Cousin Jen returns…

So this space will usually be filled with Chef Tony’s ruminations and, I hope, lots of great video like last summer’s awesome live-action short, “how to fillet a whole fish.” But, obviously, he’s a little busy right now making Craigie On Main perfect and can’t blog, so we decided to fill his space with some thoughts from him anyways, buy interviewing him on the fly.  Since I did the interview, I got to pick the topic, and I picked a food reality we all think about, even if we don’t always admit it: Freezing food. It’s just a part of life now. I know it’s important I buy the best ingredients, and so I’ve experimented with the fancy organic butcher, with whole foods, with my neighborhood grocery store, and with the farmers market. I’ve definitely found that a little time going to the farmer’s market to buy pork, beef, and chicken is worth the energy and the money — and found that the extra money spent at Whole Foods didn’t seem to be getting me more flavor than the local supermarket. The exception is the Trader Joe’s frozen chicken and pork roasts — which brings me back to our topic: freezing and defrosting dinner. I admit it – I freeze everything. Shop Saturday for the week, plan dinner the night before, defrost the meat during the day. After some hits and some near misses (defrosting the steak on the counter all day was definitely not a good plan; defrosting the trader Joe’s kosher chicken overnight and during the day in the fridge was perfect), I decided to go straight to the horse’s, er, cow’s mouth: Chef Tony.

JEN: So, um….I freeze a lot of stuff. I know you probably don’t do that, but I do. If a person is just a regular person — busy, doesn’t even know what kind of a fridge they have except that the handle is always sticky and the drawers aren’t big enough — what can they do to make frozen meat the most delicious?

TONY: Freezing is not necessarily a bad thing!  But make sure there’s a method to your madness. don’t just wrap it up all messy and stick it in next to everything else. Freeze it as quickly as possible and as carefully as possible. Getting it vacuum packed is the best. And make sure you get it cold, fast. Don’t let it sit around. You want your meat to be cold as soon as possible so make sure your freezer can do that.

J: So it’s not really about how fast I move, but about how fast the freezer gets the meat cold? Like a heart transplant?

T: Exactly! Get the meat, get it on  big ice, FAST — and done, boom! you’re trying to keep the cell structure intact for taste and texture, so time is of the essence.

J: What does that mean? Should I turn my freezer colder? how can you make your freezer be your ally?

T: If your freezer is packed with waffles and popsicles, it’s gonna have to work harder to get it done.[editors note: my freezer is not packed with waffles or popsicles. that's totally slanderous. it's filled with trader joes frozen artichoke hearts,  which are really delicious.]. If you want to freeze meat and know it’ll be great, and if you have the space, get a second freezer. Or, if you really want — buy your meat frozen already from your butcher.

J: How about choosing what to freeze? Are some things better or worse?

T: First, freezing bad stuff is just not worth it.   And fish is tough to freeze because it has a  higher water content, and the cell structure is fragile — beef, pork, more hearty things are better for freezing.

Second, how you thaw is just as important as what you freeze. Best to have a little bit of foresight — thing will taste better and have better texture if you plan ahead about how to thaw them. Put it the fridge the day before remember, you’re taking something from minus 10 degrees to up around 32 — that’s big, it needs to be gradual. Big things like a roast will take 2 days, a steak will be fine in a day.

J: What about water? Sometimes if I only have a little time and I forgot to stick the lamb chops in the fridge, I put them in a bowl of water. I think you once told me lukewarm water was better?

T: Honestly, not a big fan of water – if vacuum sealed it’s ok as a way of expediting. But otherwise….yuck. But I know people gotta eat!

Tony Maws’ cousin Jen serves as our guest blogger today with this totally unbiased report about Craigie On Main’s opening night!

Craigie on Main was bustling on Friday night! It was like a hive of activity radiating out from Tony’s awesomely bright, new, open kitchen.

Pedja Kostic, of Iggy’s Bread, was sampling a cocktail at the bar. After a bear hug, we discussed what I should get — after the lovely but limited choices at the Bistrot, the array of bottles and magical ingredients behind the bar was mesmerizing. But Pedja felt the new place required a champagne toast, so champagne it was. I wish I could tell you what kind of champagne it was, but I didn’t ask — Pedja ordered. Whatever it was, it was delicious.

I wasn’t planning to be in town for the opening of my cousin Tony’s new restaurant, but then some family business brought me to town, and so as I looked around on friday night, I took in all the details of the real restaurant — which I’d previously only seen as a construction site.

It was thrilling. There was definitely some new choreography happening — and my vantage point at the bar let me see it all. It felt like walking into a private club, or your local pub — that sense of intimacy but with a welcoming energy. Regulars at Craigie Street Bistrot might spend their first few moments looking for the familiar landmarks — I felt right at home once I’d located my favorite “French-Pig-Piggy-Bank” sculpture tucked above the bar. My mom loves the entrance to the bar — the slight ramp down makes her entrance feel theatrical and grand — though she’s still on the lookout for her favorite objet of Craigie Street — Frenchie, the french poodle statue.

I had a frisee salad with Banyuls vinaigrette and onion rings on top. I’m sure they’re not called onion rings, but I didn’t take french in school, so to me, they’re onion rings. My salad was crisp and tart and the vinaigrette made every little bit taste velvety. Tom the bartender poured me a glass of vouvray to go with it, which must have been boring for him, given his creative skills. But as I drank my vouvray I got to watch him make the couple sitting to my right a pair of Florentine Flips — a magical-looking concoction of egg, benadictine, and mint essence that came in delicate glasses shaped like egg cups or antique champagne glasses. The drink was frothy and thick looking, like a potion. They seemed really pleased with it.

Then I wanted something warm and comforting, something hearty that would taste intense but make me feel grounded after a long day. It was a hard decision between Potage of Macomber Turnips, one of my favorites, and the fricassee of mushrooms, cock’s combs, and lamb sausage. I went with the fricassee, anticipating the treat of cracking the yolk over the richness of the ingredients — which was a good choice. A simple bowl came my way and I dug in. The textures were perfect and the flavors tasted like a farm. A little earthy, a little woodsy, and then that perfect egg yolk — viscous and the kind of yellow kids draw when they draw an egg yolk. While I swirled my food around in the egg yolk, I got to see Tom making more cocktails — one small, sort of the color of pink lemonade, and one tall, a deep bright pink. Around me, people greeted each other and waved — including one young woman who sprinted past the bar to lift a long-lost and I guess unexpected friend off the floor in a huge hug. My aunt, standing next to them waiting to take their coats, looked on bemusedly. I guess by that time in the night, nothing was surprising.