Sunbeams illuminating a coastal forest in Port Orford, Oregon

Chuggnutt!

Category: Food

  • 3 newish Bend restaurants

    Two weekends ago, the in-laws were in town from Chicago, and as always happens, we went out to dinner (and lunch) every day they were here. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be much to write about, but while they were here ate out at three of the newer restaurants here in Bend: Zydeco, Mercury Diner and Anthony’s HomePort. I thought I’d post a mini-review of each.

    Zydeco

    I’ve only eaten here twice, my wife a handful of times, and already we agree it’s one of the best places to eat in Bend. (If not the best.) Everyone I’ve spoken to who has eaten there agrees. Great food, great service, great ambience. Surprisingly, they even turned out to be kid-friendly (our three and five year olds didn’t complain), even though you wouldn’t necessarily know it.

    The two times I’ve been there, I had fish. The steelhead was great, the redfish was excellent. Everything on the menu looks good! Full range of cocktails, too; their signature drink is a blueberry martini. I had that the first time, it was good and a little different; they make their own blueberry syrup mix and after it sets for a few minutes it tends to settle to the bottle of the glass, so you need to stir it up. Fortunately that doesn’t really interfere with the enjoyment.

    And dessert! The only one we’ve had their is the almond wet cake, probably the best (and most unique) dessert in Bend. It’s hard to describe; it’s like a pound cake that has been soaked in something like four different kinds of milk (they told us something similar to this the first time we had it), so it literally is wet. Yet fantastic. Try it.

    The only drawback I could find for Zydeco is their location: they’re in the south part of Bend, on Third Street in the old Skippers building between Carrera Motors and Burger King. If you know that area of town (and that location specifically), you know that it’s not real convenient to get to and is not the place you’d expect for an upscale restaurant to be. Their traffic seems to be doing well so far, but if anything’s going to work against them I’d say it’s the location.

    Mercury Diner

    Speaking of unexpected locations, you’ll find the Mercury Diner in one at the intersection of College Way and Newport Avenue, nearly sharing a lot with a gas station. I like Mercury Diner quite a bit; my wife does not. It’s upscale dining in an almost ’50s diner atmosphere—much of the seating is in fact booths and for larger parties (six or more) they drag tables together to make room.

    Still, they have good food (I haven’t had a bad meal there yet) and reasonable service. A good beer selection, too (I haven’t run into many places around here that have Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap). Much of the fare is southern in origin; the owners are originally from Texas, so you’ll tend to find spicier food and big portions.

    I like the atmosphere, but it’s not really for big parties. We’ve always been there with six or more, and it gets crowded really quick like that. Even so, it’s worth it.

    Just be sure to ask how spicy a dish is before you order it.

    Anthony’s HomePort

    Literally brand new and located in the Old Mill District, this is probably one of the flashiest restaurants around (if the TVs above the urinals in the men’s room—among other things—are any indication). They are in a great location, on the river with great westerly views of the mountains (or they would have been great views, if it wasn’t winter and overcast), and the decor is extremely fancy. We had dinner upstairs, but a word of warning: it was very drafty. The entire area is open (it’s kind of like a loft), and the table we were at was directly in the airflow of the vents. I suspect sitting upstairs during the summer would be more enjoyable.

    The food was very good, though. I had halibut with a sour cream sauce of some kind baked on top of it, very different and tasty. Everyone else’s meals looked good too. And, the menu is nearly entirely seafood, with only three or four steak dishes (rumor has it that there was a chicken special once), so if you don’t eat seafood (like my wife), you may want to avoid it.

    Our waitress was a little daffy, I don’t know if she was having a rough night or we were just too big a group (eight of us) with some unusual food requests, or if it was just her. Maybe she was a little overwhelmed? Whatever, we’ve definitely had better service at other places, but it wasn’t bad enough to be a dealbreaker for me. Of course, I’m more tolerant than most people with restaurant service…

    As I said, the decor is amazing and flashy. I found myself pausing on the stairs on my way to and from the restroom just to look around, particularly at the entirely open kitchen. I think this will definitely be a popular place because of this, their prime location in the Old Mill District and the views they’ll boast. On the other hand, being in the Old Mill means there’s extremely limited parking; be prepared to walk a few blocks to get there.

    Overall, I’d try it again when the weather is nicer.

  • Free beef!

    Well, it’s that time of year again: In one of the strangest (yet surprisingly most effective) promotions ever to grace marketing, it’s Free Beef Month at Les Schwab!

  • Iron Chef America

    I’m really digging Food Network‘s new Iron Chef America series. It’s just a lot of fun to watch, and at a more accessible time than the original Iron Chef (9pm versus 11pm).

  • Eggnog

    Okay, it’s the holidays, who doesn’t love eggnog? Of course you could buy all the eggnog you want from the store, but that’s boring. Searching through the cookbooks we have, I found no fewer than three different eggnog recipes. The one that appeals to me the most is a combination of an egg custard and whipped cream; the others use uncooked eggs and while I know there’s almost a zero chance of getting salmonella from properly handled and stored eggs, the thought of consuming anything that’s mostly raw egg just doesn’t sit well with me.

    Here’s the preferred recipe, from Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook. It says it makes about 10 servings of ½ cup each.

    Ingredients for the egg custard:

    • 3 large eggs, slightly beaten
    • 1/3 cup sugar
    • Dash of salt
    • 2½ cups milk
    • 1 tsp. vanilla

    Mix eggs, sugar and salt in heavy 2-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat 10 to 15 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture just coats a metal spoon; remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Place saucepan in cold water until custard is cool. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours but no longer than 24 hours.

    Ingredients for the whipped cream:

    • 1 cup whipping cream
    • 2 tbsp. powdered sugar
    • ½ tsp. vanilla
    • ½ cup rum (subsitute 1 tsp. vanilla for non-alcoholic)
    • 1 to 2 drops yellow food color, if desired
    • Ground nutmeg

    Beat whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla in chilled medium bowl with electric mixer on high speed until stiff. Gently stir 1 cup of the whipped cream, the rum and the food color into custard. Pour custard mixture into small punch bowl. Drop remaining whipped cream in mounds onto custard mixture. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Serve immediately. Refrigerate any remaining eggnog.

    Sounds pretty good to me. Now, here’s an old recipe for a single serving of eggnog, from the 1956 Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook:

    • Beat together 1 well-beaten egg and 2 tbsp. sugar.
    • Beat in 1 cup chilled rich milk and either ¼ tsp. vanilla or 1½ tsp. sherry flavoring and 1 tbsp. brandy or rum.
    • Serve cold in a tall glass sprinkled lightly with nutmeg.

    Yeah. Not sure about that. Anyway, that’s one variation; the other, from The Joy of Cooking, calls for separating the yolks from the whites, beating the whites to stiff peaks and folding them back into the mixture:

    • Beat until light 12 large egg yolks.
    • Gradually beat in 1 pound powdered sugar.
    • Add very slowly, beating constantly, 2 cups dark rum, brandy, bourbon or rye, or a combination.
    • Let stand, covered, for 1 hour to dispel the eggy taste.
    • Add, beating constantly, 2 to 4 cups chosen liquor(s) and 8 cups heavy cream.
    • Refrigerate, covered, for 3 hours.
    • In another large bowl beat until the peaks are stiff 12 large egg whites.
    • Fold the egg whites gently into the other ingredients.

    The recipe claims this makes 40 servings! My favorite part is the “dispel eggy taste.” That just sounds nasty.

    Otherwise, drink up! And if it tastes too eggy or you get salmonella, well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

  • Recipe: Holiday Fruitcake

    I mentioned the other day that I’d post the fruitcake recipe I make each year, so I’m now getting around to it. What I like about this recipe is that there’s a higher ratio of batter-to-fruit than you’ll find in most modern recipes and commercial fruitcakes; they tend to be almost all candied fruit and nuts, loosely held together with the batter. Those are, in my opinion, too sickly sweet and more of a candy than a cake.

    This recipe is much more of a cake consistency, with more of the spicy batter to offset the candy-sweet of the fruit. It’s still quite dense, and despite what my wife will tell you, quite good.

    Adapted from the 1956 Betty Crocker Cookbook.

    Ingredients:

    • 1 cup soft shortening
    • 2 cups brown sugar (packed)
    • 6 large eggs
    • 3 cups flour
    • 1 tsp. baking powder
    • 1 tsp. salt
    • ½ tsp. baking soda
    • 1 tsp. cinnamon
    • 1 tsp. nutmeg
    • ½ tsp. mace
    • ½ tsp. cloves
    • ¾ cup strong coffee
    • ½ cup tart jelly
    • ½ cup molasses
    • 1½ pounds candied fruit
    • ½ pound seedless raisins
    • ½ pound chopped dates
    • ½ pound dried cranberries
    • ½ pound of nuts
    • grated rind and juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon

    Directions: Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and spices in a bowl. Set aside. Combine coffee, jelly and molasses in another bowl and set that aside also. It’s also helpful to zest and juice the lemon and the orange ahead of time.

    Preheat the oven to 300°. Prepare three 3 loaf pans by lining them with foil (leave the edges longer than the sides of the pans, so it will be easier to remove the loaves) and spraying with non-stick spray.

    Cream the shortening and brown sugar together until fluffy. Butter is good, though this year I tried Crisco vegetable shortening. Next, beat in the eggs. Then you will want to alternately stir in the powder and liquid mixtures to the main batter; I start with about a cup of the flour mixture (using an electric beater) and let that mix in, then about a half cup of the liquid. Continue until they’re all mixed thoroughly.

    Now add the fruits and nuts—be sure to use a big bowl and stir them in manually rather than trying to use an electric mixer. For the nuts, I used pecans, chopped coarsely. Finally, add the zest and juice from the lemon and orange (or, alternately, you could add them to the liquid mixture earlier).

    This will look like a lot of batter, and it is, but trust me, it will all fit into the three loaf pans (these are standard size bread loaf pans). Fill them up equally, then bake them in the oven for 2½ to 3 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine were done after 2½. Cover them the last hour loosely with foil.

    Out of the oven, you can remove them from the loaf pans to a rack to cool completely. Then, the magic: wrap them in brandy-soaked cheesecloth, then plastic wrap (waxed paper, I’ve noticed, tends to dissolve a bit with exposure to the alcohol; this is the first year I’ve used regular plastic wrap so I can’t report on it substantively yet) and foil, and store in a cool, dry place. The brandy will keep the cakes moist as they mellow with age.

    You could use other liquors, too, or even a strong wine (port might be very good). You’ll want to choose something that will complement the dark, spicy, fruity taste.

    A note about the candied fruits: I like to pick up the artificially colored stuff from the grocery store, just because it’s so festive and cheesy and tasty. This is generally made from dried pineapple, dried papaya, maraschino cherries, and citron (candied peel from citrus fruits), dyed with bright green and red colors. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s convenient and works great. However, this year I toyed with the idea of skipping this pre-made stuff and going to the source: bulk dried pineapple and papaya, and maraschino cherries (though I may still buy candied citron, because I’m not sure how to get it otherwise—if I use it at all) and chopping them up myself. I may do this next year.

    And the other fruits I added—raisins, dates, and cranberries—can be varied, too. The original recipe called for currants, and I’ve seen recipes with blueberries, dried apricots, and dried cherries. Get creative, but stick with fruits that have low acidity and dry well. Dried apples, mango, figs, coconut, perhaps even cantaloupe could all be interesting.

    And if you’ve read this far, a couple of links: Alton Brown’s Free Range Fruitcake recipe from Food Network, and Wikipedia’s Fruitcake article.

  • December 1st

    December is upon us already. Bust out your advent calendars (we did), hang your wreaths (we did), Christmas is a mere 24 days away. Was Thanksgiving really less than a week ago? Jeez, having this cold must be screwing with my sense of time.

    I made my traditional fruitcakes over the weekend. Really! I (loosely) follow a recipe from an older Betty Crocker cookbook, it’s better than most modern fruitcake recipes I’ve seen, and I wrap the fruitcakes in brandy-soaked cheesecloth to mellow for a month (or more, depending on when I make them). That’s the secret, soaking in brandy and aging. I love my fruitcakes. You would, too. Maybe tomorrow I’ll post the recipe I use.

    Gotta gear up for more holiday baking, too. Gingersnaps, sugar cookies (shaped and cutouts), fudge, at least. I remember one thing my mom used to make for the holidays: dates stuffed with almonds and cream cheese and rolled in powdered sugar. Awesome! More work than I want to take on right now, though.

    Mmmmmmmm, December.

  • The Jones Soda Holiday Pack

    When I was reviewing the server logs, I kept wondering why there were occasional searches for “green bean casserole soda” leading here, which seemed totally random. I figured it out today; it’s part of the new Jones Soda Holiday Pack, which is related to the Turkey Soda post I made last year around this time.

    Holidays can be busy and down right stressful. How can you squeeze in eating when you have much more important tasks like shopping, decorating, and partying? Well the makers of last year’s popular Turkey & Gravy Soda have come up with a solution: the complete holiday meal replacement set equipped with a square meal, a straw, and a toothpick.

     

    Introducing 5 new, flavor filled, tasty holiday sodas:

    • Turkey & Gravy Soda
    • Cranberry Soda
    • Mashed Potato & Butter
    • Green Bean Casserole
    • Fruitcake Soda

    It’s only $15.95 per case! I think I know what I want for Christmas…

  • Cooking for engineers

    I discovered this site via Slashdot the other day, and given my current fixation on cooking geekery via Alton Brown, I find it pretty cool: Cooking For Engineers. I especially like the nifty recipe tables… very creative use of HTML tables.

    In other odd-yet-apropos geek cooking news, Meg Hourihan, the co-founder of Blogger, is giving up the computer life to be a chef. Quite a leap.

  • I’m Just Here For the Food

    I don’t know why exactly, but for some reason I always think in terms of buying and owning a book when I want to read it. And if the money’s not handy (it usually isn’t), I resign myself to possibly getting the book as a gift for my birthday or Christmas. Ironically, I almost never think of the library, so it’s always pleasant to “discover” how good and useful the library is.

    Today I picked up I’m Just Here For the Food from the library, a book I’ve been coveting for some time now but (of course) hadn’t been willing to shell out the $32.50 (ouch!) for. (I just started it but so far, it’s a really good book. It already answered one of the main questions I have from Alton Brown‘s TV show—why does he use kosher salt all the time?) And since I rediscovered how nice the library is, I’ve already added 3 other books to my account to keep an eye on via the online interface.

    Online? Yeah, the Deschutes Public Library website has a complete catalog interface that lets you do, well, anything via the web that you can do in the library: search the catalog, request items from other libraries, place holds… okay, this isn’t news to people who are, well, literate and visit the library. But I still think it’s pretty nifty.

    So go visit a library! They rock!

  • Recipe: Cream Cheese Pie

    This recipe is one we found years ago—it actually comes from Cool Whip, and is really quite good (and quite decadent). It originally came from the back of the lid label on a Cool Whip container. I’m posting it here because we had a hard time finding it the other day, and I couldn’t find the exact recipe online anywhere either. So, enjoy!

    Ingredients:

    • 1 package (8 oz.) of cream cheese, softened
    • 1/3 cup sugar
    • 1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
    • 2 tsp. vanilla
    • 3 cups Cool Whip (8 oz. tub)
    • 9 oz. graham cracker crust

    Directions: Beat cream cheese until smooth, and gradually add sugar. Blend in the sour cream and vanilla. Fold the Cool Whip into the mixture, blending well. Spoon into the graham cracker crust, and chill for at least four hours.