Andrew Mark Veety

Best of 2008

This has been a great year of travel and eating, discovering new tools and techniques for cooking, experiencing great slices of Americana and time spent with friends and family. I thought it would be a good idea to capture a few of my favorites for the past year.

A New Perspective Via A New Grill:

Well constructed and sporting thick cast iron grates, this Brinkman grill creates enough smoke and grill marks to turn my back yard into a decent smokehouse. In short order I adjusted to this new tool and turned out top notch whole chickens, ribs, briskets, massive steaks, pizzas and deserts. 

I really like the front loading door which allows you to feed the fire without lifting the lid and losing heat. Maintaining a steady 220 degrees with minor heat management is priceless, but at around $200.00 this grill is a steal. It takes a bit more work than my old gas grill to prep and clean, but you can't beat it as a cooking tool.

Texas Potatoes:

Potato, onion, butter and bacon in a cast iron skillet. From my post "Roasted Garlic Strip Steaks with Texas Potatoes".

Sony DSC-T500 Camera:

In a year of great new toys the Sony DSC-T500 camera has been my favorite. Small enough to fit into my pocket with 10.1 megapixels, a 3.5" wide touch screen, HD video recording with stereo mics and a 5X Optical Zoom. I also really like the macro lens which allows me to get great close ups of food for the site. I'm also loving not having to pull out my Nikon D70 in greasy diners. 

The large screen is really bright and eats though the battery in short order. After a month or so of use, I'm thinking a back up battery for this camera might be one of my "Best of 2009".

Float Trip Chicken:

There are few things better in the world than floating down a river with friends, beers and cold picnic chicken. From my post "Float Trip Picnic Chicken".

Tortas In The Park:

From my first "interview" for the site - I exchanged emails with my friend and regular Friday lunch companion Bob Baker as we made Tortas for 50 people on his birthday. He went to great lengths to get all the right ingredients and I was happy to help put together this great sandwich. From my post "Tower Grove Park Tortas".

Crab Boil:

I was so happy when my wife completed her LEED certification in September. We filled the back yard with people and I prepared the crabs the only way I know how - with lots of Old Bay and steamed in Guinness. From my post "Seafood Boil In The Heart of St. Louis". 

The New York Times Columnists:

Many thanks to Maureen Dowd, Tom Friedman and Paul Krugman for the insight, information and entertainment this year.

Llywelyn's Pub Burger:

 

One of my favorite burgers of the past year. From my post "Llywelyn's Pub".

Nunez de Prado Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil:

Happen chance introduced me to this great olive oil as I wandered around Whole Foods this year. It's got a perfect balance for cooking or for dipping bread in. Voted one of the best olive oils in America by Cooks Illustrated, Whole Foods stocks 25 oz. bottles for around 15 dollars. Next to bacon fat, this oil has quickly become my choice fat in the kitchen.

The Salt Lick:

Sure it is for show, but the open pit at The Salt Lick was a treat to see, and the folks were super nice and let me ram around in their kitchen. From my post "The Salt Lick Barbeque".

"My Life in France" by Julia Child

Probably the best book I read this year. In it Julia tells the story of learning to live, eat and cook in France. Julia lived an incredible life and her love of slow-food makes me excited to get into the kitchen.

Carl's Drive-In:

Old school burgers smashed on a flat top griddle. From my post "Carl's Drive-In".

Rear Window Defrosters and Heated Seats:

I said goodbye to my 1997 Mazda Miata M-Edition this fall. While this car was always fun to drive, it was never a great every day automobile. Instead I opted for some features the Miata never had - rear window defrosters and heated seats - attached to an Acura RL. Unceremoniously named an "old man's car" by my wife, it has made the commute into work one of the best parts of my day. Why - because I can see out the back window in the winter without risking a broken convertible top.

Woofies New York vs Chicago Showdown:

This past fall was all about hot dogs, Chicago style. From my post "New York vs Chicago Style Hot Dogs".

Fakesgiving Trisket:

I'm still not sure why I wanted to stuff a turkey into a perfectly cooked brisket, but I did it. From my post "Trisket - A Turkey Inside a Brisket".

Charlie The Butcher:

After a particularly good edition of "Meet The Press", I would send an email to Tim Russert of NBC News to congratulate him on that weeks content. To try to elicit a reply from the busy newsman, I would suggest that he reward his staff with beef on weck from Charlie The Butcher in Buffalo, New York. Tim never replied to my emails, but I got a chance to think again about how much his show meant to my Sunday mornings as I enjoyed a sandwich in Buffalo this fall. From my post "Charlie The Butcher's Kitchen".

The Penguin Drive In:

Punk rock music, burgers named after engines and a sweet soda called Cheerwine. From my post "The Penguin Drive-In".

Fatherhood:

Sara and I recently announced that we are pregnant to friends and family, and I launched another blog to document all the events leading up to the arrival of our first child in June of 2009. I think its a given that updates on homemade baby food will require equal billing with burgers and dogs next year.

The Penguin Drive-In

In 1954 Jim and Jean Ballentine purchased an ice cream shop in the Plaza-Midwood neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina. Populated with families and craftsman style bungalow homes, The Penguin (locally known as "The Bird") was an anchor of the neighborhood during its hay-day serving ice cream, burgers and hot dogs. 

Over the years Charlotte sprawled into the county and the neighborhood fell into decline. The family run businesses that surrounded The Penguin moved and were replaced with adult entertainment establishments. Business slowed and the local hot spot fell into disrepair, closing its doors in 1999. 

Since that time, interest in rehabbing the neighborhood took hold. Families moved back to the area to rehab homes and a group of punk rock kids took over The Penguin, bringing the business back to life. Today, like in the past, The Penguin is a local hot spot with great food and lines running out the door. 

I've been waiting for some time to visit The Penguin, specifically to try a new favorite of mine, deep fried pickles. I've been hooked on this dish since Sara and I visited Gulf Shores, Alabama on our honeymoon. Whereas the pickles in Alabama were breaded with corn meal, the pickles at The Penguin have a light and thin coating that reminds me of tempura. Served with ranch dressing, the fried pickles were a great pairing for a beer and the local soda, a cherry flavored drink called Cheerwine.

As soon as the pickles were polished off, I dug into The Penguin's Big Block Burger. The Big Block Burger is two beef patties weighing a combined 2/3rd of a pound topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions.

Finishing off the meal was a Race Track Dog topped with mustard, a loose meat chili, a mayo based cole slaw and chopped onions. 

The most memorable part of this hot dog was the scent of chili and cole slaw that hung low over the table as we ate and made me hesitant to try this dog. However, missing out on this treat would have been a mistake. The cole slaw was light and had a tang that you normally find with a vinegar based slaw. Hidden beneath the dog was a spicy mustard that completes each bite with just a bit of heat. 

A few other treats enjoyed at our lunch at The Penguin:

 

The Tupelo Special - Peanut Butter and Banana on Texas Toast

Thin sliced onion rings with a lonely pickle riding on top.

Opinion: Recommended

1921 Commonwealth Ave

Charlotte, North Carolina 28205

Ted's Charcoal Broiled Hots

At one time there was an old tool shed in the shadow of the Peace Bridge that was used to sell sandwiches to the iron workers constructing the international roadway connecting Buffalo, New York and For Erie, Ontario.

In 1927 the bridge was completed and the building was sold to a young immigrant who had operated a horse drawn hot dog cart in a park near the construction site. 80 years later, that rickety old shack that shook when trains passed is gone. However, over the years that small restaurant serving the western side of Buffalo has grown to eight plus a western location in Tempe, Arizona. 

Known locally as Ted's, Ted's Charcoal Broiled Hots are a Buffalo staple. A hot is a western New York flavor of dog made with a mixture of uncured pork, veal, and beef. Ted's uses this classic recipe as well as all beef dogs. Hots are available in multiple sizes, foot long and regular which are topped with chili, cheese, onion, a sad example of a pickle, Ted's famous hot sauce and much to my chagrin, ketchup. 

At Ted's, hots are charbroiled and turned often with a set of serrated grill forks that cut deep crevices into the dog and natural casing. The open flame method of cooking a hot leaves great grill marks and smoke flavor to complete the base of this hot dog. Well done dogs take on the look of a New Jersey specialty, a ripper, albeit a mildly fried one. 

For me, the snap of a grilled natural casing outshines the boiled dogs that are common in the Chicago Style and is at least as good as a New York dog cooked on a flat top griddle. Adding to the smoky and spicy dog is Ted's famous hot sauce, which if added in quantity will leave you grasping for the nearest loganberry pop. Much like the Beef on Weck, a loganberry drink is a perfect foil for the nitrite bomb served at Ted's. The local beverage stands up to the spice and smoke of the dog in a way that only a loganberry can. (I assume, it seems silly to try to figure out how a Ted's matches with a Coke.)

Sides are plentiful, but I would advise opting for the onion rings which are fried while you wait. Sliced and coated thinly, the onions cook fast and crispy, matching well with a hot from Ted's.

Opinion: Recommended

Nine Locations in Western New York and Arizona

Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery

The Finger Lakes are a chain of eleven lakes in the Upstate New York, dotting the landscape that my wife and I grew up in. The lakes are long and deep and reminded early map-makers of the fingers of a hand. 

Because of the lakes' great depth and geography, the area provides cover to over 100 vineyards that flank the shores of Seneca, Cayuga, Canandaigua, and Keuka Lakes. This "lake effect" retains residual summer warmth in the winter, and winter's cold in the spring. Grape fields are protected from disastrous spring frost during grape formation, and early frost before the harvest. 

I got a chance on a lazy weekday afternoon to visit the Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery and had the pleasure of a tasting and tour given by a family member who happened to be working the tasting bar that day. After generous samples of the entire wine list and clinging to a glass of semi-sweet Riesling, I ventured into the cellar of the winery to poke around.

Residing at the bottom of a great old barn was a home-brewers dream, large jacketed fermenters and brightening tanks, a small bottling line and racks of Missouri Oak casks aging Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Enjoying a drink in the cellar would normally be the perfect ending to a winery trip, but I ventured out the basement door and face to face with the owner and winemaker at Cayuga Ridge. They were moving recently fermented Cabernet Sauvignon though a hydropress before racking into casks for a long rest and maturation. 

A hydropress is basically a large stainless steel container with a rubber bladder inside that fills with water and acts as a press. The pressure of the bladder presses the recently fermented wine, called lees, to remove residual yeast and precipitate before aging.

The cab was pleasantly cloudy like an unfiltered wine. It also was missing any of the oak flavor and mellowing that a rest in a cask would add. Instead this wine reminded me of the fields it came from. I shared some with family who found the taste harsh and in one case "dirt-like", however I think that is exactly why I enjoyed it. 

When making beer at home I taste and smell all my ingredients before brewing. I take time and sample wort hot from from being sparged, from hydrometer readings and the bottling bucket. Knowing your ingredients and following the path to maturity allows you to get to know where a beer is going and is the reward for crafting a product from scratch. It was exciting to see a sliver of the path that wine takes from grape to bottle. 

Many thanks to Danny Bell for the wine, tour and unique experience.

Old Guy Extra Special Bitter - Update

The Old Guy ESB has spent some quality time in the cellar since we last checked in on it in October. 

A little over two weeks ago I bottled this beer in one liter bottles with Grolsch style tops. The EZ-cap brand bottles are a favorite of mine because they always provide a satisfying "pop" when you open them if the beer has carbonated well.

My first thought is that this beer is over carbonated as it put on quite a show when I popped the lid, but I was happy that the beer did not foam out of the bottle. Served at a cellar temperature of 55 - 58 degrees, a slow pour produced a rocky and long lasting head that actually climbed several inches out of the glass before cresting and running down the side of my pint.

This bottle conditioned and unfiltered ale had little evidence of haze or residue thanks to the addition of roasted barley. This grain added a stout-like color that would make it hard to see any perceived imperfections in the beer to drinkers who are used to filtered mass marketed products.

The toasted flavors of roasted and crystal barley played nicely with the nutty overtones contributed by an addition of Munich and pale malts. Hidden in the background was some bitterness contributed by a very small addition of rye to the grist. I will look to add more the next time I make this recipe, perhaps doubling the addition to half a pound.

A fantastic balance of East Kent Goldings and Williamette hops complemented the malty character of this beer. This ESB could benefit from dry hopping in a second fermentation, but that extra step would be a nice to have, not a must have.

Suggested pairings include braised beef short ribs, whole roasted chicken with root vegetables, sharp cheddar cheese or dark chocolate.

Breakdown by the numbers:

Original Gravity (OG) - 1.061 - 1.065

Final Gravity (FG)- 1.011 - 1.013

Alcohol By Volume (ABV) - 5.5 - 6.0

International Bitterness Units - (IBU) - 65

Standard Reference Method (SRM) - 25 Lovebond

Charlie the Butcher's Kitchen

A kummelweck is a salty roll popular in Western New York, brought to the United States in the 1880's by Germans working and living in the cities and towns lining the Erie Canal. Kummelweck is similar to a Kaiser roll, but topped with chunky kosher salt that reminds me of the kind found on pretzels and a sparse addition of caraway seeds. 

Kummelweck is commonly shortened to “weck" (pronounced "wick"). When a weck is combined with hand carved slow-roasted rare roast beef, fresh horseradish and a healthy drenching of au jus it forms a sandwich known to the citizens of Buffalo and the surrounding area as "beef on weck".

Like most regional foods, the history of the beef on weck is long, storied and argued over. However, the general consensus is that in the early 1900's a local pub owner was looking for a way to feed his customers and seized on the roll, figuring the salt would make his patrons even thirstier for his beer. Variations weave Standard Oil, a fire, the 1901 Pan American Exposition and a long lost recipe from the Black Forest into the story. Like any good regional food, the tale can often be as good as the food.

 

Much like pizzas in New York City, loyalties to the local purveyors of this fine sandwich run deep. For my family this means we made a stop at Charlie the Butcher's over the Thanksgiving holiday to enjoy a sandwich and loganberry pop, another local staple and a perfect companion to a beef on weck.

The roast beef at Charlie the Butcher's is sliced on the thick side but is tender and easy to bite though. For me, horseradish plays an important role in this sandwich and I really enjoy how it complements the saltiness of the bun and the flavor of the beef.

As most great sandwiches have a element of messiness to them, the top half of the weck is dipped quickly into au jus and absorbed into the bread. The end result is a sandwich that at times requires the cheese-steak eating stance of the Philadelphia Lean so one may stay clean of juice and drippings.

A beef of weck is a pleasure to eat and worth each and every one of the 750 miles traveled between St. Louis and Buffalo to have one. Because I only get to enjoy this sandwich once a year, it seems to be a candidate for a cooking project here at home. Perhaps I'll ponder this a bit further as we hunker down into the cold of the Mid West winter and need a hearty meal that also warms the soul. 

In the meantime kudos are due to Charlie the Butcher and his delicious beef on weck.

Opinion: Highly Recommended

446 Cayuga Rd

Cheektowaga, NY 14225

(716) 626-9722