May 2011

Molasses Spice Bars

I deal in historic recipes, but food can have any number of kinds of history: development over centuries, fusion with new cultures, family tradition. Some recipes have personal history: these molasses bars belong to this last group.


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Tzuper Tzimmes: Beef Braised with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes

Passover has been past for a while. At this point many [meat-eaters] who observed it are still breathing a big sigh of relief every time they sink their teeth into a piece of bread. The hankering for brisket from the first seders, however, can also linger for a while after the holiday. Whenever I cook brisket I make a lot, and have leftovers for days. Yet I’m always bereft when the last of it is gone: I’m kind of an addict.  Thankfully, I found a recipe in The Complete American Jewish Cookbook for a prune-sweet potato tzimmes made with brisket. It’s far simpler and faster than a full-on brisket, but still yields tender, flavorful meat.


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Boudin Noir

This month’s Charcutepalooza challenge is grinding. When I was reading up on sausage in Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn’s Charcuterie, however, I stumbled across a recipe for one of my favorite foods: blood sausage.

Yep, you heard right. I adore blood sausage. In all its forms. I accidentally wound up eating soondae (Korean blood sausage) in a restaurant in Queens where I ordered by pointing at an English-less menu. Halfway through the meal I realized this wasn’t your average sausage…but by that point I was hooked. Since then, I’ve never looked back, and have only forged on – to morcilla, black pudding…and now my very own homemade boudin noir.


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