Dandelions with ham fat

No photo with this post because my husband and I wolfed down the dandelions before I could even think of grabbing the camera. We ate them with potatoes cooked in duck fat, and two blood sausages, homemade and bought. The homemade sausage still needs some work but it was way better than the one we purchased in the market. I don't like the Eastern European style of adding lots of kasha, my preference is blood, fat and a little a little spice, but more of that latter. The dandelions were delicious. Usually I make a salad, but recently I've just cut them up into manageable pieces and cooked the gently in fat with some salt and pepper and sliced garlic. The fat from my ham was perfect, no salt was necessary, they were rich with a bitter edge a good foil to the blood sausage and potatoes.

The best thing about Easter Ham?

This is my Easter ham with the Orange Dijon glaze recipe from Bones. We managed to demolish a good part of it for Easter lunch with my in-laws. I think their eyes were glazing over as I kept on talking about fat, but I have seen margarine in their fridge so they need all the help they can get. Ham fat, English butter on the table and organic milk in the potato gratin, olive oil with the braised rapini and garlic. More good fat by way of the pavlova with its topping of whipped cream and lightly poached hot house rhubarb. However, the best thing of all about Easter lunch yesterday is what I have here.
Yes, this wonderful Berkshire ham fat, white, smoky flavoured and absolutely delicious, I've already used it to cook some carrots to go with leftovers tonight. That's what I love about ham - there are always leftovers and a thousand recipes using a slice or two of good ham. This is going to be a great eating week.

One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns

Every Easter I become very cross about hot cross buns. They appear in the stores far too early, I saw some for sale back in January and are never very good, the best I’ve found and they are just okay, are in our local Jewish bakery!
Bring back the Tudor law that prohibited the sale of spiced buns except on Good Friday, at Christmas and for burials. If the government is so keen to legislate fat and salt out of our lives they should do something useful like ban the sale of seasonal foods out of season.
The baking of special breads for Spring dates back to ancient Greeks and it was generally assumed that this custom was appropriated by Christians, like many pagan rites, who then added the cross to tie them to the crucifixion. Good Friday was the day to eat them -
“9 Apr. an. 1773 Being Good Friday, I breakfasted with him and cross-buns.” James Boswell in his Life of Johnson.
While always served hot that adjective was only added to the buns in the nineteenth century, the cross however, may have been there all along. The round bun represented the sun and the two right-angled lines divided it into four to represent the seasons.
I’d been thinking about making my own buns and then stumbled across this recipe by Elizabeth Baird.
Knowing her recipes to be solid I made some today. Yes I know its not Good Friday, but I’m not selling them. I didn’t have any currants so I used a mixture of dried fruits I had left from Christmas – Thompson raisins, mixed peel, I believe peel should be in hot cross buns, and some dried cranberries. Not what I’d normally reach for but they were there and they are colourful and I chopped the mixture to make everything currant-sized. I was pleased Elizabeth advised making the cross with a sharp knife I’ve never been a fan of piped or icing crosses. And do make those cuts deep, my crosses are a little hard to see. I did add a glaze made with icing sugar and lemon juice, just to make them shine.

Verdict? I just ate one with a cup of Earl Grey tea. Good, but still not as I remember from my childhood but no doubt that memory is better than the real bun. Try making some yourself and let me know what you think. And to make them hot again? Hot cross buns are always better toasted.

You Won! Congrats Jennifer!

That was the email I received late last night from my publisher in Denver - sent from his iphone, you have to love technology. I went to bed happy and shocked. I hope Mr Keller will still let me eat at The French Laundry or Per Se one day.
This morning I am chilling the champagne and congratulating my friends and fellow Torontonians Jeff and Naomi on their win and hoping to meet the other Canadian winner Montrealer Taras Grescoe soon. I am sure all four of us would enjoy a lively discussion.
Check out all winners here.

New York New York

You might be wondering why a photo of butter goes along with a post titled New York? Well, unlike in Toronto, in NYC I can get just about any butter I want, well almost. As I am going to France next month I bought butter from elsewhere in Europe, Italy, England and Ireland. One of my favourites is Kerrygold,a butter that is widely available throughout the States. They helped sponsor my event with the New York Women's Culinary Alliance. It rains a lot in Ireland and there is lots of green grass, the basic building block of butter. We often forget on this side of the Atlantic that cows were designed to eat grass. Grass, flowers and herbs add the flavour to butter and the most flavourful late summer milk goes into Kerrygold salted butter - taste it and you'll know the cows has a wonderful diet plus you will be getting healthy omega-3 fatty acids as well. A big thank you to Suzen at Cooking by the Book and the members who cooked recipes from my book for everyone to taste, leaving me with nothing to do but talk about fat. Here is a photo of the flavoured pork fat and one member's comments on the event. I made everyone think again about animal fat and definitely convinced them of the importance of good quality butter. I made more converts at the French Culinary Institute, where I was lucky enough to talk to the students and explain the benefits of cooking with animal fat. I haven't been neglecting my home town. Back in February I was praising fat to a very favourable audience at Coupe Space and last week I was at Cowbell restaurant, where chef Mark Cutrara cooked a delicious fatty meal and I was able to talk about fat again. You can't really stop me, and I am not finished yet - details of upcoming events with the Weston Price and Slow Food groups here in Toronto will be posted soon.