Memorial Day 2013

Memorial-Day
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.”
— George S. Patton

I Have Lied To You: Shrimp Does Not Need High Heat!

My mantra has been that shrimp does best in a quick blast of the highest heat you can manage — hot pan, hot oven, hot grill. And admittedly it works well; the shrimp doesn’t become rubbery and chewy, and caramelized exteriors are rarely a bad thing.

But……we were in Charleston recently, and my lovely wife had a shrimp dish at Slightly North of Broad that was perfection. The shrimp were perfectly cooked, but more tender than is possible! How did they do it?

Well, I guessed gentle heat, and as my experiments over the past week have shown, I am on the right track. Give it a shot….start with a medium pan and cook some peeled shrimp for just a few minutes.

Trust me. Have I ever led you astray?

Merry Christmas!

I find this to be a lovely antidote to the aggressively anti-religion stance that so many take during the Christmas season. I am Jewish, but I see nothing wrong with recognizing that Christmas is, in fact, a religious holiday. And let’s face it, Christmas food can be fantastic! I will never forget the Serrano hams that old family friends used to serve at their Christmas parties. And a well-made egg-nog? great stuff!

However, my new favorite Christmas food (it isn’t really specific to Christmas, but I had it a few days ago at a pre-Christmas dinner, so….) is a dish I had never heard of: Soubise. Onions, rice, butter, cream and Gruyère. Fantastic!