New York City has the best crumb cake, often sold in individual squares like brownies, with about two inches of crumb topping. I used to buy hunks every now and again at Mama Joy’s when I was at Columbia. I was leafing through the May/June 2007 issue of Cook’s Illustrated, which has a decent recipe, though the crumb is not exactly right. It’s good, but not spot on. It tastes too much like brown sugar and is floury so I may try to futz with it. They do, however, give you the technique for producing professional-level crumbs. The one thing I discovered is that you need to wrap the cake well and let it sit overnight to get the right texture. If you have a good recipe then please email it to me so I can once again enjoy one of the few cakes I actually like!
Author Archives: Renate Valencia
Mugged in El Cerrito CA
My mother was mugged today. I should say there was an attempt to mug her but she fought back. In El friggin’ Cerrito. She spent most of her life in New York City and was never mugged – go figure. The Albany side of El Cerrito is a quiet area with nice houses but subject to criminals commuting in on BART. The BART stations here are a mixed blessing, not only because they provide easy access to all comers, but because of the paths under the tracks, which provide a sheltered area for criminals to strike at individuals enjoying a walk or trying to get someplace efficiently. Such was the case here, with my mom entering the BART path off of Fairmount, when two young men — one about 15, one about 18 — ultimately knocked her down and tried to take her bag. She screamed bloody murder and held onto the bag. One of the two ran off and the other continued with the struggle. He finally ran off, as well, when he saw she was not going to give in. She was injured by the assault, but I am very glad they did not do her grave injury. In any event, I’m sure you know what I’d like to do to the bastards. Imagine choosing to prey on productive people — let alone those most vulnerable! — rather than making an honorable life for yourself and getting a job.
Cheater’s BBQ
If you’ll be spending time outside anyway, then you might as well multitask and get some BBQ going. You can make some “cheater’s” BBQ, which means you’ll slow-cook a hunk of meat using a Weber grill for as many hours as you are able to baby-sit the process, and then finish it off in a low oven in the house. For this you’ll need a drip pan (buy yourself a supply of medium-sized disposable catering pans — you can ask for “half-pans”), a goodly supply of charcoal, aluminum foil, a hinged grate for your Weber grill (makes the job easier, trust me) a dry rub, a about two quarts or so of hot water in a kettle and a 4 – 5 pound piece of meat, like beef brisket or pork shoulder. Having an active garden hose handy would be a good thing, in case you have embers drift away and catch something on fire. It happens. You’ll also need a plain old meat thermometer and long tongs. Massage the meat with some kind of dry rub, which need be no more than salt, pepper, paprika and a little sugar, and set aside. On your Weber’s bottom grate, set in the drip pan, Next to that, mound about 20 coals on a triple layer of foil and light them. Place your top grate such that one hinged opening is over the coals and one is over the drip pan. Make sure the bottom vents are about half open. When your coals are ready, meaning when there no more flames and they smolder to the ashed-over point, spread them out a bit with tongs and then fill the drip pan to the half-full point with hot water. Make sure you have about a quart of water in the kettle so you can add more to the drip pan later, if you need to. Place the meat over the drip pan, fat side up. Set the cover on the grill with vents over the meat so that you are pulling hot air through the cavity of the grill. Create three long, crunched-up, 1/2-inch sausages out of sheets of foil. You’ll use these to open and close two cover vents manually and to seat the meat thermometer in the third. Open the vents on the cover completely. Take two foil “plugs” and close off two of the cover vents. Take the third and run the tip of the thermometer through its length so you create a hole. Take this foil scrunchy and use it to plug up the third lid vent. Slide the thermometer back in so the dial is now sticking out of the vent with the probe serving as an internal temperature gauge when the lid is closed. Close the vents slightly to jam the foil in so it stays put. Be sure the probe of the thermometer is not touching anything in the grill – like the meat. Here’s the dance, for as long as you can endure it: keep the unit at about 200 deg. F., as best you can, by opening and closing upper vents with the foil and the lower vent with the handle. Close vents to lower heat, open them to raise it. Your problem will most likely be keeping the heat down, but don’t worry about it too much as these cuts of meat are very forgiving. Add a couple coals every half hour or so by placing them with tongs over active coals. If you want a little smoke flavor, you can soak some wood chips in water an hour before you start and then add a couple to the coals every now and again, but I generally don’t do this as I’m not crazy about smoke flavor. BBQ this way for at least three hours. If you keep this going all day, meaning 8 hours or so, you most likely won’t need to move the meat to your inside oven. When the internal temperature of the pork is about 200 deg. F. you are good to go in terms of meat that will pull apart. For beef brisket this will be around 185 deg. F. — but people have fist fights about the correct temperature for slow-cooked meats. If you complete the cooking process inside, simply pop the meat into a pan and a preheated 250 deg. F. If you do the whole thing on the Weber, be sure to keep your eye on the drip pan, which will fill up with fat as it melts off the meat. Be sure to keep the water level up so your operation is not a grease fire waiting to happen. If, God forbid, you ever have to deal with a grease fire, use a Class B fire extinguisher or a large quantity of baking soda. Never, ever use water, as water will make a grease fire spread. If it is very small and in a frying pan, try to smother it with a lid. When the meat is done, let it rest for a few minutes and slice or pull apart. Serve with Louisiana hot sauce or a vinegar-based sauce instead of those scary ketchup-based sauces that hide the flavor of the meat.
Berry on his futon
I have a few nice photos of old bones laying on his futon. How many dogs are able to boast their own futon? We have had some hot weather here, so the office – where said futon is located – has been pretty toasty. I installed a little fan and pointed it directly at the futon. I thought he’d be afraid of it, but it’s worked out fine. Dogs always suffer in the heat, and there is so little you can do when you have no AC. Plus, that pack mentality is so strong in Berry that he’d rather roast than sleep on the cool concrete floor in the garage, for example. Maybe he’s afraid he’ll miss something or can’t live for even an hour without one of his soft surfaces. Weird dog.
Comfort food for Jon
Jon is moving to Santa Barbara tomorrow, so I thought I’d make a fancy breakfast for him this weekend. I had gotten a hold of a small organic ham last week, which I roasted next to some oven home fries, made by dicing taters, tossing on a sheet pan with plenty of olive oil and some S&P, rubbing them all around, and then roasting in a very hot convection oven.
I perpetrated buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy, too. Making sausage gravy is easy and provides great comfort. You need: some kind of sausage – any kind without anise, so don’t use Italian. Cooked is OK, raw is OK. I use about a pound. If raw and with fat, i.e., breakfast sausage, brown in a heavy gauge saucepan and, when done, add butter so you have about a half a cup of fat. If you use raw sausage meat with no fat, like that horrible turkey sausage, brown in a 1/2 cup of canola oil or butter — but butter is better. If you have cooked sausage, cut into little cubes and fry in said quantity of butter. Add 1 tablespoon of some combination of ground thyme, rosemary and sage. Continue to fry for a moment to open up the dried spices. Toss in a bay leaf or two. Add some Kosher salt and pepper – quantities depending upon how salty the sausage is. Add 1/2 cup or so of AP flour – stirring it in so you have a soft roux, adding more fat if the mixture is too dry. Don’t brown the roux – keep the flame very low but be sure to cook out the raw flour. Warm 5 – 6 cups of milk (fat free is fine, but if you use fat free everything you will strangle all the comfort out of the dish) in the microwave. Add the milk to the roux slowly while stirring with a wooden spoon. I find that adding it in increments that are blended in completely cuts down on lumps. Cook to just bubbling over lowest flame, stirring frequently. Note that this will keep getting thicker, so if you plan on heating it up again to serve later, make sure you under-thicken it ever so slightly the first time around. Serve this hot mass over toast or split biscuits. At the last minute I made eggs to order for the group in my new GreenPan. Yes, it does not stick at all when you use a little oil, but it does stick a bit if you don’t. Eggs are the ultimate test of a pan in this regard.