Abandoned Steel Mill in Ensley, Alabama

Good readers, I have not forgotten both of you. Over the last few months, I have been quite busy performing my writing and editing services. Birmingham Magazine took me on as their primary food blogger at Good Taste, in addition to my monthly beer and casual dining columns in their print edition. The weekly posts there have robbed this Sandwich of many posts. Sorry about that.

Strawberry-Buttermilk Ice Cream. Photo by Caleb Chancey.

In other blogland news, Birmingham photographer Caleb Chancey approached me with a collaboration that we eventually published on Kim Sunee’s website. That recipe for Strawberry-Buttermilk ice cream is one of my favorites and I was happy to share it with Caleb, Kim and her loyal following.

That brings me to my last bit of news, dear readers. After much deliberation, I left Birmingham for plumper pastures at the end of August. After three years, I feel like I had just scratched the surface of that magical city and already miss my friends and colleagues there with my whole heart. This blog, as it was centered in Birmingham and about the South, will be migrated to my other blog–The Gourmetro–and in all likelihood, this will be the final post. That site is undergoing serious upgrades and will be pretty and functional soon. The Gourmetro was originally envisioned as a group blog about excellent, attainable food and travel centered in New York City. Over my years there, it had three major contributors and I am excited to have it running again.

I am so pleased to know that BottleTree Cafe will show the documentary Food Inc Saturday, Sept 5 and Sunday, Sept 6. As excited as I am that viewers will not have to travel, as I did, it is disappointing and sobering that this excellent film, highlighting the current crisis into which our food system seems to be locked, will only be shown two days in one of the country’s most obese cities (according to Forbes, 2007).

Please reserve a ticket and support BottleTree. This film is important for everyone who eats, so no matter how well-versed on the topic you are, you will hear and see something new. Be aware that there is seriously distressing footage.

Mountain Brook, Alabama

Dram Whiskey Bar and Avo (previous posts) won’t be the only new kids on the block in Mountain Brook Village for long. This morning I noticed a bit of plywood (as the guys at Eater would say) on a walk through Mountain Brook Village: King’s House Antiques’ former residence will be taken by Florida-based franchise Another Broken Egg Cafe. Menu looks diner-casual with a predictable abundance of eggs, though hamburgers and quesadillas get some space as well. The only signage notes that they will serve breakfast, brunch, and lunch. This could be a welcome addition to the village where lunch, and especially breakfast, options are few: Gilchrist, Browdy’s, Olexa’s, Davenport’s Pizza, and Sneaky Pete’s.

The interior is quite demolished. Once I have my camera, I’d like to go back and get a shot of the pile o’ ceiling fans. The cell phone was not going to do it justice.

Details are few at this point, Wade, but I’ve put in a call with the company to find out when they’re opening, whether the location will have any leeway to use local products, and if they will have any local menu options. I’ll update as I know more.

[Update 1: NBC 13's blog wrote this post about Another Broken Egg back in October.]

[Update 2: According to owner Miller Phillips, the restaurant is slated to open September 2009.]

Mountain Brook, Alabama

Another Broken Egg Cafe
Ste 102
2418 Montevallo Rd, Birmingham, AL 35223

Dan is the producer of ‘Ham Sandwich. He should take more casual strolls through Birmingham’s quaint neighborhoods.. Read about his cooking adventures as Skip on The Gourmetro and learn about him on aisle-9.net.

Have you all heard about our imperiled Roquefort?

Basically, because the EU refuses to import American hormone-blasted meat – which, if you had a choice, would you? – the Bush administration decided to place a prohibitively high tariff (300%??!!) on Roquefort and other specialty European goods.  Not that President Obama can’t undo this ridiculous tariff, but it’s probably not high on his list, you know?  “Hmmm, first I’ll fix the economy, make an inspiring speech about it, and then I’ll make sure the people have their cheese!!”

What does this mean for you, cheese-lover?  That you may not have much longer to enjoy your precious Roquefort.  I know, even pre-tariff Roquefort is a bit on the pricier side (my former employer is selling it at cost in protest, and even then it’s $20/lb), but if you haven’t had A.O.C. Roquefort, go out and treat yourself to a little slice.  It is a salty, stanky blue cheese, so this one isn’t for amateurs.  If it’s your first time trying Roquefort, pair it with something sweet (like pears or dried fruit) to temper the tanginess.  Otherwise, all you need is a warm baguette!

Or if you’re really feeling adventurous, do like me and make Roquefort ice cream!

This recipe is from adapted from dessert god David Lebovitz.  If you love ice cream, get his cookbook The Perfect Scoop.

Roquefort-Honey Ice Cream

1/2 cup honey (none of this honey bear stuff, go get yourself some good local honey)

4 oz. Roquefort

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

4 egg yolks

In a small saucepan warm the honey, then set aside.  Crumble the Roquefort into a large bowl. Set a mesh strainer over the top.

In a medium saucepan, warm the milk – don’t let it get to boiling.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly.  Scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan. Over medium heat, stir the mixture constantly with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spoon.  This will happen very quickly, so pay attention!

Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cheese. Stir until most of the cheese is melted. Stir in the cream and the honey.  Chill custard thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  For extra sweetness, swirl in more honey at the end of the churning process.

This ice cream is very cheesey – it preserves much of the flavor of the Roquefort, so don’t make this thinking you’re getting a watered down version of the cheese.  I served mine with some caramelized pears and my dessert guests loved it – but did note that they didn’t think they could have eaten too much of the ice cream on its own.

For those of you who don’t know, I recently moved to New York – not only to get away from my dull corporate job, but to finally realize my dream of going to pastry school and becoming a real pastry chef! (cue triumphant music) And because I know all of you are checking this blog not just because you love food, but in order to procrastinate from working for the man or studying, I’m going to blog about my experience as a pastry student!

I have a full-time job working as an administrator/office manager at a small artisanal bakery in SoHo. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings I hop on over to the French Culinary Institute for 5 hours of class. The FCI is an intense program aimed mainly at those who do not have a lot of restaurant experience. Most people in my class have worked in bakeries or in food service and are avid home bakers, which is my experience as well.

Wednesday my classmates and I all arrived super-early to get our ID cards & get dressed. Our uniforms consist of houndstooth MC Hammer pants (complete with elastic waistband…tres chic) a neckerchief, chef’s jacket, long apron, and side towel. Class starts quickly, with Chef Rebecca & Chef Kir introducing themselves and all of us eager students doing the same.

Day 1 is apple tart day, so appropriately, we start off with apples for an apple compote. Chef Rebecca does a quick demo and then we’re off! The demo is informative, but very basic – she doesn’t spend time going over every minute detail. My table partner and I grab some apples, get our mis en place ready, and start peeling. The peeler we are given is abominable, so I resort the ubersharp paring knife. Unfortunately, I don’t peel apples that often – I’m lazy and like peels – so I was rather slow and ugly in my peeling. My knife skills also left much to be desired, but that could have been the slightly squishy Golden Delicious apples I had to work with. Then again, it wasn’t like my entire class was schooling me in perfect dicing – you just feel pressure to be totally awesome in a class environment where there’s a professional chef eyeing your knife technique.

After the dicing part, we concocted a simple apple compote with our diced apples, sugar, lemon juice, & vanilla paste (more concentrated than vanilla extract, not quite as good – or as expensive – as vanilla beans). It cooked til it was a chunky applesaucey consistency and then was spread out on a sheet pan to cool.

Next was pate sucree. Francophiles and foodies will know that this means “sugared pastry” and is a very simple dough to make. We creamed butter & powdered sugar together and gradually added eggs to make an emulsification. Then cake flour was slowly added to make the dough. Pate sucree is similar to a shortbread dough, and not nearly as temperamental as pate brisee or a traditional pie crust.

For our own tart shells, we used pate sucree made by a previous class, because dough needs time to chill and rest before shaping. We started by hammering out our dough circles with rolling pins. With 18 students on stainless steel tables, it was a bit loud. We brushed off all the extra flour from the crust (more flour = more gluten = tough dough) and rolled it into a prepared tart ring.

Post-dinner, the tart shells came back out and were filled with the cooled apple compote – which looked kind of like canned crushed pineapple, oddly enough. We had to peel more apples and slice them ever-so-thinly to spiral around the top. Never have I appreciated granny smith apples more – they are so nice and firm, so perfect for cutting into thin fancy slices! Golden delicious apples, not so much. Many of my thin little apple slices came apart, but I managed to salvage enough so that they appeared pretty. I spiraled my apples and then we sprinkled them with vanilla sugar, then into the ovens!

While we were finishing our tarts, Chef Rebecca told us a little about the philosophy of French pastry. For apple tarts, cinnamon is a major faux-pas. The French believe that the pastry to be about showcasing the fruit, with only a limited number of other ingredients just added to enhance the natural flavor. So for the apple tart, only some lemon juice, vanilla & sugar, et voila! another class.

One apple tart may not sound like a huge undertaking for a 4-hour class, but it went quickly and we were rushing around using every moment. Even having made pies and tarts before, it was a bit stressful. None of us quite know where everything is yet, but are all trying to impress and make our tarts as beautiful and as tasty as possible.

Once I stumbled home late at night, my roommates peeped out of their rooms for some apple tart enjoyment. It was still warm and quite tasty, with a thick crispy crust and sweet filling.

Stay tuned for more adventures in tart-making….

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