I can’t say it was my best moment as a photographer, but Veno’s Lamb prosciutto and marmalade on toast are to die for. Yet another example of awesome food in Brooklyn within four blocks of my house. Bonus points to Veno for keeping the interior decor of the ancient apothecary shop they took over.
My brother in Law Jake Dowling gave me a quick (really quick) tutorial on how to unshell a lobster recently. He is a native of Maine (which has too much lobster–if you did not know) so this kind of thing is truly second nature to him. He showed me how to unshell a lobster in less than 60 seconds without breaking a sweat.
As they were cooking, I was told that bigger is not always better with lobsters, and there is a perfect size for texture and flavor that is somewhere around pound and a quarter in weight. So, getting the timer running here, Jake takes the claws off first, as you can see in the image below. The next step is to grasp the body in one hand and the tail in the other, and gently twist to separate the two body parts.
At this point Jake typically disposes of the body, but I want to step in and note that there are a few pieces worth salvaging. The legs have exceptionally tasty meat that can easily be removed by using a rolling pin. Just start at one end and roll over them, and the meat will pop right out. You should keep a look out also for red lobster roe in the tail. If you are lucky enough to get it it’s delicious. The next step is to break the tail and push the meat out from inside. This should be really easy and yield a lot of meat.
From here we can move onto the claws. Compared to the rest of the lobster, these can be a little tricky. First you want to snap the joint and also break off the movable part of the claw. You may notice that this is the only picture that was not over a plate. when you remove the bottom of the claw, a liquid will come out of it. You can see it in the picture. You probably want to move over a sink or trash can. You can use a cracker to break into the claw and extract the rest of the meat.
All that we have left now is the back portion of the claw. If you apply pressure with your hands against the joint it should pop right open and you are good to go.
My friends and recent newlyweds Chris and Kate Miller just spent their honeymoon in Japan. I met up with them last week and they gave me this incredible looking hand painted clay container of sake as a gift. The sake has a dry flavor with a bit of a bit to it. I have been enjoying it at room temperature, and cold. Its color has just the slightest amber tint to it. I was told that the sake process has not changed for many generations at this family run place. Although the sake is incredibly tasty, my favorite part by far is this clay container. I will be refilling this for a long time! When I removed the cup from the top, there was a cork.
Right around the corner from my new loft in Brooklyn is a Japanese restaurant called Gen. I have been frequenting it quite often. My friend Lina noticed on our last visit together that they had a brunch, so I was excited to see what their offering of breakfast food would be. They have a set menu where you get a choice of a few entrees, as well as a mimosa, tea, soup, chirashi, and a dessert all for 13$.
I ended up picking the only entree I did not already know, renkon hasami age. It was renkon (lotus root) stuffed with salmon and deep fried. The renkon had a rich heavy flavor that is well suited to be deep fried. It was ofset by the salmon inside, adding a well needed saltines. It appears that there was also a shiso leaf inside, but I don’t remember tasting it that strongly. Next up was the chirashi (pictured above). The fish was good quality, as would be expected from Gen, but what really blew me away was the rice below it. It was sushi rice mixed with a schiffanade of shiso, yukari (dried red shiso), and edamade. It was so delicious, I could have eaten a whole bowl. Yukari has an even stronger flavor than shiso, it was really tangy. Also pictured is a clam and wakame soup, an unagi omelet, and a pineapple spring roll in a mango sauce.
Well, it looks like everything worked itself out. Under new a slightly new look, and new management (Sarah of Delicious Life I wonder???) Tastespotting.com has returned. One good thing that happened during the down period was the launch of FoodGawker. Thanks to the talented Lina of EatYet for the find!
