I attended Farm Camp this past weekend, an experience developed for food industry professionals by the folks behind Flying Pigs Farm in Shushan, NY.  My time there was profoundly life-changing, and is sure to be the subject of many a post here but, for starters, I wanted to share some egg freshness tips from Jen Small, one of the co-founders and farmers of Flying Pigs, that certainly came as news to me.  For example, I had no idea just how long a good quality egg would last under refrigeration (two months or so), or that the albumen (the white of the egg) is slightly cloudy for the first few hours after the egg is laid, and then eventually clears – a subject with which one is only concerned when making one’s breakfast out of very freshly laid eggs, as we had the great fortune of doing yesterday morning.  The eggs from Flying Pigs are always top notch thanks to the well-treated birds that are granted generous access to good quality feed and have plenty of room to roam around the rolling hills of Shushan to feast on bugs.  But, how do we always know for sure if our eggs are fresh?  There are a few checkpoints, according to Jen.  First and foremost, you can drop your eggs into a deep container of cold water – the very freshest ones will sink to the bottom and lay on their side.  But just because they float doesn’t necessarily mean they’re bad.  Older eggs will rise to the top because the air cell within them gets larger with age.  These are the eggs Jen chooses to hard boil, as the larger air space makes them easier to peel. 

Cracking the egg open will reveal much more about its freshness.  You’ll know right away by the smell (foul) if it’s turned.  Once out of the shell, the yolk of the raw egg should sit up straight in the whites.  The older the egg, the flatter and softer the yolk will be.  The thicker the whites, the better.  If the chalaza (stringy white bits on either side of the yolk that anchor it to the center of the egg) are in tact, you know your egg is very fresh as the chalaza will deteriorate with age.

Helpful tips, but I recommend always buying your eggs from Flying Pigs (available Fridays and Saturdays at the Union Square Greenmarket) or other local farms doing things the right way, as they’ll be gobbled up long before they have any chance of losing their freshness.  

 

This blew my Monday morning addled mind. A British man apparently has invoiced Pret A Manger, amongst 50 other companies, for time wasted waiting on line. And apparently Pret A Manger, as well as 3 other companies ARE PAYING HIM! This gives me a whole new perspective on lunch.

My question to you is, who would you invoice for your idle time?

Read: Telegraph.uk via GrubStreet

You likely know Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer, and if you’ve had it, you know that Castries Peanut Rum Crème is a deliciously silly tipple, so in pursuit of a presidential cocktail for the 39^th president, I naturally wanted to incorporate the stuff.

I’d encountered plenty of sweet, froofy Castries cocktails at Tales, but wanted to create something more complex and maybe a little manlier, as well – after all, Carter was in the Navy. Bourbon? But it is hot as Hades out now, and a brown spirit base with a milky component just sounded wrong, like so much nog. And then it hit me: beer.

A Nutshell History of American Beer: proliferate and reflective of European beer traditions until Prohibition; stagnant during Prohibition; dominated by the “big three” in the post-Prohibition era (Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors); and relatively recently, somewhat slowly, flowering into a full-blown craft beer culture.

Why has it flowered? Arguably, thanks to legislation that was passed during Jimmy Carter’s presidential tenure, signed off on by the cardigan-wearing New Southerner himself. For whatever reason (oversight on the part of lawmakers or conspiracy at the hands of the big three, take your pick), home brewing had been illegal in the United States since Prohibition. Its legality led to a greater awareness of good beer, more people attuned to brewing it, interest in craft breweries and hey presto, great suds at every corner store in the city.

And so in my presidential series, I celebrate Jimmy Carter with a cocktail based on good American beer: Anchor Steam’s Anchor Porter, an intense, hoppy, coffee-and-chocolate beer made with care in San Francisco by an early beneficiary of the interest in craft brewing - one of the country’s finest, smallest, and most traditional breweries.

To give the cocktail a little characteristic sass – after all, Carter did lust, even if only in his heart, and never holds his tongue when criticizing current world leaders - I served the drink with a rim made from a couple of crushed peanuts and equal parts salt and sugar. It ends up being roasty, nutty, and even a little refreshing.

The Jimmy Carter

3 ounces Anchor Porter

1.5 ounces Castries Crème 

Shake ingredients over ice and strain into a coupe rimmed with a salty-sugar blend. Top with a scant scrape of nutmeg.

Our good buddy Dave Wondrich, stopped by the Colbert Report to mix up a few cocktails for Stephen, as well as create one just for him. He mixes up a few of the popular cocktails from American History (Civil War, Prohibition) as well as the Colbert Bump.

THE COLBERT BUMP

1 ounce Heering cherry liqueur
1 1/2 ounces gin
1/4 ounce lemon juice
Splash of soda wate

Stir in a tall glass with 3/4 ice

To be filed under ‘Things I had to Learn the Hard Way’: Multiple Brooklyn Brewery Coffee Stouts + many many pours of saké + a Kolsch nightcap = a great time…followed by queasiness, a pretty hardcore headache, and a general sense of malaise.  The fact that all of this went down on a Wednesday night and Thursday morning, respectively, meant that I had one rough day of work ahead of me.  After my go-to hangover cure (toasted jalapeno bagel with veggie cream cheese and a gallon of blue Gatorade) failed to produce any serious relief, I began to feel a bit desperate.  That is until I remembered that just the day before, like mysterious gift from the party gods, a sample of this had arrived in the mail.  Hangover Buster.  I’m aware that the photo is awful and blurry, but that’s quite reflective of my state of mind when I took it.

I’ll admit it; I was sketched out by this product.  More specifically, I was sketched out by this statement:

I’m still unclear as to why they’re quite so serious about the water being room temperature.   But, I was in dire straits.  What choice did I have?  So I mixed it up in my empty Gatorade bottle (because I’m a classy lady) and hoped for the best.

I kid you not, mere moments later I was already starting to feel better.  My headache was gone, I could think clearly once again, and the slightest physical exertion (sitting upright) no longer made me feel like death would be sweet relief.  Granted all of that was replaced by a racing heart, a freakish level of productivity, and the sudden urge to run around the block for an hour or two.  Turns out there’s a hefty dose of vitamins in each serving, plus an insane amount of caffeine.  And willow bark which, according to Wikipedia, is traditionally used as a remedy for aches and fever.  Who knew?

Final verdict: Astor Center does not recommend making a habit of ingesting things that randomly arrive in the mail.  I can, however, confidently admit that not feeling like death for an entire day is absolutely worth a heart palpitation or two.

Years ago I read a quote from troubadour Steve Earle where he stated, “Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boot and say that.”. While I know it was said slightly tongue-in-cheek, I'd like to just go on record stating that I emphatically disagree with that line of thinking. Please. Have you read the lyrics to “Visions of Johanna”, “To Ramona” or “Idiot Wind”?! The reason I bring this up is that there’s something about the boldness behind his chosen words which I was reminded of this past weekend while enjoying a bottle of rosé. Not any bottle of rosé though. As a matter of fact, I will go as far as to say that R. López de Heredia in Rioja produces the best rosé in the whole world.  And this uber-traditional producer has had a bit of time to perfect their skills as they’ve been making wines for a hundred and thirty-one years.

There are so many aspects of this rosado which set it above and beyond its fellow pink bottlings. To start with, the issue of that color pink. It's not. While most rosés are celebrated each spring with the vibrancy of a current vintage, the Lopez de Heredia is eleven years old before released and has taken on a more copper-orange hue. The grape breakdown is Tempranillo, Garnacha and Viura. While aging may vary per vintage, the most recent 1998 spent four and a half years in oak barrels and then six more in bottle. Not only does the light tawny color get me every-single-time, but the nose(!)...it's unforgettable. Tangerine, apricot, orange blossom and dried fruit with notes that remind you of oxidized sherry. To say this wine is complex and rich would be the oenological understatement of the year. And the minerality in the finish, I'm still tasting it this Monday afternoon. Yes, it's that long.

The gourmands of Astor Center will tell you this is best paired with something along the lines of Middle Eastern, Indian or Thai.  I chose to savor it on its own while watching Guy Maddin's Brand Upon The Brain!. But this is really something you should not simply take my word for.  Be adventurous and pick up a bottle at Astor Wines & Spirits tonight.

Oh, and Townes Van Zandt had this response to Mr. Earle's comment, "I've met Bob Dylan and his bodyguards, and I don't think Steve could get anywhere near his coffee table."

Ever had buttermilk straight before?  I hadn't either.  Why?  Because that sounds pretty gross.

But when the lovely Cruze Family, the folks behind Cruze Farms Buttermilk, parked their truck on Lafayette St. to begin to unload for day 1 of the New York Food Film Festival (in which their Film 'Buttermilk, It Can Help' was featured), within seconds everyone in sight was handed and sweaty bottle and instructed to taste. 

Shockingly, it's pretty good!  The buttermilk is pleasantly rich and tangy, but has a texture I found challenging at first.  That is until I found out the 'chunkiness' is the result of pure flecks of butter that don't get strained out of the mix - suddenly the texture was a-ok with me.  Of course I can think of ten thousand things I'd like to bake with it, but the straight buttermilk would also be a lovely stand in for my morning yogurt, could be blended into a mean smoothie, or poured on cereal for a more savory experience (something I, as a girl who doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, welcomes wholeheartedly).  Earl Cruze crumbles cornbread into it for a snack, which is just so charmingly southern I can hardly handle it.  And, according to Cheri Cruze, buttermilk also happens to be a secret cure for a hangover, something a girl in my chosen field of employment can also get behind.

But, we can only drink so much straight buttermilk, and so I decided to make a serious breakfast for everyone this morning, using the Cruze's wares to whip up some pancakes.

Buttermilk Pancakes 

Serves 3 to 4 (about 8 3-inch pancakes).  

Ingredients     

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

½ teaspoon table salt 

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk (the highest quality you can find)

1 large egg, separated 

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 

Vegetable oil, for brushing griddle

 Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl. Pour buttermilk into 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup. Whisk in egg white; mix yolk with melted butter, then stir into milk mixture. Dump wet ingredients into dry ingredients all at once; whisk until just mixed.
2. Meanwhile, heat griddle or large skillet over strong medium-high heat. Brush griddle generously with oil. When water splashed on surface confidently sizzles, pour batter, about 1/4 cup at a time, onto griddle, making sure not to overcrowd. When pancake bottoms are brown and top surface starts to bubble, 2 to 3 minutes, flip cakes and cook until remaining side has browned, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Re-oil the skillet and repeat for the next batch of pancakes.

Although we have different conversational flourishes for describing a flashy gent nowadays, raspberries are still dear, even in the age of commercial farming. I prefer to enjoy mine only when they are in season and I can buy them at the greenmarket. One way to extend their availability and to make the most of a $5 pint is to use them to flavor spirits - their shelf life becomes very long, and one pint will give you about a quart of liqueur if you follow these simple instructions:

Raspberry Liqueur

Wash your pint of berries and place them in a quart mason jar with a tablespoon of sugar to get their juices flowing. Cover the berries with two cups of high-proof spirits (I use Devil's Springs vodka, but if you have access to higher proof stuff, go for it) and allow to infuse for at least four days and up to a couple of weeks in a cool, not-too-bright place. Shake the mixture from time to time. Strain, rinse your quart jar, put the strained vodka back in the quart jar, and top with two cups of 1:1 simple syrup. Hey presto - homemade raspberry liqueur. 

You can get raspberries at the market through August, but if you don't have access to fresh berries or inclination to make things at home, I recommend you use Mathilde Raspberry liqueur, or for real Van Buren-esque decadence, use Clear Creek's Loganberry liqueur.

The Martin Van Buren

• 1.5 ounces Sazerac Rye - chosen for its creamy notes and peppery finish
• 1.5 ounces raspberry or loganberry liqueur
• Two dashes orange bitters
• Orange twist 

Shake the rye, liqueur and bitters with ice until frothy and a deep violet color. Strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice and garnish with the twist.

As a big fan of The State, which recently came out on DVD, I was happy to find this posted on MTV.com. It was hard not to think of the current bacon craze we're in the tail end of...

1. German Helles Lager - Brewery: Augustiner Brau - Munich, Germany
2. German Style Pilsner- Brewery: Stoudt's Brewing Co. - Adamstown, PA
3. German Hefeweizen - Brewery: G. Schneider & Sohn - Kelheim, Germany
4. Belgian Witbier - Brewery: Brouwerij St. Bernardus - Watou, Belgium
5. Belgian Strong Ale - Brewery: Brasserie d'Achouffe - Achouffe, Belgium
6. Belgian Abbey Tripel - Brewery: Brouwerij Westmalle - Malle, Belgium
7. American Pale Ale - Brewery: Smuttynose Brewing Co. - Portsmouth, NH
8. American IPA - Brewery: Green Flash Brewing Co. - Vista, CA
9. American Brown Ale - Brewery: Smuttynose Brewing Co. - Portsmouth, NH
10. German Dopplebock - Brewery: Braueri Aying - Aying, Germany
11. English Style Porter - Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Chico, CA
12. English Style Stout - Brewery: Rogue Ales Brewing - Newport, OR