios I'll roll my truffles in to create a nice, crunchy outer layer. Alternate ways to go include cocoa powder, powdered sugar or, if you're feeling really adventurous, crushed cookies like amaretti.

Et voila! Pistachio truffles!

It's been week since I made ice cream, so I decided to experiment with some of the stuff my sister got be for Christmas.

Namely the Speculoos (Dutch cookie) spread. Damn, this stuff is good.

Bring 2 1/2 cups of milk to a boil. Whisk together 8 egg yolks, 12 spoons of sugar (I only went with 6 since I was adding the Speculoos), 2 teaspoons of cornstarch. Add the hot milk and two tablespoons of the Speculoos, whisk, and transfer back to the pan. Simmer over low heat until a custard forms, then transfer to refrigerator overnight. You want it nice and cool for churning.

While it's churning, I like to add (what is known in the ice cream industry as) "particulates". In this case, Akemi used a piping bag to make some speculoos particulates that I included, along with a couple of tablespoons of Galliano. Again, a nice, subtle liqueur.

Once the ice cream had firmed up, we transferred it to a container, layering it with a crunchy version of the speculoos for a nice textural contrast.

Speculoos Ice Cream - done!

 Checking in on some friends:

Tara, former Transporter stand-in and Toronto arch-nemesis, blogs about her recent vacation, the shitty Sonesta Maho Beach Resort in St. Maarten, and mistakenly swallowing a suppository: Vacation Diaries Pt. 1.  Bikini pics to come in Pt. 2!

Joseph Dilworth of Pop Culture Zoo is looking for funding for his own indie comic book: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1222studios/believer

Alastair Reynolds' new book hits the shelves June 5th.  You can check out the trailer here: Blue Remembered Earth trailer

John Scalzi talks about his encounters with authors before he was published: In Which I Meet Some Authors

Ask author Joe Abecrombie anything: Ask me Anything.  Anything!

Mailbag:

Astrumporta writes: "Joe, you might find this article about Japan interesting… it explains how the West has a totally distorted view of Japan's economic state, e.g. it's always presented in the US as a 'failure', while the truth is anything but. Very illuminating! http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/the-true-story-of-japans-economic-success.html"

Answer: Fascinating read.  It's interesting how both sides seem to benefit from the myth.  Hey, speaking of Tokyo…oh, I'll save it for another blog entry.

Tam Dixon writes: "What does Spamochi mean?"

Answer: It's my bastardized version of "supamochi" which is a bastardized version of "supa mucho" (super sour) chips.  I've decided that "supamochi"  should be synonymous with "awesome".

Tam Dixon also writes: "What was the Japanese word that meant "don't work yourself to death"?"

Answer: That would be karoshi.  Our buddy Alexander still has the "Don't Karoshi" post-it Akemi made for him stuck to his laptop.

Narelle from Aus writes: "Thanks Joe and to everyone that's emailed or sent good thoughts our way."

Answer: Let us know how you're doing.

Michael Papak writes: "Based on what little I know, I would love to see Dark Matter: The Series picked up."

Answer: You're not the only one.  I was telling my agent yesterday that we really need to position Dark Matter as the SF equivalent of a Sopranos or a Breaking Bad, a premium series with twists, turns, and serialized potential.  Sound crazy?  Well, three years ago, the notion of an ongoing zombie series may have seemed ludicrous to most and yet, now, it's one of the hottest shows on cables.

Michael writes: "Why doesn't Akemi have her own blog again?"

Answer: Of course she does.

dasNdanger writes: "Mr. Das' big lyric misunderstanding was the AC/DC song, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap."

Answer: Me = Bad Moon Rising: There's a bathroom on the right.

JaratheMusicLover writes: "Hey… I just was wondering what you thought of the idea of Eli fixing the stasis pod, and the crew waking up thousands of years later by being intercepted by an advanced alien race?"

Answer: A variation of one of the scenarios we were considering - May 12, 2011: Stargate: Universe, Beyond Season 2! What Might Have Been!