Category Archives: Tips

The Bomb that is Grocery Outlet

Cheese I found at Grocery Outlet in Richmond, CA

I was at one of my favorite places the other day: Grocery Outlet. Yes, Grocery Outlet.

Why is it a favorite place? Because you never know what you’ll find there.

Case in point, the cheese in the photo above.

I was there perusing some crappy cheese when all of a sudden I saw a mess of American cheddar under the Back Roads label peering out of the case. Now, I may not know everything. Heck, I may not know very much. But I know cheddar.

This cheese had the look of quality. And it was from Vermont — a good sign. When I picked it up it was solid and firm. I guessed it had a nice paste. Felt like it was aged enough to have depth of flavor, at worst, and some crystallization, at best. At $5.95 per pound you can’t complain if it’s only very good.

When I saw the words “Grafton Village Cheese Company” in tiny letters at the bottom of the block I was transported into a culinary orgasmitron! Like when I found generic containers of 500 bags of PG Tips for $4.99 in the same store because the manufacturer had just downsized their tea bags and needed to get rid of older stock so their new product would not suffer by comparison. Which it would have, sitting on store shelves next to boxes of the same number of tea bags which weighed more, in total. The jig would be up with the consumer. Greedy SOBs.

Grafton cheddar under a generic name at Grocery Outlet in Richmond, CA

That’s how Grocery Outlet gets some of its stock. It’s how I got numerous bags of Chicken Soup for the Soul brand dry cat food at $15 a pop for a friend’s community cats a few years back — when it went from 18 pounds per bag to 15 pounds.

If you know your products inside and out and look alive, Grocery Outlet can be a gold mine. Looking alive means checking out odd packaging and getting to know their stock over time. If you see something you love but it goes away, it may show up again.

Back to the cheddar. Which is from one of the top cheddar makers in the US. My guess is it’s overproduction or odd sizes from Grafton’s perfectly-shaped vacuum-packed line. From the flavor, it’s older than a year, for sure, but not yet three. A major, major find.

Did I ever mention that I found bottles of La Tourangelle toasted hazelnut oil at GO for some crazy low price? It was about a month away from expiration. But so what? You store it in the fridge and you’re good for a couple years. That oil, some OJ, onion powder, chopped shallots and a little sugar and salt and you’re in business with roasted Brussels sprouts.

Grocery Outlet is an adventure, I tell you.

Affogato: Quick, wonderful dessert

Leftovers: Roast ‘taters with Cheese & Short Rib Gravy

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Roast potatoes and butternut squash with aged cheddar and short rib gravy

Anyone who knows me or reads my blog knows I’m big into leftovers.

If I make something or go out to eat I don’t care what’s left, how much or how little, I put it in a container and eat it the next day or incorporate it into another meal. We can’t afford to waste food, particularly animal products, because animals have died for what we are eating!

It always amazes me when people throw leftovers away, and I’m often surprised by the kinds of people I see do this: greenies, nouveau hippies – though I guess they’re really pseudo-hippies, animal rights activists. Maybe it’s because the people in my circle who fall into those enlightened groups have more money than my poor friends (for example, other bloggers and artists) who can’t afford to throw away a scrap.

When I see this I’m reminded of the line from the Staple Singers’ song, Respect Yourself:

“Keep talkin’ ’bout the president, won’t stop air pollution
Put your hand o’er your mouth when you cough, that’ll help the solution”

Saving the world starts at home.

One thing to have hanging around is a wide variety of containers – especially little ones. I buy these at Ichiban Kan, or other Asian housewares shops. They tend to carry food grade plastic containers in sizes from an ounce to a gallon.

If you have lots of them in the half-cup or so size, you can freeze little containers of sauce from whatever you’re making: braises, like short ribs or shanks, and tomato-based saucy dishes, like chicken cacciatore. You’ll be well-fixed to bust out a little sauce to serve with those fries you brought home, or leftover potato pancakes from the night before.

One little tip is to make lots of extra roast potatoes when you’re having them as a side to serve as a future dish with salad, as follows:

Roast your potatoes like so, perhaps. Feel free to add some butternut squash, which roasts up nice and sweet. Eat dinner and then save the leftovers.

Next day toss them with crumbles of a good, aged cheddar and bake, covered, or microwave, until all is hot and cheese is melty.

When you take the ‘taters out of the oven, microwave some of your frozen short rib or other gravy until it’s very hot, and pour it over the potatoes and cheese.

Serve ASAP. You will not be sorry!

Quick Pickles

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Yellow bowl of quick pickles made from English cukes

I’m sharing this simple little tip for making quick pickles because it’s been as hot as hell here in the Bay Area the last few days and I’m resorting to cool foods to help out.

This always happens. Much of the US is cruising into fall by this time, with soups, jackets, flaming foliage and pumpkin chais running rampant. We sit here with a string of 95 degree days. Hate that. I don’t care how cool the summer has been overall. I can’t deal with extreme heat. The resident akita-chow, Berry, has been miserable, too.

These pickle-like creatures can be made in the morning and served in the evening, and are helpful when you want something to serve with a sandwich or a curry.

Futz with the recipe as you like. If you want them like Vietnamese cucumber salad (i.e., sweet/sour), use more sugar and only a bit of salt.

Quick Cuke Pickles

1 English cucumber, cut into large chunks – as in the photo (do not peel)
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Kosher salt
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)

1). Place the cuke chunks in a glass or earthenware bowl.
2). Combine remaining items in a small saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.
3). Pour liquid over cukes.
4). Cover with plastic wrap and allow to remain on kitchen counter for 2 hours.
5). Transfer to fridge and allow to cool for several hours.
6). Drain and serve.

Abstract 4th of July Glazed 7up Cake

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Abstract glaze for a 4th of July cake

My mother is going to see family in New York City and Germany this summer. She’ll be gone for two months and is leaving on Tuesday, so I made a couple of special things as a sort of a bon voyage last night. This is a reason to celebrate for all of us, if you catch my drift.

The meal turned out to be a total bomb. It was hot in the kitchen, I was rushing and trying to do too much, and my leg was bothering me. I have osteoarthritis in my right leg, which set in, they think, because of a minor injury I had years and years ago. Standing for long periods wreaks havoc with that leg, even with a gel mat. I was one miserable camper even before the oyster soup overcooked and broke. Then I undercooked the brie in puff pastry, so it was gummy. Amateur mistakes that were my own fault. I stewed in my own juices as my family ate the oysters I fished out of the soup with the top layer of the baked brie, telling me all the while how good everything was. You have to love kind people.

I sought to redeem that meal via the 7up cake I made for Matthew to take to a party today, which I gave an abstract glaze in red, white and blue.

Here’s how you can do it, too.

1). First, make a pound cake in a bundt pan of some kind and let it cool completely. Make this 7up cake, which is a huge favorite in my home, but ignore the glaze in the recipe. It’s buttery and dense with a lemony zing, and uses 7up as a leavening agent. When it’s cool, set out a sheet pan, line it with foil, place a small bowl on top, and then place the cake on the bowl, right side up, so it’s elevated. Use a bowl whose diameter is smaller than that of the cake. Check out the photos below.

2). Assemble blue and red food coloring (you can buy concentrated natural food colorings on the web or in baking or specialty stores), confectioners sugar, lemon juice, one medium-sized bowl and two smaller bowls. Use bowls that won’t be ruined by the food coloring. You’ll also need three spoons.

3). Place three cups of confectioners sugar in the larger of the three bowls. Add a very small amount of lemon juice — no more than three tablespoons. Mix in to check consistency. Add more lemon juice in tiny increments, so you wind up with a very thick glaze that runs slowly. You will need only a small amount of lemon juice!!! Transfer 1/3 of the glaze to each of the smaller bowls.

4). Add a few drops of blue food coloring to one of the smaller bowls of glaze and mix it in thoroughly. Add more, if needed, until you get the color you want. Repeat for red.

5). Using a spoon and holding it above the cake, apply white glaze (the one you added no color to that’s remaining in the larger bowl), allowing it to cover the top well and run down the sides and middle. Check out the photo below for an idea of how things should look. Allow cake to sit a few minutes.

6). Apply red next, using quite a bit of glaze with each spoonful. Drizzle on using a looping motion. You want plenty of red, but allow lots of the white to show. Make sure the red glaze runs down the sides and middle. Allow cake to sit a few minutes.

7). With blue, swirl all over cake in small ribbons. You want this layer thin with lots of lines so it creates an abstract design.

8). Let cake sit for a couple of hours. Do not touch it! Do not cover it!

9). Tent foil over cake gently and let it sit all night so that the glaze hardens completely. Do not touch cake with foil! Do not move cake! Leave the whole contraption as-is and cover it with foil!

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