{"id":1759,"date":"2014-06-16T10:28:31","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T17:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/?p=1759"},"modified":"2015-05-24T09:52:33","modified_gmt":"2015-05-24T16:52:33","slug":"the-second-rule-of-cooking-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/?p=1759","title":{"rendered":"Second Rule of Cooking Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

If it looks wrong, go with your gut.<\/p>\n

Our second cooking club<\/a> dinner was last night. The theme was Italian, using recipes from the cookbooks of celebrity chef Mario Batali. Ditalini and I were in charge of the antipasto; Magret de Canard, our host, prepared the main dish; Manzo & Anitra Spezzatino brought the salad; Tibur\u00f3n & Camar\u00f3n Ceviche prepared a vegetable side dish. Houskov\u00fd Knedl\u00edk was in charge of dessert but couldn’t come, so we raided Magret’s stash of gelato.<\/p>\n

It was a terrific dinner. By the time I remembered to take a photo of our antipasto tray there was nothing left, but I did manage to get shots of the other dishes before they disappeared:
\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

\"IMG_0247\"<\/a>
Verdura in Scapece<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
\n

\"IMG_0248\"<\/a>
Arista alla Porchetta<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

\"IMG_0249\"<\/a>
Arista alla Porchetta<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
\n

\"IMG_0250\"<\/a>
Concia di Zucchine<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\nYes, I know my food photography wasn’t the best last night, but at least this gives you the idea.<\/p>\n

Dinner was molto Italiano<\/em>, not just the food but the company and conversation: we talked and talked and talked some more and didn’t get up from the table for at least two hours. It was a\u00a0great success … except for the\u00a0Ceviches’ Concia de Zucchine, or marinated zucchini … which\u00a0wasn’t their fault. It was Mario Batali himself who ruined that dish!<\/p>\n

The recipe for Concia de Zucchini (which you can see on the left side of my\u00a0plate in the fourth photo, above) comes from a Mario Batali cookbook titled Molto Italiano<\/a><\/em>, and appears on page 447. The zucchini is sliced thinly, made crispy by frying, then marinated and served at room temperature. The marinade, according to Batali’s recipe (and at least four of us looked at it\u00a0afterward\u00a0to verify the amounts and ingredients), is made with minced garlic, two\u00a0teaspoons of red pepper flakes, a cup of fresh basil, two\u00a0tablespoons of kosher salt, two\u00a0tablespoons of ground black pepper, and a quarter cup of red wine vinegar.<\/p>\n

Two\u00a0tablespoons of salt? You could brine a 20-pound turkey with that much salt! Even if the recipe\u00a0mistakenly called for tablespoons instead of\u00a0teaspoons, that still<\/em> would have been way way too much salt.<\/p>\n

Tibur\u00f3n thought the measurements were way off\u00a0when he prepared the dish, but decided to trust the famous chef (like, how many of us<\/em> have multiple cookbooks in print, never mind our own TV shows?). He worried about it all the way over to Magret’s, and told us repeatedly\u00a0beforehand\u00a0he thought it would be too salty to eat. Sure enough, it was.<\/p>\n

Something in Batali’s recipe is wrong, and it’s not just the salt … the red and black pepper are way out of proportion too. Afterward\u00a0Tibur\u00f3n said he should have gone with his gut.<\/p>\n

Hence the Second Rule of Cooking Club: If it looks wrong, go with your gut.<\/p>\n

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen gross errors in cookbooks\u00a0…\u00a0including Julia Child’s classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking<\/em>,<\/a>\u00a0which omits\u00a0an important step<\/a> in preparing her famous Boeuf Bourguignon recipe.<\/p>\n

Well, live and learn. I probably would have trusted Mario Batali’s recipe too. Gee, I wonder if he’ll confiscate\u00a0our tips<\/a> if we point out the error on his Facebook page<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If it looks wrong, go with your gut. Our second cooking club dinner was last night. The theme was Italian, using recipes from the cookbooks of celebrity chef Mario Batali. Ditalini and I were in charge of the antipasto; Magret de Canard, our host, prepared the main dish; Manzo & Anitra Spezzatino brought the salad; Tibur\u00f3n & Camar\u00f3n Ceviche prepared a vegetable side dish. Houskov\u00fd Knedl\u00edk was in charge of dessert but couldn’t come, so we raided Magret’s stash of gelato. It was a terrific dinner. By the time I remembered to take a photo of our antipasto tray there was nothing left, but I did manage to get shots of the other dishes before they disappeared: Yes, I know my food photography wasn’t the best last night, but at least this gives you the idea. Dinner was molto Italiano, not just the food but the company and conversation: we talked and talked and talked some more and didn’t get up from the table for at least two hours. It was a\u00a0great success … except for the\u00a0Ceviches’ Concia de Zucchine, or marinated zucchini … which\u00a0wasn’t their fault. It was Mario Batali himself who ruined that dish! The recipe for Concia de Zucchini (which you can see on the left side of my\u00a0plate in the fourth photo, above) comes from a Mario Batali cookbook titled Molto Italiano, and appears on page 447. The zucchini is sliced thinly, made crispy by frying, then marinated and served at room temperature. The marinade, according to Batali’s recipe (and at least four of us looked at it\u00a0afterward\u00a0to verify the amounts and ingredients), is made with minced garlic, two\u00a0teaspoons of red pepper flakes, a cup of fresh basil, two\u00a0tablespoons of kosher salt, two\u00a0tablespoons of ground black pepper, and a quarter cup of red wine vinegar. Two\u00a0tablespoons of salt? You could brine a 20-pound turkey with that much salt! Even if the recipe\u00a0mistakenly called for tablespoons instead of\u00a0teaspoons, that still would have been way way too much salt. Tibur\u00f3n thought the measurements were way off\u00a0when he prepared the dish, but decided to trust the famous chef (like, how many of us have multiple cookbooks in print, never mind our own TV shows?). He worried about it all the way over to Magret’s, and told us repeatedly\u00a0beforehand\u00a0he thought it would be too salty to eat. Sure enough, it was. Something in Batali’s recipe is wrong, and it’s not just the salt … the red and black pepper are way out of proportion too. Afterward\u00a0Tibur\u00f3n said he should have gone with his gut. Hence the Second Rule of Cooking Club: If it looks wrong, go with your gut. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen gross errors in cookbooks\u00a0…\u00a0including Julia Child’s classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking,\u00a0which omits\u00a0an important step in preparing her famous Boeuf Bourguignon recipe. Well, live and learn. I probably would have trusted Mario Batali’s recipe too. Gee, I wonder if he’ll confiscate\u00a0our tips if we point out the error on his Facebook page?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,250,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cookblogging","category-dinner-parties","category-italian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pixFB-sn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1759"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1885,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759\/revisions\/1885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/cookblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}