The Berlusconi

Like the beverage's namesake, this little gem is sweet, sour, bright in flavor, dusky in color and moody in temperament.  It'll charm the women and punch any man in the face.  Get ready for a Bunga-Bunga party!

The Berlusconi
3 oz Whiskey
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
3 dashes Frenet
3/4 teaspoon Elsa 12-year Balsamic Vinegar
Lemon Twist

Combine the liquid ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker.  Shake vigorously for 30 seconds.  Strain into chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lemon twist. 

Caution: Children Playing

We had a little family reunion this weekend.  It was the first time all 3 siblings and all of our families could be in attendance, because it was the first time we've all been together since my nephew was born.  I learned a LOT about children, and a little about myself.   

My niece is almost 3 years old.  We'll call her Milly.  My nephew, lets call him Baxter, was just learning to crawl, so I think that makes him somewhere between 5 and 7 months old.  Certainly less than 1 year.  And since he was born sometime in 2010, I think that's a pretty safe guess. 

Now, my niece and nephew are the most beautiful children in all the land.  Not at all lizard-like.  Additionally, they are exceptionally well behaved--unless they want something.  Then, the otherwise sweet and demure children scream like banshees.  I also now know that these two are always in some state of undress: When Baxter was completely dressed, Milly would be peeling off her pants.  Milly likes to be completely dressed for dinner, but Baxter needs to be in his all-together. 

Milly is very fond of the lime light--if she's singing and you're not paying attention, well . . . attention must be paid.

I learned that kids can be very finicky eaters, but that they will also put anything in their mouths.  I learned that kids can swing from laughter, to screaming, to laughter again in a matter of moments.  I learned that my Mom really likes being a Grandma. 

More than anything else, I learned that my younger brother and his wife are great parents. 

I get to be a great uncle.  Who teaches the kids inappropriate behavior.  And maybe a little cooking. 

For meals this weekend, we enjoyed:

Aussie Burger

This is my brother's award-winning recipe based on a recipe found in Gourmet magazine.  This is another case of taking a good idea and making it better.  Side note: I'm not sure why it's called an Aussie Burger.  Unless you believe the Australians enjoy things larger than they need to be (think: cans of Foster's Beer) or you think they are a sloppy nation.  But I don't think that's fair.  Shame on you, you racist.

1/2 lbs Hamburger Patty

Toasted Hamburger Bun

1 leaf Lettuce

1 slice of Tomato

3 medium Green Chilies, roasted and skins removed

2 slices Pickled Beets

1 slice Pineapple, grilled

1 Egg, fried, over easy

2 tablespoons Chili Aioli

Grill the burgers to your liking.  Toasts the buns.  Assemble.  Eat it as best you can.  Use lots of napkins. 

Salt Crust Roasted Chicken
10 lbs Rock Salt (coarse sea salt is fine but very expensive.  Ice cream salt also works well and is much cheaper.  Just be sure it's a kind that you can eat, and not a poisonous de-icer for sidewalks.)

1 Frier Chicken (3 lbs) 

1 large sprig Thyme
6-7 large leaves Sage
3/4 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper 

About 2-3 hours before cooking, completely rinse the chicken, inside and out.  Pat it off with paper towels, season inside and out with pepper, and let stand to dry.  (Like we did in the Duck recipe.) 

About 1 hour before cooking, put the salt in a deep baking pan and put it in the oven set to 400 degrees.  Salt is a rock and can withstand very high heat.

About 10 minutes before cooking, stuff the herbs into the body cavity of the bird and truss its legs and body closed.  Clip or tuck its wings.

When the salt is heated all the way through, remove 2/3 - 3/4 into another large metal bowl.  BE CAREFUL!  With a wooden spoon or paddle, even the salt back out over the bottom of the pan.  Lay the bird in the middle of the salt and then pour the hot salt from the bowl over the bird.  Completely cover the chicken.

Put the pan back in the oven, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and cook for an hour and 30 minutes. 

By this time most people are thinking, "Great idea!  I've completely ruined this chicken by dumping 10 pounds of salt on it."  Not so, good reader!  Allow me to lay a little science on you: Drying the skin and heating the salt allows the cooking to begin without dissolving the salt into the water in the meat.  As the meat heats up, steam escapes and there is a subtle interplay of steam dissolving small amounts of salt and the chicken taking on the perfect amount of seasoning.  If the salt grows to too high of a concentration, the steam from the cooking meat forces it back out again!  Ain't science great?

Pull the pan out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Carefully brush the salt away until you come to the hard crust.  Gently crack through with a heavy knife handle and let some of the steam escape.  You should be able to then remove the rest of the crust with your fingers.  This will be the juiciest, most tender and most perfectly seasoned roasted chicken you've ever tried.  One word of caution, however.  If the salt grains are too fine, you may have to discard the skin and only eat the meat beneath. 


Sausage Gravy
1lbs of Pork Sausage (plus up to 1 tablespoon bacon fat)
3 tablespoons All Purpose Flour
Salt and Ground Black Pepper, to taste
3-4 cups Milk

In a heavy skillet, on medium high heat, brown and render the fat out of the sausage.  Drain the sausage, reserving the fat and the drippings in the skillet.  There should be about 3 tablespoons of fat.  If not, add additional bacon fat to the pan, reduce the heat to medium and lightly sprinkle in the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or wire whisk. 

Keep stirring until the roux darkens to a deep chocolaty, caramelly brown.  Reduce the heat to medium low.  Slowly add the milk, stirring the entire time.  If you aren't using a wire whisk, yet, do so now.  Pour in 3 cups of milk and keep stirring as the roux dissolves into the milk.  Season with salt and pepper.

Stir and stir.  This is an exercise in patience and love.  When the milk begins to boil (15 minutes or so) there won't be that raw flour flavor.  Let it cook and start to thicken.  If the gravy gets too thick, add more milk.  If the gravy is too thin, let it cook a little bit longer.  It will thicken.  As it starts to cool, it will thicken more.  Don't forget to scrape the bottom and the sides of the pan.

About 5 minutes before serving, taste and finish seasoning with salt and pepper.  Add the sausage to the gravy and stir.  Serve on top of buttermilk biscuits. 

This Is What It's Like When Worlds Collide

Green Russell. 

The name evokes a variety of questions: "What's that?"  "Who is that?" and "Did you say 'Green Muscles?'  I love mine in a nice white wine sauce."

But for those who know, the name Green Russell means a lot more. 

Imagine a cold winter's night:  The lights of the Big City reflect off the newly fallen snow.  We exit the cab and walk down an alley way to follow the signs to a pie shop.  Holding onto the frozen handrail, we cautiously descend a flight of stairs into a small pie shop store front.  Through another set of doors and we are in a warm, cozy, softly lit speakeasy.  But even for the costumes and ambiance, the real magic is yet to be revealed.

We give our names for the reservation and the hostess escorts us to our seats.  We pass low leather chairs with high seat backs in intimate little nooks.  There are no conventional tables as you would expect if you only ever visited chain restaurants or bars.  In fact, the hostess seats us in a prime location: the bar. 

Green Russell is "a chef driven cocktail joint."  We have Chris, our bartender, and share him with only two other couples while we're there.  Unusual to any bar, Chris is back lit by a large grow room, and while Colorado allows commercial growing of marijuana for medicinal use, I recognize the herbs growing in this grow room as something different: rosemary, thyme, oregano, Thai basil and lemon and lime trees. 

As IS usual at any great cocktail joint, the staff is warm and inviting.  Witty banter ensues.  The menus are presented and yes, there are some cocktails listed.  But we know better.  I tell Chris, "I put it in your hands.  I like scotch and bourbon--leather, smokey, woody flavors.  I make my own bitters at home, so I enjoy herbs and aromatics."

And then he made magic.

Each drink is custom created for the client's taste.  A bespoke cocktail, if you will.  From a time when "cocktail" meant something. 

We ordered house made potato chips with bleu cheese.  My brother had a layered drink of Bowmore 10 year Scotch, Fernette Branca and Absinthe.  I started off with a little number they called the George C Skag:  bourbon, black pepper simple syrup, cardamom bitters and lemon juice.  My wife enjoyed the most conventional drink: The Mile High Club--gin, yellow chartreuse, egg whites, and . . . other magic.  We each had three drinks that night, plus food and coffee.  I'll be honest with you.  The recipes got fuzzy.  Or maybe the recipes stayed the same and we got fuzzy.  Regardless, we had an incredible time.

When you go to Green Russell, there are a few rules you need to know.

1. No cell phones.  No calling, no texting, no checking in on Foursquare, no pictures.  The staff abides by this rule, and you will too.  Relax.  You will enjoy it.
2. The customer is always right.  The people who are taking care of you love you.  Love them back.
3. You will pay for the privilege.  Perfection isn't cheap.  It's not excessive, but the value is exactly as it should be.  And don't forget to tip. 
4. Take a cab.  If you have enjoyed yourself appropriately, you should not drive.    Everyone will love you more for being smart.

So this is what it's like when old and new come together.  Retro attention to detail and modern stylings.  I would love to show you pictures, but . . . see Rule #1. 

And Chris, thank you.  Very much.

Tonight, for a pre-dinner cocktail try:

Cloister
1 1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/4 oz Superfine Sugar

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lemon twist. 


Man of War
1 1/2 oz Bourbon
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/4 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lime twist.


Samurai
1 oz Triple Sec
1 oz Vodka
1 oz Sake
1 oz Lemon Juice

Pour over ice in a highball glass and stir.

Wrapping Presents

My brother's birthday was early this month (Happy Birthday, My Brother!) and to help him with the celebration, we went to his house and made dinner.  (I like it when someone else gets to clean up the house.  Happy Birthday, My Brother!) I stuffed some pork rib chops with Parmesan cheese, dates, wild mushrooms and sage, and that got me thinking of our inclination of stuffing one food into another.  The whole concept is glorious: take a good food and then stuff it full of more good food to make one super food.  That is gluttony at its most crapulent!  (And yes, that's a word.  Look it up.) 

It's also delicious, and we who consume food nearly demand it.  At restaurants, Stuffed Crab or Stuffed Lobster grace the menu of almost every seafood establishment.  We like to dress up baked potatoes as Twice Baked Potatoes.  Chicken Kiev, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Roulades, and Baked Alaska all fulfill our need to enhance the dining experience by putting more food into the food we started with. 

Turducken.  Need I say more?

So how can you create a new dish by stuffing one food into another?  What do you need to look for?

First, of course, begin with flavors.  Find compliments.  Sweet and sour are a safe start for any savory dish, while acidic flavors are also good at cutting through heavy fats.  But find a way to surprise the audience.  Wrap bacon around a kumquat and use that combination to throw a culinary curve ball.  Now stuff it into a Cornish Game Hens for roasting!  Sweet, savory, rich, lightly acidic. . .  Mmmmm!  I'm making me hungry!

Next, think of the physics involved.  How can you get enough space open to get the goodness in?  A yin for the yang, if you will.  You also want to figure out how to keep it in place.  Remember that, when heated, some things expand and take up more volume.  Also, when heated to sufficient temperatures, proteins contract and tighten their bonds making them both less elastic, as well as smaller.  That juxtaposition nearly guarantees to squeeze out whatever stuffing you're attempting to stuff--unless preparations have been made.  Fowl is easy: a natural cavity and supporting bone structure help.  Whole fish is similarly easy.  Mushrooms, potatoes and zucchini all work well.  Steak, pork chops and chicken breasts will put up a fight.  Employ butcher's twine, skewers or a crust or wrapper to help (think: puff pastry).

For those who haven't tried it before, here's a couple of recipes to get you started in the right direction.

Stuffed Mushrooms
8 large Button Mushrooms, whole, blemish free and firm
1 small Shallot (or Onion) minced, about 1 1/2 tablespoons
2 strips Bacon, chopped fine
2 teaspoons Bread Crumbs
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Cheese (I prefer sharp cheddar or pungent asiago, although Parmesan works well, too) sliced into little squares to cover the mushrooms

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium skillet on medium high heat, saute the bacon until crispy.  While cooking the bacon, clean the mushrooms, gently remove and chop the stems, leaving the the rest of the mushroom whole.  When the bacon is about ready, add in the shallot and mushroom stems, salt and pepper.  Saute until the shallots and mushroom stems are soft.  Add the breadcrumbs, stir and remove from the heat. 

Scoop the filling from the pan into the mushroom tops and place them onto a greased cookie sheet.  Lay the slices of cheese over the top and pop them into the oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted. 

Be careful when eating.  These bad boys can stay hot for a while!


Chicken Roulade
4 large, boneless Chicken Breasts
1/4 cup soft Cream Cheese
1 teaspoon dried Sage
1 teaspoon Thyme
2 teaspoons Parsley
1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
Salt and Pepper
Plastic Wrap
The secret to this dish is making it far enough in advance to let it chill firmly before cooking it.

Lay a chicken breast between 2 pieces of plastic wrap.  Using a flat meat tenderizer (I use a large rubber mallet) gently pound out the breast until it is evenly flattened to about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch.  Repeat for all four. 

Lay 2 flattened breasts on a fresh piece of plastic wrap, overlapping each other slightly.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then spread 1/2 of the cream cheese evenly over the chicken.  (DO NOT use a contaminated knife or spoon to scoop another helping of cream cheese out of a container.  That's how you get sick!  And my mom would have a fit!) 

In a small bowl, combine the sage, thyme, parsley and lemon zest.  Mix to combine.  Sprinkle 1/2 of the mixture onto the cream cheese. 

Using the plastic wrap to help you, roll the chicken into a tight pinwheel log.  Be sure to not roll the plastic into the pinwheel.  Wrap the log tightly in plastic and refridgerate for 8 hours.  Repeat with the other 2 breasts.

I prefer to cook the chicken on the stove top.  While still cold, remove from the plastic wrap and lay the roulades into a hot greased skillet.  Brown on each side, using tongs to turn it over.  Reduce the heat to low, cover and let cook 5-10 minutes more, or until the center reaches 160 degrees on an instant thermometer.  Cover and let stand for 10 minutes.

Thanksgiving!

I know many bloggers are out there, piously telling you what they are thankful for today.  That's not my style.  Today, you can be thankful for me.  It's ok.  Allow yourself to bask in my glow.  There's enough to go around. 

And as my gift to you I present a chronology of today's cooking.

We are at my parents' home, and after a big clam chowder meal last night, my body is prepared for the day ahead.

7:42   Wake up.  Stagger for a few minutes during morning preparation. 
7:48   Coffee.  Coffee brings clarity to life. 
7:50   Get the turkey out of the brine, rinse it thoroughly and dry it using paper towels.  Let it stand to continue to air dry. 
8:30   Making the cranberries. 
8:35   Cleaning up the stove where I wasn't paying attention and let the cranberries boil over.  My mom reminds me that nothing stains worse than cranberries. 
9:00   Do the dishes.  This will be repeated 7 or 8 times throughout the day.
10:30 Watch football.  My Fantasy Team is number 2 in the league, but I'm on a losing streak.  I have a rooting interest for several of the Thanksgiving Day games.
11:00 I eat a light lunch.  1 slice of bread, 1 piece of ham, a little cheese and 2 grapes. 
11:35 Start the broth for the stuffing.  Giblets, vegetable parts, apple peels, a little salt, sage, thyme and about 5 cups of water in a pot.
12:15 Assemble the rest of the stuffing. 
1:10   Dress and stuff the turkey. 
1:15   Turkey is in the oven.  It's going to cook for an hour breast-side down at 425 degrees.  Then another 45 minutes at 250 degrees. 
1:20   Help the family decorate the Christmas tree now that they've almost finished it. 
3:00   Flip the turkey breast side up, and admire its beauty.  Cook for another hour at 250 degrees.  Mom and my brother are starting to roll out crescent rolls and cooking the squash for the butternut squash soup. 
3:30   We start to set the table. 
4:00   I turn the heat in the oven back up to 425 degrees.  I take the bird's temperature.  It's about 135 degrees so far.  The race is on.
4:15   The dressing goes into the oven.  The soup is in the pot.  I start the bacon in a frying pan.
4:30   The turkey is out of the oven and is resting, covered.  The bacon is crumbled and the potatoes go into the pot to boil. 
4:45   The brussel sprouts are cleaned, split and in the frying pan. 
4:50   The potatoes get mashed.  All the final prep and meal comes together. 
5:00   We sit down to dinner. 
5:40   We all push away from the table, and the conversation slows to idle chatter. 
6:00   We start with dishes and threats of dessert.

What took days of preparation and hours of production, took only minutes to consume.  We relax and deliberate the condition of young people, these days. 

Please feel free to comment on your family traditions, your meals and recipes and any well-wishes you wish to send. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

For tomorrow's meals, we'll focus on leftovers.  Try:

Thanksgiving Sandwiches
2 slices of a sturdy Multigrain Bread
2 tablespoons Mayo
1 slice of Turkey Breast and a similar amount of Dark Meat
2 tablespoons Cranberry Sauce
1 large leaf of Lettuce
if you're really daring, 1 good spoonful of Stuffing

Assemble into a sandwich.  Eat it.  I like mine with a small dollop of yellow mustard and a few slices of swiss cheese.


Turkey Casserole
2 cups chopped Turkey
2 cups Stuffing
2 cups Green Beans or Mixed Vegetables
1 1/2 cups Turkey Gravy
Mashed Potatoes

In a large bowl, mix together the turkey, stuffing, vegetables and gravy.  Spread evenly into a casserole dish and top with a 1/2 inch layer of mashed potatoes.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until the gravy is bubbling and the potatoes are turning golden brown at the peaks. 


Cranberry Shortcakes
2 cups Cranberry Sauce
1 cup Sugar
6 Shortcakes (I like drop biscuits using half and half instead of milk and doubling the sugar)
1 scoop Whipped Cream

In a sauce pot over medium heat, add the cranberry sauce and the sugar.  Heat until the sugar melts and the sauce bubbles. 

Refrigerate until cool.

Heat the shortcakes, and split them open.  Spoon a generous helping of cranberries inside, and put the top of the cake back on.  Spoon another spoonful of berries on top, and add a scoop of whipped cream. 

The Thanksgiving Ritual

"My doctor asked, 'How soon into a meal do you typically stop eating and feel full?' I don't stop eating when I'm full. The meal's not over when I feel full. The meal is over when I hate myself. That's when I stop." -- Louis CK

Our family celebrates Thanksgiving like no other holiday.  Consider: my Mom's prodigious cooking, my love for the finest flavors, and my family's passion for . . . well,  . . .  gluttony.  So much so, that my brothers and I participate in a little (un)healthy competition around the holiday. 

As I may have alluded to in a previous post, we start gorging the week of Thanksgiving.  On Monday, I try to eat an extra meal.  Pre-Brunch, if you will.  Or maybe a Pre-Dinner.  Or even an Apres-Dessert.  Tuesday, I'll work on an extra meal and maybe extra helpings during each meal.  On Wednesday, I don't think I'm ever without food.  My brothers participate in a similar routine, the goal being stretching the stomach to its largest and most unhealthy capacity.  Then we fast the day of Thanksgiving so that we are nearly starving and feel completely hollow by the time we eat The Big Meal.  Like bears gorging themselves before hibernation, we maximize our caloric intake and then rest comfortably.  Americans created another ritual to aid in the rest and relaxation post-The Big Meal: The Detroit Lions Football Game. 

But my side of the family traditionally also celebrates Christmas during the Thanksgiving holiday.  The Christmas tree is put up, the ornaments come out, the Rat Pack serenades us with holiday carols.  Nog may be consumed.  Gifts will also be exchanged.  We started combining holidays years ago when marriages pulled us in different directions during November and December.  So we invented Christgiving.  Or Thanksmas.   Which is also cool, because we get our Christmas shopping done early.    

I'll report back after the holiday, and let you know how it turned out.  In the mean time, here's a few recipes I'm working on for The Big Meal. 

Cranberries with Raspberries and Cardamom
1 package whole, fresh Cranberries
2 cups Raspberries (fresh or frozen)
1 cup Sugar
Zest of 1 Orange
pinch of Salt
Water
1/4 cup Triple Sec
6 whole Green Cardamom pods

Rinse and pick out the bad fruit.  Add the fruit, sugar, zest and salt to a medium sauce pan with enough water to come up 1/2 inch below the top of the fruit.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently and then reduce to a simmer.  Add the Triple Sec and cardamom pods and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries split open and the liquid is reduced to a thin syrup. 

Refrigerate over night. 

Stuffed Turkey
The art of cooking a stuffed turkey, that isn't too dry, but isn't undercooked, either, eludes most kitchen enthusiasts.  The secret is patience.  And a lot of heat at the right time.  And the brine!
The night before, soak the bird in a brine of your choosing.  Essentially, the brine is a high salt content dissolved in water.  There may be additional flavors.  I like adding lightly crushed allspice, a little sugar in the form of apple cider, or in this case a dark porter beer.  Three hours before cooking, remove the bird from the brine and rinse it thoroughly.  Using paper towels pat it dry, and then let it completely air-dry. (This will help the skin get extra crispy.) 


Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Dress the skin of the bird however you like--I usually just sprinkle a little salt and pepper over it, inside and out.  Heat the stuffing in the microwave until it's about 300 degrees.  Quickly stuff the bird's neck and body cavities, and then finish trussing the bird, lay it on a rack, breast-side down, and get it into the oven. 


Reduce the heat to 450 degrees and cook for an hour.  Baste the back in its juices, and then flip the bird, breast-side up.  Put the bird back into the oven, reduce the heat to 250 degrees and cook for 2 hours.  The breast and thigh meat should be about 135 degrees by this time.  Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees and cook until the breast temperature is 160 degrees and the meat between the thigh and body is reading about 165- 170 degrees.  (The stuffing in the center of the bird will also be about 160 degrees.)  Remove from the oven and cover with tinfoil.  Let rest for 20 minutes before carving.


Autumn Stuffing
1/2 cup Walnut meat, lightly crushed
3/4 cup Onions, chopped
3/4 cup Celery, chopped (include the leaves!)
3/4 cup Apples, peeled and chopped (Granny Smiths or other baking apple)
2-4 cups Turkey Stock
1/2 cup melted Butter
2 tablespoons Kosher Salt
1 tablespoon ground Black Pepper
1 cup fresh forest mushrooms (I like Chanterelles or Morels)
4 cups Dried Bread, chopped into 1 inch cubes (we use the end pieces or stale artisan bread that we have been collecting for the past several months in the freezer)
cooked and chopped Giblets (optional, but I like them)


In a very large bowl, mix all the ingredients except for the stock.  Slowly add the stock until the bread starts to take on a little moisture, about 1 1/2 to 2 cups.  Seperate out about 1/2 the stuffing to put into the bird.  Follow the directions, above.

Add a bit more stock to the remaining stuffing until it gains the consistency you enjoy.  Move to a baking dish.  Bake in a 350 degree oven, covered for 30 minutes and 5 minutes uncovered.  Serve hot.

The Circle of Life, and All That

This was a meat-inspired week.  And I want to bring honor back to the word "butcher." 

Since returning from our rather unsuccessful hunting trip (*gasp!*  We'll have to buy our own red meat this year.  Read on for a plan), I've been running into meats of all sorts in all sorts of places. 

I've often said that if I wasn't a financial advisor, I would want to be a butcher.  For some, this is the most horrible thing in the world.  Akin to murder.  I challenge that line of thinking on an evolutionary basis.  Consider for the moment the human mouth.  Our tongue not only seeks out those things that provide a wide range of nutritional benefit, but our teeth and jaw alignment is perfectly suited to grind up a wide range of foods.  We have evidence of our earliest ancestors hunting and butchering animals at the dawn of the Stone Age, about 2.5 million years ago.  At that time, our teeth and jaws were much more like a chimpanzee's--sharper, pointed teeth up front, molars in the back in a longer narrower jaw hinged deeply in the skull and attached to massive jaw muscles.  Our palates have grown wider and shorter, and while some evolutionary theorists believe that forks, knives and cooking have made us weaker, I like to think of us as more refined.  We still have sharper, tearing teeth placed up front so that we can remove large bites, and broad molars for grinding and mashing.  Even our saliva is attuned to pre-digesting the essential proteins found in meat. 

But there is more than evolution at play in my admiration of butchery.  In much the same way Da Vinci explored the human figure examining musculature beneath the skin, a butcher knows his or her way around a carcass and creates an artform of separating different masses of muscle from bone.

The Denver Contemporary Art Museum hosted a a week-long art project called Art Meets Beast. Among other elements and events, Jimmy "The Butcher" Cross dissected a half a bison in roughly 2 hours. To put this feat of mastery into perspective, my Dad and I (who have a collective 80 years of experience in butchering our own meat) take 4 hours to butcher a deer, which is about half the mass of half-a-bison. Jimmy's knife (a 6 inch Boner) danced in and out and between bones like Gene Kelly weaving around light poles and umbrellas.  (By the way--there was SUPPOSED to be the music of Buffalo Springfield on the flugelhorn.  I heard no Buffalo Springfield and no flugelhorn.  Roger Green played "Home on the Range" on electric guitar as background music for the butchering workshop, however.)  Peter Marczyk of Marczyk Fine Foods (where Jimmy performs his craft) provided running commentary during the demonstration and expounded on the nature of bison, the butchering process and artform, the rise of American interest in knowing where our food comes from, and the lament that all too often, demand for particular cuts of meat (tenderloin, rib eyes, etc.) drive the price up for a whole animal and changes the marketability of beef, pork and bison in general.   I plan to buy a whole bison to split with my Dad in lieu of the elk we didn't get. 

This week, I also took the time to swing by and see my friends at Il Mondo Vecchio.  Walking through the doors on Loading Dock Friday, continues to bring a smile to my face.  The inviting fragrance of spices and curing meat promise a reward for the palate as well.  And certainly, I'm always excited to hear what's new and upcoming, and exchange recipe ideas.  Gennaro, dressed handsomely and incongruously in a dark suit and a tie, greeted us at the door and showed us around the facility.  He walked us through the curing process and then introduced the samples layed out for us to try.   Hot Coppa, Longanzia, Cured Duck, Beef Bresaola, Vino e Pepe Nero.  I picked up a half pound of Bresaola for my friend and a little of my favorite pork product, and a half pound of Duck Lardo.  On the way out Mark DiNittis was coming back into the shop. We discussed recipes, meats, and love of the craft.  He also let drop that he's going to be featured in a new book, Primal Cuts: Cooking with America's Best Butchers.  The dude is a rockstar. 

I took the Bresaola to Highland Tap and Burger and my buddy Eli, the executive chef there.  He creates a fusion of beer and meat products.  He'll sample the Bresaola in the cheese platter with homemade mostardo and a whole-grain ale mustard.  The nice guy gave me beer for the trouble.  And next week I'll introduce him personally to Il Mondo Vecchio.

If you're not already a committed vegetarian, I applaud you. You know the joys of well prepared meats and the majesty inherent in the noble beast.   If you are a vegetarian, I applaud you too.  You get a golf clap.  Way to stay committed to your principles.

Tonight for dinner:

Awesome Osso Buco
Instead of shanks, you can also use neck bones, tail bones or other less favorable cuts of meat.  Good Osso Buco is about the deep meaty flavor.
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
2-4 Beef Shanks (about 3 pounds)
2-4 Lamb Shanks (about 1 pound)
Kosher Salt
1 medium Onion, chopped
2 medium Carrots, peeled and chopped
1 stalk Celery, chopped
1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
1 cup good Dry Red Wine
2 1/2 cups Vegetable Broth (or Chicken or Beef)
1 sprig Rosemary
3-4 sprigs Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
4 whole Cloves
12 whole Black Peppercorns

For a prettier presentation, use butcher's twine to tie the meat onto the bone.  Lightly and evenly sprinkle salt on the shanks.  Let stand on end to dry.

 In a large dutch oven (cast iron is great) heat the oil until smoking and lay in the shanks.  Brown them on all sides.  Reduce the heat to medium high and add the onion, celery and carrots.  Sprinkle on the 1 teaspoon of the salt.  Stir until the onion begins to turn translucent and then add the wine and tomato paste.  Stir gently until the paste dissolves.  Add the broth (I prefer vegetable because it's not as heavy and over powering).  Place the rosemary, thyme, cloves, black peppercorns, and bay leaf in a satchel of cheesecloth.  Add to the broth. 

Cover and let come to a boil.  Reduce the heat and let simmer for 1 1/2 hours.  Check now and then, making sure the liquid isn't boiling off too quickly.  add more broth if needed.  Using tongs, gently turn the shanks making sure that each part gets the liquid love it deserves. 

Remove the shanks to serving platter.  Discard the cheesecloth.  Ladle on the broth and vegetables.  Add fresh thyme and rosemary as a garnish.  Serve with crusty artisan bread.