This 2022 holiday season I introduced a couple of new items to my kitchen tool box which is important as we grow as chefs.
The paella pan is made by Garcima from Valencia, Spain and is a traditional polished steel paella pan that I plan to use to prepare risotto. The pan seems well made and carries a 2 year guarantee. I look forward to cooking with it.
The Dutch Oven is called Pure Intentions ‘Ecolution’ by Epoca Int’l in Florida. This pan is also stainless steel with a tempered glass top. This item has a Limited Lifetime Warranty and will be good for boiling stuff.
The wooden roller is an Everyday Living item distributed by Inter-American Products and was made in Taiwan. It has held up pretty well so far for helping to thin out homemade pasta for my noodle cutting machine. This item has a quality guarantee or receive a full refund. How can you go wrong?
Whatever your budget or skill level remember that joy comes from sharing and cooking is to be shared, so bring joy to the world and keep cooking. Happy holidays.
The Dude of Food grew up as an only child with a working mom who disliked cooking. Her 3 motto’s in life were:
‘where there’s smoke, there’s dinner’
‘you can never be too rich or too thin’
‘go play on the freeway’
The refrigerator to me was something to go look in at someone else’s house. That is how I learned about food, by looking in other peoples fridges and lunch boxes to see what they ate like. It took me years to get over just casually opening and looking inside of someones fridge. Sometimes I still do.
On special Saturday mornings as a kid I used to make a can of Spaghettios or Franco American Macaroni with cheese sauce as a treat.
One of the places I would wander over to visit was the house of the Italian family down the street. They had 3 older girls and a boy my age and they always had food on the stove. Their kitchen was the best. Homemade pastas, sauces, pizzas, rapini and as we got older their mother made everything with red onions so our lungs would stay healthier. This Italian mother even made liver taste good. She used thin slices of liver and loads of onions.
When we would go back east to visit their Italian relatives I would be blown away that every Italian kitchen was the same, warm and full of food. We couldn’t go anywhere without eating a plate of food and sipping some homemade wine. By the third or fourth visit you’d be pretty full but the hosts would get offended if you didn’t eat their food and thought you liked the other family better so you had to eat, drink and be merry. It was great and nothing but love.
When I went to visit the youthful home of my Italian buddies father in Italy I was blown away at the genuine love, hospitality and meals shared with me.
I am forever grateful and extremely thankful. This love of family and sharing food has never left me. Recently I began preparing homemade pasta noodles after lessons from my friends uncle’s wife, Aunt Mary, whom I’ve known since I was in 5th grade. I’m now 56 years old. In researching how to make a better noodle I was directed to YouTube and discovered the next best thing since beer was created. The name of this Youtube Angel is Grandma Gina Petitti.
Grandma Gina is precious and I instantly fell in love with her. She speaks just like everyone in my buddies family and reminds me of the best of my childhood. If you are still reading this then you must go to visit Gina https://www.youtube.com/c/BuonAPetitti/videos and see for yourself.
Grandma Gina Petitti
Watch and learn to make noodles, ravioli or any other quality Italian dish you might be interested in preparing. You will learn to cook properly and have your heart warmed at the same time. She’s awesome.
M & W Gourmet Foods of Oxnard, CA was begun in 2006 at 3 Farmers Markets with the desire to create “a healthy snack alternative.” Over the last 16 years these snack makers have grown into a really good thing keeping many people happily snacked up.
photos: P. Pearce
The Dude of Food discovered these tasty snack treats while being on set and finding his way to the craft service table. These roasted almond filled snack bags are a great replacement to donuts and potato chips. Over time more and more flavors became available with 11 roasted almond flavors currently available at their web page (https://www.mwgourmetfoods.com) including many creative tasty flavors. Some of the Dude of Foods favorites include Coconut Macaroon, Honey Cinnamon and Cappuccino.
Above you see pictured a variety of a few of Mexico’s famous lager beers. Not pictured are Estrelle Jalisco, Corona Familiar, Montejo and Victoria.
It’s interesting because my German friends who visit the states choose Mexican lagers when they are here as they resemble Munich Helles beer a little bit.
Another similarity about Mexican lagers when compared to Munich Helles is the ABV content. Both share a roughly 5% count, German beer a touch over and Mexican beer a touch under. Following are the ABV levels of Mexico’s most popular lagers.
Bohemia Lt 5.3 %
Carte Blanca 4 %
Corona Extra 4.6 %
Corona Familiar 4.8%
Dos Equis Green 4.2 %
Estrelle Jalisco 4.5 %
Modelo Especial 4.5 %
Modelo Negro 5.4 %
Montejo 4.5 %
Pacifico 4.5 %
Sol 4.5 %
Tecate 3.9 %
Victoria 4 %
Now you see why folks can drink so many beers while trying to hit the pinata.
In Munich three major breweries are Augustiner, Hacker – Schorr and Lowenbrau. There are many more.
Augustiner Helles 5.2 %
Hacker-Schorr 5.5 %
Lowenbrau 5.2 %
Germans don’t put anything in their beers and have a law dating back to 1516 called Reinheitsgebot. In Mexico they make an awesome drink called a Michelada which is like a bloody Mary except with beer instead of vodka. Now the Dude of Food enjoys making micheladas.
2 great michelada mixes. Both on Instagram
Next Sunday try making some of these delicious day starters while planning what to BBQ.
If you love fish then you will certainly love adding these mixes into your favorite ceviches. I add the spicier, LA Pinche Mezcla, to mine and it is the best! Guaranteed satisfaction. It’ll make you wanna say Odele!
Think of all the things that could be. Less food wasted and more people fed. More composting for better future growing conditions. Less waste dumped into the ocean so we’re not polluting our food & water sources. Do you pee on your garden?
Think better built, longer lasting, reusable products. Life quality in litter free cities like Amsterdam is nice. Public gardens that grow herbs for local restaurants like in Santa Monica. Munich has great public gardens that house streams, trees, ducks, deer and serve beer. I mog di Minga!
Take a look at your decisions and food waste footprint and ask yourself the choices you can choose to make life better for you and those around you.
This blend of cow, sheep and goat milk from Italy made by the fine folks at Caseificio Dell’Alta Langa is absolutely delicious. Soft enough to spread on crackers and will easily melt into hot pasta. The flavor in this cheese is rich enough for cheese experts and lively enough to wake up a boring appetizer party.
The Dude of Food melted a good chunk of this cheese into some hot noodles the other day and was stoked I did. I can see myself craving this cheese in the near future.
The Federal Aviation Administration has used its authority to shut down technology that helps people live better. The increased quality of life in small towns has been thwarted by ‘the system’ as the FAA grounds the Lakemaid Beer drone delivery program in Wisconsin. Does this move say that capitalism is not for everyone?
You can see the drone in action by going to see the following YouTube video.
You can read all about the perceived issues the FAA has but in reality it seems that Lakemaid Beer has a great idea and this program would be a good beta test for the Amazon delivery drone development plan. Or maybe Amazon has something to do with the demise of the Lakemaid program? Stuff to think about as the hands of the clock get closer to happy hour. Prost.
The famous beer author Pete Brown describes Lambic and Gueueze style beers, commonly called sour beers, in the following way – ‘Instead of adding laboratory-cultured yeasts to start the fermentation of sugar into alcohol, lambic brewers rely on the natural yeasts in the air around them.’ Pete would know. I love reading his books because he knows about beer.
Making beer this way was the way of fermenting your brew. Back in the early brewing day taste was partially dependent on what bacteria fell into your beer. That would start the fermentation process and affect the taste of your wort or alcohol stew. The luckiest brewers came up with something different and delicious.
Below are three brewers the Dude of Food recommends you should begin your sour beer journey by investigating first. Prost.
One of the latest things the Dude of Food has experienced is this food called Cauliflower Hot Wings. When my buddy said we were going to a vegan place to have a couple beers because they had a good selection, I felt my enthusiasm drop a bit. ‘I’m not a vegan’ I thought to myself. ‘This has the potential to really suck’ was the last thought that flowed through my head as we got out of the car.
Upon entering the room, Sage Plant Based Bistro in Echo Park, we saw the place was as full as any good happy hour spot should be and everyone seemed to be having a genuine good time. Not a bunch of folks looking around gauging how the cool people act, but real folks having real conversations. ‘This is starting out great’ my head whispered to itself.
My buddy and I found the last 2 seats at the bar and asked for a couple of IPA’s on tap. The beer choices were decent. Then we requested the Cauliflower Hot Wings. I wasn’t totally down with these by the way they sounded but after they arrived at the table and I tasted one, I was addicted. These things are delicious! The vinegar was strong and burned the senses just like they did in Buffalo at the old Garcia’s Bar or the original Anchor Bar (home of wings).
If you are trying to stick to your New Year’s resolution by eating better, than get yourself and some friends over to the Sage Plant Based Bistro in Silver Lake and enjoy something delicious.
In 1582 the rich folk of Europe used to wear fancy, albeit uncomfortable looking things called a ruff around their necks. See this picture painted in the early 1600’s called ‘Portrait of an Old Woman’ by Frans Hals of Antwerp. Popular King Henry IV wore a ruff too.
In fact in Paris 1592 King Henry IV inaugurated use of the very first fork ever because of his ruff. The food tool was designed to keep people’s dinner off of their ruffs. Henry may have been a slave to fashion but using the fork stuck, so to speak.
The establishment where this 1st fork thing went down with Henry happened at a restaurant known as Tour d’Argent. This place once made a menu for a dinner hosted by the Duke of Richelieu, who was the nephew of a French Cardinal, that consisted solely of beef prepared 30 different ways! I wonder if this is where steak tartare came from? In 1929, La Tour d’Argent prepared it’s 100,000th famous ‘Caneton Tour D’Agent’ dish. For the curious non French reader this translates as pressed duck. They began numbering the amazing dish in 1890 and served pressed duck number 1,000,000 in 2003. That reminds me of a joke that always quacks me up.
Q: Why did the duck cross the road?
A: He saw a Tour d’Argent chef ahead.
You can read more about the historic La Tour d’Argent and it’s history at https://tourdargent.com/en/heritage/ To read more about the famous chefs of La Tour d’Argent click to
