Category Archives: Products

Christmas eve and topfsuelze galore

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Berry the akitachow on christmas eve of 2006

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I have been away for quite a while spending time with my father, who passed away last month. I am backlogged in my posting and will take care of that in the next couple of weeks. We did manage to have another one of our traditional German Christmas Eve feasts this evening, and I have the photos to prove it. I can’t help but feature Topfsuelze here, though, as befits its place in my Christmas Eve meat product hierarchy. Honestly, if I had to choose one thing to eat at this meal it would be Topfsuelze, which is more or less head cheese, but not the kind that would come to mind to an Amerikaner. This is not at all fatty and has a very bright, clean flavor. There are various versions of this pork-in-sour-aspic delight, but the best contains many little chunks of tongue. It is produced in loaf form with a thick layer of aspic on top into which sliced eggs, pickles and carrots are molded. I order

German head cheese

a boatload of it and then hide it in the back of the fridge where no one else in my household would ever look — near actual ingredients for cooking. I urge you to try this, even if the idea turns you off. It is so damned good! Allow me to mention a few of the other goodies on the table: Teewurst, a cured, ground pork spread with a bit of a twang that comes either finely or coarsely ground; Blutwurst with tongue, which is mainly, well, blood with chunks of tongue (sorry, but nothing goes to waste when it comes to sausage-making in the old country); several types of Cervelat, which is salami; Leberkäse, spiced pork paste baked in a loaf pan, sliced and eaten warm, and, last but never, ever, least, Leberwurst, both smooth and chunky. If we were in Germany, we would have had herring salad on the table, too, but it is difficult to find salted herring in the U.S. from which to prepare it. Next year I’ll go into more detail about the various Würste, as I hope to have more time.

German food served on christmas eve of 2006

Berkeley Bowl’s prepared food

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Berry - happy that I'm making braised lamb shanks tomorrow

Berry - happy that I'm making braised lamb shanks tomorrow

We are in our summer redux now, so Berry spent some quality time on the patio while I was reading cookbooks selecting a nice braise for the beef shanks I picked up today at Berkeley Bowl.  I heard it would cool down in a couple days and I’ve been itching for some slow food.  I’ll prepare the shanks tomorrow and post the recipe.  For tonight, though, I have some sushi — Berkeley Bowl carries excellent packaged sushi that is made behind the counter — and lemon chicken, a prepared item I have not yet seen there.  The prepared food at Berkeley Bowl is superior to anything found at the chain supermarkets, by the way, even the fancy-schmantzy ones, like Andronico’s.  Personally, I think the prepared food at Andronico’s is awful, and the prices unconscionable.  They manage to take quality ingredients and turn them into sodden messes, in many cases.  I suppose the old adage about a fool and his money applies, though, since Andronico’s does not want for patrons.  My dislike for this chain knows no bounds.

Bad bread in Albany

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We have a roast chicken for dinner today, so Steve went to get some bread and came back with a large Semifreddi’s sourdough batard.  We toasted slices of it and served it with heirloom tomatoes.  Speaking of bread, I meant to write a bit about a new place at 841 San Pablo Avenue in Albany called House of Bread that Matt and I hit up a few days before we went to New York.  First off, it takes nerve to open a bread shop so close to Acme Bread Company.  Maybe it’s not nerve, maybe it’s something else, but Acme has nothing to worry about.  All the bread was in plastic when we arrived, which did not bode well.  I wanted a loaf of Italian and requested one not in plastic, but the nice lady behind the counter said that all the bread goes into plastic bags at about 9:00 a.m.  We bought one anyhoo – one with cheddar cheese, since they had a vast array of flavored breads.  The taste wasn’t bad, but the texture was poppin’ fresh, if you get my drift.  We also tried some of the quick breads and sweet dough items, which were perfectly fine.  Since House of Bread also carries a full selection of sandwiches (made with Boar’s Head cold cuts) I am hoping they are able to stay afloat via the lunch and sweet treat trade.  I so wanted to support a local business, but I just can’t see going to a bake shop where all the bread is executed at 9:00 a.m.

PA sweet corn schlepped to Cali

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Pennsylvania sweet corn

We boiled up twelve ears of sweet corn from Pennsylvania today.  The well-traveled corn tasted down-home and it was nice to eat something that had nothing to do with agribusiness.  We sat in the backyard and ate three ears apiece and that was that for the corn supply.  Sweet corn is one of those things that  makes me think of how different the concept of seasonality is these days.  During the 1960’s and 1970’s, we had sweet corn only during the height of the summer and it was highly anticipated.  The same with beefsteak tomatoes.  Sure, you still have to buy in season to get the best at the lowest price, but things are not quite the same given the wide availability of produce.  Back in the day you would have had a hard time even finding corn on the cob in the winter.  Now, if you are willing to sacrifice quality and pay a bundle, it’s there for you.

Picnic in Otsiningo Park

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Frank Valencia in Otsiningo Park Binghamton NY in 2006

Today we picnicked at Binghamton’s lovely Otsiningo Park, bringing  Boar’s Head bologna and liverwurst, since it is one of my short-term missions in life to consume as much of these products as possible given price and availability.  Since the “good bagel place,” according to my father, closed, he suggested we buy bagels early in the day at Giant.  Where else, since Giant seems to have the market wrapped up in this area.  Sitting on an old shower curtain that my dad has expressly for the purpose of going to the park, we ate our lunch and did the crossword puzzle in the Press & Sun-Bulletin.  The bagels were not bad, but the liverwurst didn’t hurt.  Dinner, oh, dinner!  We went back to New York Pizzeria in Binghamton and had Buffalo wings, pizza and a chicken parmesan hero.  Good Buffalo wings are in plentiful supply in these parts, and NYP cranks out some contenders.  They are made to order from real chicken wing sections, so you are eating something with flavor and texture, not a sodden mess that came premade from a supplier to your plate via microwave.  The chicken parmesan hero was what I had been craving.  A big, juicy chicken breast cutlet — breaded and fried — on Italian bread with decent sauce and massive amounts of mozzarella on top, all toasted up together in the pizza oven.  When I come to New York this is one of the things I try to get my hands on early and often.  Sure, I have an allergy to tomatoes, particularly when they are concentrated, but these heroes are so damned good I don’t care.