Szechuan and Steaks

First off, shout out to H on that awesome blog! It really looks like you're making the most of your travels. Really awesome stuff.

I'm certain that I can speak for all of us when I say that we've all been quite busy this summer. Nonetheless, I apologize for my personal slackage.

In the past week or so, I had two memorable meals. First, I ate at Taste of China (follow the link for a nice review by the New York Times) in Clinton, CT down by the shore. The outside is quite unassuming, as is the name. However, the dining experience in there is very good and unique for the area. First of all, they specialize in Szechuan cuisine, which I've never truly had before. The common theme that I observed was the prevalence of infused, spicy oils. The better dishes we ate were:

- Broccoli stems - What a great dish! The stems were simply sauteed with a spicy chile oil but packed a lot of flavor. The heat built nicely as well. The stems definitely reminded me of cabbage in a good way. I came to the conclusion that these would have been phenomenal diced up with mushrooms in dumpling form for sure.

- Chungdu dumplings - These were simple and delicious. Thinly-wrapped, perfectly cooked chicken dumplings coated in a lighter type of chile oil along with a coating of pureed garlic. Really, really good.

Another unique feature of the restaurant was their alcohol selection: TONS of excellent BELGIAN beers. Apparently, the owner's husband is a connoisseur. We had an excellent bottle of Saison by Brasserie Dupont which perfectly washed down the heat while lifting up the flavor in our food.

Another good meal I ate recently was from me cooking dinner for my folks. It consisted of:

- Ribeye Steaks with Bordelaise
- Succotash
- Skillet potatoes
- Carmenere (red wine from Chile; kind of like a Malbec)

I spent a few days prior making veal stock for the bordelaise, which was a rewarding learning experience. My advice: don't make veal stock with anything smaller than a 10 quart pot and 5 lbs of bones. I used my 8 quart Le Creuset along with 5 pounds of veal bones and it yielded approximately a quart of finished stock. Some cooks like Michael Ruhlman, who extoll the virtues of veal stock (here's an article), claim that you can just make smaller batches. However, I don't really see how making less than a quart of stock for a recipe is really worth the couple day process--unless of course you half-ass the process, but by that point why not just buy stock?
Anyway, the steaks were great, but I was really proud of the succotash. Corn is super sweet and in season right now and fun to work with. I sauteed bacon, shallots, and garlic scapes, threw in some red peppers, then the corn, poured in blanched baby lima beans and let it simmer with some heavy cream and thyme. I then seasoned everything to taste and loved life. Tasty and easy.

Glad to hear everyone's food tales. I apologize in advance if I don't post again soon. Classes are starting!!

Bon appetit.