Redirected: Features - Hidden

The Food Lovers Encyclopedia: B

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Illustration by John Burgoyne

Bitters
[dashes for modern mixology]
Saddle up to the (free!) bitters bar at Silver Lake’s Bar Keeper, where you can taste homegrown examples of the cocktail fillip. You’ll find citrusy yuzu and toasted pecan tinctures from Miracle Mile Bitters Co. and spicy blood orange-ginger and strawberry-chile flavors from Highland Park’s Bitter Tears. Downtown’s GreenBar Collective invites mixologists to submit their formulas, and the winners are bottled under the Bar Keep label. We’ll drink to that.

Blanchet, Michel
[L.A.’s king of smoked fish]
While at L’Ermitage—once L.A.’s premier salute to French fine dining—Blanchet personally cured the salmon for every amuse-bouche. The restaurant closed in 1991, but the chef hasn’t given up his love for smoking seafood. At Michel Cordon Bleu, his Leimert Park factory, he sprinkles Idaho trout with fresh dill and slices Canadian salmon paper-thin before sliding it into his hickory wood smoker. The ethereal results, available at Wally’s Wine in Westwood, end up in the hands of chefs like Josiah Citrin and Joël Robuchon. They’re mighty fine on a bagel, too.

The Food Lovers Encyclopedia: Figure 10

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Photograph by Paul Nicklen

The Urchin Merchant
Free diver Uni Jack battles sharks, spines, and powerful currents to harvest the coast’s prized jewel

For professional sea urchin diver Jack Butt-ler, swimming with the sharks is not just a figure of speech. “They’re a fact of life out here,” says the 36-year-old, who free-dives for red sea urchins in their prime coastal California habitat: the jaws-infested kelp forests surrounding the Channel Islands.

The waters off Santa Barbara are to sea urchins—known to sushi aficionados as uni—what Napa is to cabernet grapes. “We have the right longitude and latitude to grow the best kelp in the world,” says Buttler, who goes by Uni Jack. “Chefs are all begging for Santa Barbara uni.”

Buttler was born in Northern California and raised on Kauai, where he fished for yellowfin. In a lottery five years ago, he won a permit to harvest the urchins, making him one of only 300 licensed divers in California. (Regulations protect against overfishing and environmental damage.) Today he spends 150-plus days a year underwater, handpicking urchins from their beds.

Each spiny creature produces five fragile lobes, which are bright orange and sweet, with a minerally marine punch. Although uni is harvested year-round, its quality peaks between October and January.

Most of Buttler’s catch is processed and airlifted to top chefs in New York, Chicago, and Las Vegas. But luckily for us, his company, Buttler Seafood, sells live urchins from the dock in Santa Barbara. His customers include Sue Moore, cofounder of hot dog company Let’s Be Frank, who brings the delicacy to her friend Alice Waters’s home on Christmas Eve for her annual Feast of the Seven Fishes. “Santa Barbara sea urchins are the original sustainable seafood,” says Buttler. “It doesn’t get any fresher.”

The Food Lovers Encyclopedia: Figure 3

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Illustration by John Burgoyne

Wheat Away
Suppliers for those looking to give gluten the heave-ho

Breakaway Bakery
You’d expect to find a kosher bakery along this stretch of Pico Boulevard, but one that excludes gluten is an extra mitzvah. There are also babka and challah (Dayenu!) as well as lemon bars, cakes, and frozen dough.

Rising Hearts Bakery
Folks who remember Culver City’s the Sensitive Baker and its garlic breadsticks, worry not. The name has changed, but the gluten-free goodies are the same and include bialys, pumpkin muffins, and those breadsticks we’d down by the bushel.

Pam MacD’s Gluten-free Market
Talk to any Angeleno with celiac disease, and they’re no doubt regulars at Pam MacDonald’s Burbank market. Dedicated to gluten-free products, her shop carries staples like frozen pizzas and sports drinks.

The Food Lovers Encyclopedia: Figure 4

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Photograph by Damon Casarez

The New School
The Institute of Domestic Technology is offering more than cooking classes—it’s reviving lost arts

Fourteen women—and one brave man—gather on the back porch of the bucolic Zane Grey Estate in Altadena. As they devour hot berry scones smeared with fresh goat cheese (the herd is penned a few feet away), Joseph Shuldiner explains the day’s itinerary. “First up is breadmaking, then mustard, then lunch, followed by canning and finally cheesemaking.” And this all takes place from 10 to 4.

Food Crafting 101 is one of a number of classes offered at the Institute of Domestic Technology, which is the passion project of director Shuldiner, a graphic designer and manager of a popular new local market (see Altadena Farmers’ Market). Courses are taught by superstars of the local artisanal food scene. Erik Knutzen, author of The Urban Homestead, teaches breadmaking. Saving the Season scribe Kevin West shares preservation techniques. The estate’s owner, Stephen Rudicel, teaches milk crafting. These are skills that a generation or two ago were considered basic, but which most of us never acquire. Today learning them can cost as much as $250 a class.

Inside the estate’s detached kitchen, pupils listen to a lecture on botulism as they slice peaches for Earl Grey jam. As the instructors provide guidance, the participants chime in with their own inherited wisdom: “Grandma used pectin,” “A flowered pillowcase works, too.” These tips prove as valuable as the lesson. When the class disbands, a few students linger to pet the goats while the rest inspect their haul: a batch of proofing bread dough to bake at home, a tub of chèvre, and that caramel-colored peach jam. Tomorrow’s breakfast is served.

The Food Lovers Encyclopedia: Figure 5

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Photograph by Damon Casarez

SAUER POWER
The Krüegermanns understood the allure of expertly brined produce a century before “You can pickle that” became the national mantra

In this era of “fermenting degrees” (see Master Food Preservers), the Krüegermann family deserves an honorary doctorate. Spicy Hungarian-style uborka pickles, hand-peeled sweet Polish-style gurkens, and tangy pickled celeriac (celery root) are among the dozens of briny vegetables the family has preserved in its Frogtown factory for nearly 50 years.

The recipes date to 1896, when Kurt Krüegermann’s grandfather, Carl, began pickling cucumbers, cabbages, and beets in the German town of Lübbenau, southeast of Berlin. The business thrived until 1961, when the factory was taken over by the East German Communist Party. Kurt and his wife, Helga, fled to Los Angeles, where they began their fermenting life anew with two toddlers in tow.

Today fourth-generation pickling siblings Greg and Carl supervise the production of such specialties as rot-khol (pickled red cabbage with apples), but the entire family still gathers daily for Helga’s pickle-friendly lunches of cold cuts and salad at the small factory. “We’re lucky that cabbages and cucumbers grow at different times of year or else there’d be no lunch break,” says Greg, as he sits down for a bite.

“The traditional pickles are for our older German customers,” he adds. Longstanding immigrant patrons have come to depend on the Krüegermanns to satisfy cravings for such hard-to-find items as senf-gurken, which are handmade from a two-foot-long German cucumber variety and sold at establishments like Torrance’s Alpine Village Market, Beverly Hills’ European Deluxe Sausage Kitchen, and Glendale’s Schreiner’s Fine Sausages. Although his sons have automated the factory’s assembly line, Carl still insists on hand-packing some pickles. Says Greg: “Who wants a broken pickle?” > kruegermann.com

The Food Lovers Encyclopedia: Figure 6

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Illustration by John Burgoyne

Carnivores Uncut
Three butcher shops that let you go big

Lindy & Grundy
The leading ladies of the Fairfax District encourage groups to go in together on whole pigs and grass-fed lambs. Beef is trickier, but they’ll butcher a whole side into multiple cuts if you ask.

Harvey’s Guss Meat Company
Chefs rely on Harvey Gussman to supply superpremium meat, including whole pigs and sheep. But not many home cooks know that with preordering, they, too, can procure the same quality proteins that wind up at A-Frame.

Harmony Farms
The La Crescenta shop is known for carrying cuts of exotic animals like alligator and elk. With advance notice, it’ll also sell fresh or frozen whole lambs and suckling pigs and, occasionally, frozen wild boar.

The Food Lovers Encyclopedia: Figure 7

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Photograph by Misha Gravenor

Aging Gracefully
Long an underground practice, dry-curing meats is on the rise, thanks to L.A.’s first sanctioned salumi bar

The curing room in back of Mozza’s Scuola di Pizza is more like a coat closet, stacked floor to ceiling with ashy, rust-colored bundles. The contents of the converted walk-in fridge—legally dry-cured meats—are the first of their kind in L.A. “You’re asking to take raw pork, let it hang out for months at 10 degrees hotter than a refrigerator, and then serve it,” says chef Chad Colby. It’s understandable, he explains, that health inspectors would be wary of operations like Mozza’s, where the traditional Italian methods of pre-serving sausages and whole muscles are used. It took more than a year of educating local officials and rigorous testing, but eventually Colby was given permission to dry-cure everything from unctuous speck to Barolo-infused salami. Since May the results have been served on Thursday nights at the Scuola’s Salumi Bar, which Mozza plans on expanding soon. The program is a breakthrough for the city’s chefs, many of whom have been curing on the sly for years. With Mozza clearing the way, we see a sausagefest in our future.

1. Coppa
This heavily marbled pork shoulder has been curing since March.

2. Pancetta

Essentially bacon, the fatty pork belly tastes sweet and reveals beautiful stripes when sliced.

3. Tellicherry Pepper Salami

A natural casing is stuffed with Berkshire pork and black peppercorns.

4. Aleppo Pepper Salami

Ground Berkshire pork is mixed with Syrian Aleppo pepper.

5. Capicola

Pork shoulder and neck are cured whole, similar to coppa.

6. Tocai Salami

The Italian wine formerly known as Tokaji seasons the meat.

7. Christmas Salami

Baking spices season a holiday sausage studded with red and green peppercorns.

8. Mulefoot Prosciutto

The swine that sacrificed its leg is jokingly called a “kosher pig” because of its uncloven hoof.

9. Finocchiona

Fennel seed, Mozza’s favorite ingredient, stars in this salami.

Three Salumi Speakeasies

They’re not exactly legal, but that makes them cooler

Salt’s Cure

Zak Walters and Chris Phelps focus on whole-muscle cures, like a boneless prosciutto and pork shoulder for coppa.

Mezze

Lamb belly pancetta and Armenian air-dried sausages are some of Micah Wexler’s latest experiments.

The Churchill

Chef Bruce Kalman admits to curing duck prosciutto and guanciale— but you didn’t hear that from us.

The Food Lovers Encyclopedia: Figure 9

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Illustration by John Burgoyne

Wisdom
Shu Takikawa shows off the greenness of his thumb

“In the Santa Ynez Valley we don’t have much fog or overcast conditions—that makes for very red leaves. The colors are brilliant. I can tell when the lettuce is going to taste good just by looking at the color. Also, when I feel it with my hand, I can sense if something is wrong. If it’s dry or not juicy, then it’s bitter. But I can only use my left hand to tell. When I harvest, I use a knife in my right hand and my left hand feels the lettuce. Even if it’s dark, I can sense the quality by feel. But I can’t do it with my right hand. It’s a funny thing.” > Mar Vista Farmers’ Market, Grand View at Venice Blvd.

The Food Lovers Encyclopedia: J

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Jerky
[you won’t find this at a truck stop]
While most beef jerkies are a masticating challenge, the South African version, called biltong, is closer to delicately aged lunchmeat than tough, leathery nuggets. Hanging in mouth-watering hunks behind the counter at European Deluxe Sausage Kitchen on Olympic Boulevard, the biltong is cured in-house and sliced to order (we recommend leaving the fat on). Slightly sweet and perfumed with coriander, the thin ribbons of beef are so addictive, it’s easy to see why South African expats flock here for the delicacy. > 310-276-1331.

The Food Lovers Encyclopedia: Figure 1

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Illustration by John Burgoyne

Bean Counters
Three of L.A.’s newest coffee cooks

Handsome Coffee Roasters
In downtown’s arts district, the 3,500-square-foot roastery lets patrons watch the process. The finished beans—in bags marked “A” for “Adventure” or “C” for “Comfort”—are sold at the café.

Rose Park Roasters
The Long Beach company roasts with precision, not pretension. Cofounder Andrew Owen plans to open a brick-and-mortar soon; until then you can order by mail or, if you’re local, have it delivered by bicycle.

Tonx
Tony Konecny, who helped launch Intelligentsia in Silver Lake, has gone off on his own. He sources beans from around the world, roasts them at the company’s midcity headquarters, and ships them via the U.S. postal service.