Fermentation Friday: Melting in the New Year

"Fermentation Friday":  An semi-regular look at the holy fermented trinity:  beer, wine and cheese.

This year, with New Year's Eve/Day being in the middle of the work week and returning from our weekend in Philly, we hadn't given a lot of thought or effort to what we'd do for New Year's. But as we were spending our last day in Philly standing in DiBruno Brothers' Rittenhouse Square outpost with Patti asking, "What are you going to do with all of that cured meat you always buy here but never finish?" we had our answer:  Raclette.

Anniversary Weekend: Local Tourists

November 2 marks our 12th wedding anniversary. Some years we've been able to celebrate by taking a little trip to someplace nearby, going out to a nice dinner in DC, or on a couple of wonderful occasions, taking a two week trip to France. This year, we're going to reach back to one from our younger, less economically able days:  Local Tourism.

Gastonomical Cooking: Brisket Breakthrough!

I'm not going to claim that I'm a Certified Barbecue Expert, but I've smoked my share of meat over the years -- mostly of the porcine variety. I've smoked pork butt several different ways, including traditional pulled pork and an Italian porchetta, all to rave reviews. I've also had good luck with ribs. But the one time I did brisket was several years ago, and it was, well, disappointing. It was okay (it was barbecued brisket!), but it was on the dry side, and compared with the excellence I'd been able to produce from Our Friend the Pig, it led me to relegate brisket to something I get in restaurants rather than try myself.