Lucky Peach #2

Perhaps you have become weary of the glossy advertisements for copper bottomed pans that flaunt themselves with disregard in Food and Wine or Bon Appetite, but conversely find articles on silver service-ware of early 19th century Britain impenetrable in Gastronomica.

Then Lucky Peach might be for you. You should also like swearing and have a flexible understanding of the word quarterly.

Chris Cosentino Unleashed.

Chris Cosentino is a chef whose claim to fame has been his work with offal. His restaurant in San Francisco is called Incanto. I've eaten there, its really good.

I became interested in Mr. Cosentino through a friend who turned me on to his now defunct Food Network show Chef vs. City. Watch this video because if nothing else the guy will charm you with his passion. Unfortunately, Chef Unleashed was not picked up, so it stands as a singular document to respecting the food the rest of us thoughtlessly put in our mouth.

He'll have a cookbook released in March 2012.

Chef Unleashed from Chris Cosentino on Vimeo.

Eleven Madison Park - Cookbook

As hobbies go buying cookbooks fall right into my wheelhouse. Kind of expensive with limited future use. Regardless of my current interest in making the cookbooks I own and the ones I plan on buying in the future more practical, a cookbook like the one for Eleven Madison Park balances between being aspirational and being an art object. And while I''ll admit that the Eleven Madison Park Cookbook is not just meant to sit there and look pretty.... I think for most home cooks this book is meant to sit there and look pretty. And boy howdy she sure is gorgeous.


Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook from Eleven Madison Park on Vimeo.

Mission Street Food - Review

This will mark the first of what I hope will be a bit of continuing feature of The Hungry Detective. THD was always meant to be a combination of two things I love. Crime fiction and eating food that is above my means. Things never really meshed along those lines, and the idea was abandoned. But as things became a bit fallow around here I was turning more and more to culinary adventures. Now making brownies may not seem that adventurous, and I would agree. But when your experience until now has been open box, mix in eggs, dump in pan, then improvising a double boiler suddenly becomes something more than ordinary.

Over the course of the last few months I have a acquired cooking literature both large and small. And while cookbooks have the heft of authority, zines like PUT AN EGG ON IT are just as fascinating to consume because of personal nature of something small and boutique. 

The MISSION STREET FOOD book first tells the story of how a line cook and his girlfriend/wife rose to become the most important culinary force in San Francisco. The story is told in a breezy style that suits what is ultimately a series of happy accidents. Chef Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz are under no illusions about how lucky they are. No doubt the road to success was considerably more bumpy than detailed here. Both seem to recognize that they are more blessed than curse, so why not just tell that story.

The first two-thirds of the books delightfully details the rise from a borrowed food cart that only ran for three weeks to the justifiably praised restaurants Mission Chinese Food and Commonwealth. The book is published my McSweeney's newest publish arm, McSweeney's Insatiable. Those of you have read any of McSweeney's previous publishing efforts know that they have thumbed their nose at publishing conventions at almost every turn. The MISSION STREET FOOD cookbook is no different. 

Perhaps best on display is the story, rendered as an honest to god comic, of the real estate developer who wanted to shut down Mission Street Food in their early days. Working on his only off day Myint wanted to bring his take on food to the people. Opening a store front was still a distance dream, but friends with a Food Truck allowed him to borrow their rig, and more importantly a permit. Immediately successful their second week is only bigger. But during the third week a local real estate developer is livid that Myint and his then girlfriend have set up shop near some his property. Sadly the douche wins the day, but emboldened by their success Myint movies into a local Chinese restaurant and Mission Chinese Food is born. Easy to linger over the negative Myint and Leibowitz focus on the amazing positive that came from it.

The early parts of book are filled with these little asides, words of wisdom  and funny moments that make the books so winning and fun to read. The final third of the book is filled with thoughts and approaches to food that hope to elevate a home cook to something more. I found that this section, while not chocked with recipes, offers the reader a selection of options from staples with broad appeal like chicken wings and brown rice to more complicated preparations for buzzy foods like Duck confit. Along the way Myint dispenses some plain spoken advice about preparing various cuts of meat, seafood and the oft forgotten element, the vegetable.

What is infectious about this book is not only the enthusiasm at which stories are told and recipes imparted, but the honest hope of everyone involved with this book to make you a better cook.

So about these brownies. I was desperate have the official Mission Chinese Food recipe to MaPo Tofu. Long story, very short MCF's MaPo tofu is the best thing I have eaten all year. Alas, not to be. I thought about the French Toast recipe (pg. 205) and all it variations. But I wanted something that I could cook on a Sunday afternoon with an eye on football, and something that when completed I could enjoy for a few days.

I'll be honest and say the first attempt was undone by the wrong chocolate selection and a wrong size pan. What I got was a slightly darker tasting chocolate brownie that was about three inches in height! The second time around I used a different chocolate and a more rectangular pan. The results were better. The ceramic pan I cooked the brownies in required me to double the cookie time and even at the center was pretty fudgie. Once they completely cooled the center set up and all in all the brownies were pretty delicious.

Fall Preview - 2011

There is nothing so over as Summer.  It is odd that August chokes you with heat, and then suddenly it is six week later and I have to fight from turning the heat on.

A trip home to visit my father for his 70th Birthday means this is showing up a little late. I also held off to see if a few more release dates firmed up. A good portion of this list has already arrived on shelves, so go out and buy these books.

PIRATE KING - Laurie R. King - Out Now

I have fallen behind on this series. I plan on correcting this short-sightedness soon. Her spin on Sherlock Holmes has always worked because she figured out a way to make Holmes second banana to Mary Russell.

CITY OF SECRETS - Kelli Stanley - Out Now

The second book in Ms. Stanley's highly regarded Miranda Corbie series.

FEAST DAY OF FOOLS - James Lee Burke - Out Now

Jonathan Franzen can suck it, Mr. Burke is America's best author. I'm only half serious, because I have not read Mr. Franzen. Mr. Burke on the other hand should be considered a national treasure.

OPERATION NAPOLEON - Arnaldur Indridason - Out Now

Nazi plane crash in Iceland = Awesome. My tiny concerns is the bleakness of his Erlendur series could overly infect this adventure tale.

DEVIANT - Adrian McKinty - Out Now

A criminally under read author returns with a YA title. You should probably be reading his grown up fiction as well.

CHELSEA MANSIONS - Barry Maitland - October 25

I'm an anglophile, particularly as it relates to Crime Fiction. I need to pick up the latest in the Brock and Kolla series and read this guy.

11/22/63 - Stephen King - November 8

My Stephen King experience extends to exactly one short story, Apt Pupil, of all things.  However, clocking in at nearly a 1,000 pages does give one pause.

THE DROP - Michael Connelly - November 28

Bosch = Awesome. Yeah...I went with the '= awesome' twice this post. Feel pretty good about it too. Seriously, Mr. Connelly has been firing on all cylinders with both Bosch and  Haller.

HURT MACHINE - Reed Farrell Coleman - December 18 

Mr Coleman has long been an author I would love to read. Less trying, more doing. Thanks Yoda.

The Cold, Cold Ground - Dust Jacket

Book releases in January 2012. Could. Not. Be. More. Excited! That it lacks an American publisher is unfortunate, but at this point in my life I'm more of an AmazonUK guy anyway.

Books received - September 2011

It is the good fortune of The Hungry Detective to now and again receive books from authors, publishers or their associated marketing agencies.

These books were received in the month of September 2011

THE DOVE OF DEATH - Peter Tremayne - Minotaur

THE DEMON'S PARCHMENT - Jeri Westerson - Minotaur

MISS DIMPLE DISAPPEARS - Mignon F. Ballard - Minotaur

DANGEROUS TO KNOW - Tasha Alexander - Minotaur
THE SINGLE SHOT - Matthew F. Jones - Mulholland Books
THE BURNING - Jane Casey - Minotaur