Year, full of good health, ideas, great food, surprises, and blessings.
New Year, we want to thank you for your business in 2013, and plan to continue
to provide you with our fresh, high quality, free range, grass fed meats in
2014. We plan to post more meat recipes on Facebook and in this monthly blog to
explore the many variations of meat cooking and preparation. So we can say with
confidence – 2014 is the year of meat recipes. For starters, here’s some Amazon
reviews of a unusual recipe book that was just published last year. From Le Pidgeon
restaurant in Portland. Also, don’t miss the Anderson Ranches video
below.
by Tom Colcchio
” Serious yet playful, this debut cookbook recounts the ascension of James Beard Award winning chef Gabriel Rucker to the top of the Portland food scene and the shift of a modest neighborhood eatery to a must visit destination. Offal-centric and meat-heavy, but by no means dogmatic, this collection of 125 recipes offers uncommon delicacies like Elk Tongue Stroganoff, and Rabbit and Eel Terrine, envelope pushing twists on Beef Cheeks Bourguinon and Lamb Belly BLT, and surprisingly uncomplicated dishes like Simple Roasted Pigeon, Leek Carbonara, and Pork Tacos.”
“Gabriel Rucker, one of the hottest of the hot rock star chefs, has the humility to pay homage to the pillars of Portland’s dining scene and the brass to ‘Le Pigeonize’ every dish he cooks with his own high-spirited sensibility. Whether he’s dolloping oyster mayo on a hanger steak or turning lamb belly into a BLT, Rucker’s boisterous but disciplined cooking will both surprise you and charm the hell out of you.”
—Tom Douglas, owner of Tom Douglas Restaurants
“The recipes are split into curiously-named chapters called “Lettuce and Such”, “Tongue”, “Fat Liver”, Little Birds”, “Rabbit”, “Little Terry”, “Big Terry”, “Pork”, “Horns and Antlers”, “Lamb”, “Veg” and “Choco, Tart, Profit”. Some but not all may be fairly self-explanatory… Many of the recipes will appear “high end” and “exclusive dining” and yet when you look at the ingredients they might be everyday items that the typical consumer would avoid if they saw it in the food store. Not that many people like cooking tongue, for example, yet it sure is a versatile part and a shame to ignore it.””Here is a book that any real foodie will like, even though some of the wonderful photographs might be viewed as a little creepy or scary by many.
So, what do you get from this richly-illustrated, thick tome written by some of the team who create the culinary magic at the Portland, Oregon-based “Le Pigeon” restaurant? Things start with a genuinely interesting little introduction that explains the history of the restaurant to date and, unlike many books, this is not “ego city”. Then it is straight to the kitchen to get cooking.
The recipes are split into curiously-named chapters called “Lettuce and Such”, “Tongue”, “Fat Liver”, Little Birds”, “Rabbit”, “Little Terry”, “Big Terry”, “Pork”, “Horns and Antlers”, “Lamb”, “Veg” and “Choco, Tart, Profit”. Some but not all may be fairly self-explanatory… Many of the recipes will appear “high end” and “exclusive dining” and yet when you look at the ingredients they might be everyday items that the typical consumer would avoid if they saw it in the food store. Not that many people like cooking tongue, for example, yet it sure is a versatile part and a shame to ignore it.
This is a book you need to really read through, at least once, to get the most out of it. There is plenty of strange terminology (at least to this reviewer) and many funny anecdotes tucked away where you least expect them, such as a customer finding a bullet lodged in a long-cooked piece of tongue (!). If you are prepared to “push the envelope” a bit and trust in the authors then you will not be disappointed. This is one of those very few books that can be classed as “truly different”, an inner sanctum for foodies and food curious people, yet the authors did not need to rely on tricks or strange food combinations to create this masterpiece. The food speaks for itself.
In some ways the sheer, stark nature of some of the photographs is more “alarming” than the recipes and their textual descriptions. Cooked pigeon legs sticking out of a plastic container is not a typical image for a cookbook, that is for sure. Yet the photographs are artwork in their own right, such as that used to illustrate “Rabbit and Eel Terrine”.
It is unfortunate that our usual niggles exist in this book (lack of an estimated preparation/cooking time and use of sole U.S. measures) but this book remains sufficiently different, engaging and detailed that you just want more, more and more. The instructions given are clear, to-the-point but through so as long as you can follow a recipe and don’t burn water you would have no problems.
This won’t be a book for everybody and if the idea of cooking “less common” ingredients is possibly not for you, consider checking this book out in a bookstore first. There are more “common” ingredient recipes inside too, but for this author at least part of the charm and appeal is the use of “less common” ingredients.
One must underline that this book is capable of being suitable for everybody and not just “elite gastronomes”. You might, however, need to be less squeamish or picky and disassociate rabbit as just being something fluffy that hops around a field. If you only consider one out-of-the-ordinary book this year, give some strong consideration to this one.”
Anderson Ranches Publishes New Video
Anderson Ranches, just North of Eugene in Brownsville, is one of the largest free range, grass fed lamb ranches in the country. They have provided high quality lamb meat to us for years and year round. This video allows you to meet the owners, and hear their story. Enjoy the show, and maybe a few more lamb recipes this New Year.
From all of us at Long’s Meat Market,
we wish you a great New Year
