baluard

carrer del baluart, 38.

baluard—just a few blocks from the sea in barceloneta—is one of the few places in barcelona at which good bread may be found. at 7.15am, the shop is full of people buying bread and pastry, the shop van is stuffed with sacks of bread.

recuit

not a cheese but a traditional curd dairy product of catalonia. fresh, unsalted whole cow or goat milk is coagulated with vegetable rennet derived from cardoon flowers (C. cardunculus) dried and crushed in water in a warm mortar, the curd then partly drained in a rag pulp sheet that serves as a packaging material. note the patterning on the surface of this specimen of recuit de vaca from granja armengol—the result of the rag wrapper. the pressed curd is moist, dense, and finely textured, perfectly sweet and intensely delicious. clotet, mestres, and ponsati are the authors of an article titled "la problemàtica dels formatges de xerigot a catalunya" ("the problem of catalan whey cheeses")—worthwhile for those seeking clarity in the matter of coagulated dairy products.

some exceptions

to five months of mostly unmemorable beverages.*

















* neither a comprehensive nor an ordered listing. japan was the anomaly: a mostly unnavigable sea of delicious and drinkable novelty. ultra-low-alcohol cocktails that abandon the bitters model of flavouring in favour of amino acid savouriness, a profusion of what might be thought of as low-intervention terroir sakes, an entire world of umeshu.

in the country

dark cherries and dust, from 2010. with thanks to h-farm.

nowhere to hide

each grain of rice intact, each piece of meat lightly cooked, the gently beaten egg barely set—oyakodon such as this is simple, yet nearly impossible to find.

Understanding evolves through three phases: simplistic, complex, and profoundly simple.

william schutz, profound simplicity.

[with thanks to dw, reliable guide to the otherwise unheralded gems of tokyo.]

tsurumaru

a cold, wet day spent walking around a wind-swept island prepares you well for large quantities of starch. immediately after landfall in takamatsu—udon capital of an udon-obsessed prefecture—we made for tsurumaru, the first of three udon specialists and a tiny, fairly seedy shop near the port where the tables turned every 7 minutes. skip the oden, go for the udon: handmade before your eyes (if you're facing the right direction), briefly and precisely cooked, served in dashi with a scatter of scallions. the dashi is strongly flavoured from dried sardines and mackerel, so this is not a retiring wallflower bowl of soup. the usual add-ins are available but only the poorly executed noodle needs to hide beneath a veil of garnish.

the convention

we made a pitstop in osaka for the express purpose of attending the 8th annual international umeshu convention (there were a few representatives from china). there is more umeshu out there than you might imagine and a very small fraction of it is remarkable.

the hardware store

singapore has become a bubbling fountain of money looking for places to be spent*, so third wave cafes are now popping up like mushrooms after the rain. chye seng huat hardware is a roaster-cafe by the people behind papa palheta and loysel's toy. the buildout is marvelous to a fault: it is as if they have lifted a san francisco cafe complete with plaid-clad hipsters out of its tech money-funded cocoon and into the tropics. the signs of being in singapore are there, but they are few in number.



* while the 1% live "world-class lives," city infrastructure is at or beyond capacity and there is a palpable feeling of unease and discontent among everyone else. is it a good idea to have almost 7 million people living on this island by 2020?

from the new world to the old

a gallon jug of tabasco chipotle, forgotten for three years in the trunk of a new england car. no one could have expected the blasts of summer heat and winter frost, the jostlings and jogglings over hundreds of miles of city and country roads to produce an unambiguously delicious sauce replete with the generosity of age-calmed vinegar. i call it TABASCO BIZARRO. now, it is in london.

serious gelato

gelati of smoked salmon, roasted bell pepper, parmesan, pear and gorgonzola. sorbets of pickles, avocado. these seemingly outlandish flavours were in fact subtle and delicious while perfectly recognisable.

traditional flavours are even better. nut pastes instead of synthetic flavorants for hazelnut, chestnut, and pistachio gelato. the fior di latte is magnificent. the texture is light and rich, but with little overrun; the sweetness is subtle and charming. there are no detectable stabilisers in the base, though the owner (previously a pastry chef at valentino in the venetian) says there is a bit of lecithin in there. they are using a carpigiani 20-quart machine, spinning 4-6 quart batches.

art of flavors is located in the stab-and-rape portion of the strip, between a wedding chapel that has seen better days and a shop selling "turquoise" and bail bonds. viva las arepas, the areparia next door, is also worthwhile.

the summer day is surprised

Yogurt & fresh fruit juice take you to the fine ice cream heaven
Stimulates the frantic desire which is unable to resist and that is the
extreme achievement of elegant tasty ice cream.
The vision needs some colors to make it inviting.
A color party becomes a game that keeps on rolling and rolling.
It is a cool and dazzling taste, making you full of blast.
The taste of yogurt makes the fruit fragrance copious.

bombax ceiba

a sour curry of bombax ceiba inflorescences*, tomatoes, turmeric, cilantro root, cooked pork blood, steamed spare ribs, and dry roasted chilies, with thin vermicelli made from lactofermented rice. even the faint of heart will find this dish comforting and palatable. moreover, the lotus of siam is one of the few places in the country where getting something by the glass isn't always a pyrrhic victory. (j.j. prüm, graacher himmelreich kabinett, 2008.)

* which were not visible. these things—like religion—sometimes must be taken on faith, trusting in the word of the waitstaff. B. ceiba is part of the same genus of plants that we also call kapok.

patogh

big bread, grilled lamb, mint, and riesling.

living milk

the quality of even average dairy in the UK is remarkably high. milk generally tastes like milk, instead of water, cardboard, or vinyl. some milk, though, is exceptional.

at last sunday's market, i cast about the stands for some milk in which to poach a freshly purchased side of smoked haddock. the poultry lady hadn't brought any with her, and the regular cheese women by the biweekly mushroom guy had sold out. on the verge of giving up, i saw a few litre bottles at the irregular cheese dude's stand (alham wood seems to only come to market when they feel like it). raw, unhomogenised, organic milk. sold in the light of day.

he was trying, with minimal success, to persuade cheese buyers to try samples from a bottle of raw milk that had been unrefrigerated for 3 weeks. for science, i had a little cuplet: lactic, creamy, thick, emulsified. remember what pasteurised milk smells like when you leave it on the counter for a day or two? it smelled nothing like that.

as he handed me the bottle, the cheese dude said, "real food, buddy, real food. it still exists."

the food you eat every day

Jean [Troisgros] was never so happy as when we drove down the block to the schlocky café and had the steak frites. He honestly loved that better than going to a three-star restaurant. It was pretty clear, the food you eat every day is the most important food. This is what we do at Zuni.*

judy rodgers (1956-2013)