The deviled chicken thighs and braised leeks we made this weekend from the Suzanne Goin cookbook. My second go-round with this rather awkwardly-written recipe, but my, were they tasty! My cousins devoured them.
Tonight, though, I will be making a beef carbonnade (since the thermometer has dropped below 90 I take that as a sign to start braising) and we will be eating that tomorrow. I imagine that for me it will surpass the chicken thighs in tastiness.
Fried up a couple chickens from Peoria a few weeks ago, with a gravy made from their backs and guts and some ridiculous mashed potatoes to sop it up with. At the last second I felt guilty and sauteed some old spinach that was hanging out in the back of the refrigerator. The chicken was one of my best fried chicken efforts yet. The spinach? Not so much.
Store-bought recent bests were an elk summer sausage and a jalapeno buffalo jerky from a little meat shack in Rollins, MT (M & S Meats, which I believe was written up in Saveur or Bon Appetit or some such rag a few years back). Also some Rainier cherries from that same area which were--how shall I say it--resplendent with that dusky sweetness that only cherries have.
My Mom's friend made some bread and butter pickles this season that were little green discs of sweet briny heaven. I had to fight my Grandpa with a fork to get the last ones out of the jar. He started it!
I had a pork belly sandwich with garlic fries for lunch at Blackbird the other day. I am sure I don't need to describe pork belly (or Blackbird) on this board, but I
will say I think Blackbird has some of the best fries I've ever had (and I try to eat fries almost every day).
Recently I tried the porchetta at Longman and Eagle. It was fabulously funky, a crackling spiral of pork on the plate, and the only stand-out in an otherwise lackluster meal. But I do seem to remember a Manhattan that I enjoyed as well.
Restaurants are not so much in the current budget (we went to L&E on a gift certificate), but I hope to have some scratch soon and more "best things" to write about and eat.