This has been one of my favorite snacks lately: multi-grain bread with goat cheese (chevre… the spreadable kind), scallions, and thinly sliced roasted beets (with a little drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper).
I usually roast a whole tray of beets at a time (wrap in foil with olive oil and a bit of vinegar, and roast for an hour or two in a 425-degree oven), then spend what feels like an hour or two rubbing the skins off with disposable glove-clad hands. I keep the peeled beets in the fridge and slice them whenever I need them.
By the way, if your pee turns red after eating some beets, don’t freak out. It’s just the intense beet pigments. You probably are not dying. You are among the 10 to 14 percent of the population with beeturia. Note that it doesn’t always happen consistently, and may depend on the conditions (pH, gut flora activity) in your stomach and small intestine, as well as iron absorption.
You’ve probably (definitely, if you’re one of my NYC buddies) heard of Momofuku Ssäm Bar’s bo ssäm, an entire slow-roasted Boston pork butt (note that this cut of meat has nothing to do with a pig’s ass) served with oysters, rice, lettuce, and a quartet of condiments. While it’s enough meat to feed 10 hungry people, only 5 hungover ladies were there to enjoy this glorious spread for lunch this past weekend (see previous post that mentions a bachelorette party). Sunday afternoon, by the way, is a great time to visit the Ssäm Bar; it’s bright and un-crowded inside, the pace of everything is more laid back than it is during later hours of the day, and David Chang himself was there shucking our oysters. Everyone in the kitchen seemed very quiet and focused on their work, a scene that I found strangely peaceful.
After 90 minutes of additional small plates, eating, and pants-loosening, we were spent. Guess who ended up lugging home a 5 pound doggie bag? Ms. Bachelorette, her bridesmaid Jackie, John and I ate half of the pork wrapped in lettuce, the way we did at the restaurant. We all mmmed and agreed that it keeps well and makes for great leftovers. The next day, I piled some of the heated, shredded pork on top of a roll and slathered on some of the sauces that came with our meal (kimchi and kimchi puree, ssamjang, and some scallion oil) to make a Korean-ish pulled pork sandwich. I topped it off with something light and crunchy: cucumbers lightly marinated in rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and a tiny bit of sesame oil. What next, Asian burritos?
Also, if you’re feeling ambitious and don’t mind having your oven on for 8 hours, you can make your own bo ssäm at home. Just call me if you have some leftovers.
I was asked yesterday what the last meal I made was (not counting my Saturday morning hangover ramen and the jumbled leftovers I had for lunch). Incredibly, I blanked out and completely forgot about these deliciously messy Dominican chimichurri burgers (which have nothing to do with “real” chimichurri, a South American condiment made of herbs, garlic, onions, and oil). I just happened to have the appropriate vegetable odds and ends for them: part of a bell pepper, some assorted leftover onions, cilantro on the brink of spoilage, half a head of cabbage, and a bunch of baby carrots (the kind that are pulled out of the ground early, not the kind that are whittled down from ugly carrots into perfect little dipping nubs). I also added a slice of cheddar because cheese is mandatory on my burgers.
As for the beef, it was of the organic, grass-fed, dry-aged variety, from Lewis Waite Farm. Dry aging is the process of drying cuts of beef in cold temperatures to let moisture evaporate as the connective tissue in the muscle breaks down with the help of proteolytic enzymes (proteins that break down other proteins, such as those found in muscle fibers). A layer of not-scary mold forms on the outer layer of the meat, which is later trimmed off. The alternative to dry-aging is (surprise!) wet-aging, which is the process of breaking down the meat’s connective tissue in a sealed bag, keeping moisture locked in. While dry-aging can take several weeks, wet-aging takes only a few days, and is the more common method found in the U.S. Some say that the more expensive dry-aging process creates beef with a more concentrated beef flavor. Some specialty butcher shops and grocers (Fairway and Whole Foods come to mind) dry age their beef on-premises, in glass cases for you to see.
Organic and grass-fed have become pretentious buzzwords, but that doesn’t deter me from spending an extra few dollars every few months to purchase beef that has been raised without hormones or antibiotics, and fed what their bodies were designed to digest. I think it’s worth it.
I only have a few tips for making burgers:
- Season the meat adequately.
- Don’t over-handle the meat patties. It’s just not necessary. I like to use a fork to mix, and my (immaculately scrubbed) hands to lightly form the patties.
- Make a little dent in the middle of the patty (always reminds me of red blood cells), so that you end up with flat burgers, not bulging centers as the edges shrink.
- Make sure the grill or pan is nice and hot, so you get a good, flavorful sear.
(Please share your tips if you have some!)
And finally, if you want to read about “real” Dominican food in New York, this Junot Diaz piece is one of my favorite pieces of food writing ever.
