Hedonia

Thanksgiving retrospective, or the bacon parade

As I mentioned in the master roundup of last week's consumption, Thanksgiving Day was an uncharacteristically small affair for us, just DPaul and me. For years, DPaul has lamented that we don't get to cook a Thanksgiving dinner of our own, but the reason is not necessarily what you might think. His beef is that, since we are eating Thanksgiving at other people's houses, we don't get the pick of the leftovers, and therefore never have the proper makings for what is in his estimation the most important part of the Thanksgiving meal: The sandwich composed of cold turkey pulled from the bone, a sweet-tart smear of jellied cranberry sauce (from the can, thank you very much) and a sizable dollop of stuffing. Well this year, things were different.

But as it was just us, a whole bird would have been an abomination. No one needs that much leftover turkey hanging around, even if you do get a year's worth of use out of it. We opted for a good-sized turkey breast, far more manageable.

Several weeks ago, DPaul tried marinating a half a chicken in pomegranate juice, and then roasting it. The result was quite good, so we decided to try the same thing with the turkey breast. We started with one whole pomegranate, extracting the arils.

Too often on cooking shows I've seen this stupid method for removing the arils from a pomegranate. They cut the thing into quarters, then invert the cut side and tap the rind with a wooden spoon or something heavy, dislodging the seeds one at a time. Aside from being phenomenally tedious, this strikes me as being a really good way to make a big mess. There is a much, much easier way. Score your pomegranate several times longitudinally, just enough to weaken the skin. In a big bowl of water, submerge the pomegranate and pull it apart. Then, gently work the arils out from the pith. Aside from preventing geyser-like sprays of the most stainariffic juice on earth, the water has an added benefit: The seeds drop to the bottom, and the pith floats. Once you've gotten all the arils out, just skim off the pith and drain the bowl.

(Photos: DPaul Brown)

Pizza: leftovers velcro

If you think pizza and pasta are strictly Italian fare, you've never eaten at our house. We treat both starchy staples as blank canvases upon which to paint all manner of culinary concoctions.

A simple pizza dough is relatively quick and easy to make and absolutely begs to be dressed up with whatever you've got. Chez nous, leftovers very often end up as pizza toppings. We save the last dribs and drabs of order-in curry or Chinese; fruits and vegetables pushing the ends of their edible lives; whatever we didn't finish the night before. Most recently, our leftover tagines -- yes, two separate tagines married as one, lamb and beef forever locked in delicious matrimony -- found themselves laid bare and roasted atop a sea of dough. And very good it was indeed. Though I couldn't help but think, gee this would have been good as a pasta sauce.

We used to order from one Chinese restaurant that did really excellent fake meats; delicate, crisp fried balls of mystery gluten puffs that were satisfyingly chicken-like. In order to preserve this delicate texture through the rigors of delivery, each element of the dish was packaged separately: The crispy puffs, the stir-fried vegetables, and a nice container of sauce. There was always twice as much sauce as you ever needed, and the remaining halves invariably ended up on a pizza. Of particular interest was the lemon sauce from lemon chicken, a total guailoh dish. But that sweet-tart lemon sauce would melt down to a glaze on the pizza dough, developing heavenly caramelized waves of sauce crashing on the shores of beachy pizza crust.

Leftover mutter paneer is another fave, as are the tamarind and cilantro chutneys that come with pakora. Peanut sauce from a local Thai joint's param pak, ideal. Call it fusion if you must. I call it delicious, sustainable food.

Adventures in leftovers: Faux risotto

Perhaps it was due to the thick, chunky tortillas. Or perhaps we just bought too much seafood. At any rate, we were left with a nice collection of grilled shrimp and scallops from the weekend's taco adventure. What to do, what to do.

As I've said before, we are masters of leftovers. Italian cooking makes that easy -- there's pretty much nothing you can't throw in a pasta or slap on a pizza. After toying around with the options, and considering what we had in the pantry, I fell back on one of my staple recipes, faux risotto.

I love risotto, but the difference between an OK risotto and a truly euphoria-inducing one is far more art than science. I'm of the lazy and imprecise ilk, so I prefer to use pasta, which is far more forgiving. I used orzo, which technically makes this an orzotto, nothing faux about it. But I sometimes use the smaller riso pasta, which would make it ... risotto. Sort of. Whatever. Anyway, using the pasta instead of rice makes for a nice, silky texture that will not turn to glue as easily.

This is another one of those non-recipes. There's nothing precise about it -- you just kind of go with the flow. But an approximation of the recipe follows after the jump.

Leftovers: It's in the bag

* Todd Coleman, editor at Saveur, detained at a Florida airport due to suspicious contents in his bag. The items in question: Honey, an oyster shell and a seasoning rub. What, they thought he was McGuyver? (t/y Anita)

* AMA demands warnings on foods high in salt content because, evidently, Americans are too dumb to manage their own intakes. Come to think of it, they probably are. (via Slashfood)

* KFC sued for frying its foods in oil that is high in trans fats. Um, hello? It's fast food, not health food. See above.

* To celebrate its 70th anniversary, Carvel creates world's largest ice cream cake, weighing in at 12,096 lbs.

Leftovers: Stamp out hunger

The Postal Service (the people who deliver your mail, not the band) issue new stamps commemorating indigenous crops of the American Southwest: Peppers, beans, sunflowers, squash and corn. (Thanks, Anita)

Speaking of delivery, never wonder again what to have for dinner. GrubHub.com hooks you up with all the local restos that deliver to your address. (via SFist)

Not in the mood for take out? Too poor to eat high on the hog? Look no farther than your cupboard for some low-fat, high-nutrition pet food. You've had worse things in your mouth, seriously.

Still hungry? Tuck into the world's largest sandwich, weighing in at nearly 7,000 lbs. Besides the field of lettuce and tombstone-like slabs of ham and cheese, what really amazes me are those tremendous slices of bread. How'd they do that?

Leftovers: Mmmm ... Pi

The Exploratorium had their annual paean to Pi today, and what better way to explore the depths of this enigmatic number than by studying round things: Pizza and fruit pies.

February 14 may be the biggest day for chocolate, but March 14 is a banner day for white chocolate. In Japan, the ladies give chocolate to the men on Valentine's Day; on White Day the men turn the tables and bestow gifts of white sweetness in the form of white chocolate and marshmallows upon the objects of their desire. Symbolic, much?

And then of course it's Steak and Blowjob Day. Try finding a Hallmark card for that.

Leftovers: Wine in 17 syllables

• My new zen-infused wine shopping list [Red Wine Haiku Review]
• Kick-ass dim sum in the Mission? I am SO there. [Gridskipper]
• Mission coffee guru Phil Jaber filters into the Castro [DailyCandy]
• Better than Reese's? I'm skeptical but curious. [BillyKnowsBest]
• Myth: Hit or miss? [SFist]
• Kellogg's Corn Flakes turn 100. Breakfast continues unabated. [Detroit Free Press]
• The NYT discovers SoMa. Well, the eastern end anyway.  [NYTimes.com]
• Wander the streets of San Francisco without actually getting off your butt [GeekyTraveller]

Leftovers: Cupcakes and crack

[Just getting back up to speed from my week away in Sea Ranch, so here's a roundup of what I missed.]

* At last, a culinary alternative to crack. [BillyKnowsBest]
* Get your cupcake funk on! [SFGate Culture Blog!]
* SFist in the Kitchen cases out Rancho Gordo's heirloom beans [SFist]
* News flash: Wine and cheese DO go together [Vinography]
* Hm, a blog about SF restaurants. Now why didn't I think of that? [Tablehopper]