Where are those Pickles for My Dorito and Cheese Sandwich?

Forever I have seen those mini cucumbers for sale and wondered what people did with them. I was obviously drawn to them because I am a short human and these are short cucumbers…fate. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. I wanted some crisp Jewish pickles from the streets of NY or table at Katz’s Delicatessen. I wanted the ba-tampte half sour pickles I grew up putting on my Doritos and cheese sandwiches. 

My Dad kept these a staple in our childhood fridge.

Living in the almost sticks of VT, jews don’t exist, and so rarely do our delicious and sometimes creepy products....except for Manischewitz wine....it is everywhere! For 6 years I have been limited to dill or bread and butter or creepily sandwhich stack pickles.  I longed for the crisp, green, garlicky delight of a half sour pickle. Watching Jersey Shore on Thursday and seeing Snookie walk in and immediately ask if the guys bought pickles was clearly a sign that I needed to make some damn jew pickles...and clearly get cable so I could enjoy more Jersey Shore. After researching various recipes, particularly Tommy J’s ,and ingredients on the ba-tampte label, I did pickle making, all of which took 15 minutes from start to finish. I am left with a 2 day wait of fermentation and then the tasty oasis of half sour will fill my inner soul. The best part of half sour pickles is you need no fancy heated canning supplies, just a jar and a cool dark space. Make sure you are using clean supplies and tools so as not to get any bacteria growths in your pickle jar, if things look funked in a day or more, throw out immediately

Mission: Soup Dumplings

Soup Dumplings

Soup Dumplings. Not Dumpling Soup. Soup Dumplings. The soup is actually inside the dumpling. Little crimped packages of hot Asian pork and shrimp soup delicacy The biology of the dumpling is a thicker wrapper than a wonton rolled into a circle with a meat mixture (or veggie) ball in the middle surrounded by soup and cinched up. The result being a dumpling that you (with much bravery) bite the to off of and get a mini spa treatment of steam to your face. Blow and allow to cool and then stuff the entire dumpling in your mouth. Upon biting down you will instantly enter a mode of confusion. How can this be? Soup exploding out like that gum with the liquid in it. Hot and delicious and gingery and meaty and salty all in one bite? Then a slow understanding and acceptance of the soup dumpling begins and you try to figure out why you didn’t order more…because 8 is not nearly enough.

My sister Meg introduced me to these on one of our traditional trips to China Town. We first went to Joe’s Ginger and of course, after having these orgasmic tumors of meat and soup, we needed to do it again. Joe's was a small, dimly lit, cozy and very delightful place. Service was great and food was better. Next trip was to the electrically designed Shanghai Café. This place was unforgettable not only for the amazing food, but also that it looked like a restaurant trying to be from the future but it hired a designer that thought robotic 80’s were coming back in the future. Fluorescent lights rimmed the molding and the entire restaurant was basically silver. Both places roll out double bamboo steamers filled with 8 soup dumplings steamed to perfection. At 6 bucks a pop you can imagine a whole meal of these would be sufficient.

There had to be a way to replicate this. Aha! Of course Epicurious had a recipe for shanghai soup dumplings. With a Chinese grocer nearby I bought a bamboo steamer and got down to work. Originally I used dumpling wrappers pre-made, left out the shrimp (when I was still in a fishobic state of being) and bought chicken broth instead of starting my own base with chicken parts. This is a quicker way to do dumplings and mine came out quite tasty.

French Onion Soup

Thanks Betsy for setting up Fried Family last summer!

This is my first entry on Fried Family, mostly because my brain has been fried these last months. I plan to post at least a couple times a month, in the future with pictures.


The subject is French Onion Soup--probably my favorite soup to order anywhere, especially in winter, simply because of the rich onion flavor, the crunchy crouton bread that soaks up the broth at the bottom of the crock, and the layer of melty cheese on top.

Bets--we thought this would be a big hastle. I agree it would be tricky for a crowd, but for two, in 4' ramekins, it was a cinch. The most time intensive part was waiting for the onions to soften into a gooey mess (Bitman says 30 minutes!), but otherwise it was pretty low maintence. I made my own croutons by sauting cubed bagette bread in olive oil until browned.

J-E-T-S

I have been in New York, returning to my roots. In the grand tradition of being a Cass, I have been doing some serious eating. That’s what my family does. We enjoy cooking, but more importantly eating, and I have gained three pounds in one week to prove it. Needless to say the next few weeks of this blog will be scarce as fasting is most certainly in order (is there some Jewish Holiday that can help me accomplish this?). My parents have spent the past week whoring me out to local restaurants and home cooking so as to ensure I live no older than 60 and resemble a female John Candy (their toast does fit through the door). Upon my arrival tailgating and a Jets game was in order. Now tailgating is a serious business. Every once in a while you can get away with grabbing a chicken cutlet sandwich from Rockies and a twelver if your heading to a game after work.... but when your going to a pre-season game (subs become stars i.e. Clowny), tailgating may very well be the damn highlight. GEAR UP. I was unaware of the extreme prep some people put into a tailgate, but the sewer that is the meadowland parking lot was flooded with personalized oven mitts, foldable pong tables, JETS trailers filled with every style grill, full bars, motorized coolers (so you can visit your buddy in the next spot and bring drinks!) and of course annoying fucking jet fans screaming at every unfortunate soul not wearing jets regalia. I was in awe. I was shocked. I was lovin' it.

My brother and dad had been tailgating traditionally for a few years and came equipped with a gorge charcoal grill, a fold out Velcro table, two coolers, various grilling tools, and fold up chairs as well as the back of the (there can only be one) Highlander for additional seating.

Everybody Likes Pesto

"Why do I get pesto? Why do I think I'll like it? I keep trying to like it, like I have to like it. Everybody likes pesto. You walk into a restaurant, that's all you hear: pesto, pesto, pesto. Where was pesto ten years ago?" George Costanza

PESTO PESTO PESTO- everybody loves it and you know summer is here when its getting served up by the gallon. But George is right, Pesto was never around when I was uber young...where did this green delicate delight come from. Well it came from Genoa, Italy (shocking.....mmmmm salami). The rocky fishing villages and mountain towns are excellent for growing produce, thus the abundance of BASIL, and the need to use it up. The Ligurians developed the basil based sauce because they needed dishes that used the fresh ingredients their climate most supported. Originally the sauce was used for flavoring in vegetable soup and wasn't used as a pasta sauce until 1910. Noted: Pesto in french onion soup could be good? The name came from pesto translating to pestle, as in mortar and pestle, the tool used in the traditional way pesto was made. One would use the mortar and pestle to grind up all the ingredients into a paste. I will not be doing that as my mortar and pestle are tiny and I am far too lazy. Plus, I bought a new food processor mini just for this pesto event. 20 dollar refurb cuisinart from Big Lots. I love that store. Ok so on this dreary afternoon I went on a pesto mission using my mothers old recipe and some basil from the garden to make this incredibly simple sauce.

Greet

Hey Guys: 

Fun posts about great recipes or great eateries from Cass' coming soon.