Tag: food

Cacio e pepe—cheese and pepper pasta

The classic Italian dish cacio e pepe is just grated cheese on hot pasta served with pepper. The cheese is usually Pecorino Romano (sometimes, misnamed “Romano”) and the pasta can be tonnarelli or spaghetti. Tonnarelli differs only in that it has a square cross section rather than round. And while Pecorino is the preferred cheese, some chefs add up to 30% Parmesan to the Pecorino.

The story behind this seemingly simple dish is that shepherds could carry the dry pecorino (aged sheep’s milk cheese), pasta and pepper and make themselves a hearty meal. Maybe. But despite the fact that this dish has only four ingredients (including water), it is hard to get right in the home kitchen.

In restaurant kitchens, they keep a pot of pasta water boiling, and cook all their pasta in it. Over time, this becomes quite a starchy solution that chefs often use to enhance the mouth feel of sauces. In this dish, that starch content is critical to its success.

When you stir together the pasta, cheese and pasta water, you want the result to be pasta with a creamy sauce. But this depends on there being enough starch in the mixture. If there is too little starch, the cheese is likely to form lumps rather than melting into the sauce.

And, if the temperature is too high, the cheese can go into a gooey “mozzarella phase” instead of dissolving into the sauce.

We read through six or seven different recipes that weren’t a lot different and made it seem easier than it is. Interestingly enough, Lidia Bastianich suggested crushing whole peppercorns under a heavy flat pan rather then grinding the peppercorns, to give big pieces of pepper in the sauce. This is a matter of taste and how much pepper you really want. Babish solved the sauce problem by pouring the hot pasta water over the cheese in a blender. He also adds a bit of butter to the pan where you put the drained spaghetti and after tossing the spaghetti in the butter, he just pours the blended sauce over that pasta. This isn’t quite the same as melting the cheese on the pasta, but it is foolproof.

Research on the phases of cheese

However, the ultimate research on cacio e pepe (Phase behavior of cacio e pepe) was posted on ArXiv by eight physicists who study phases of such liquids. G. Bartolucci, D. M. Busiello, M. Ciarchi, A. Corticelli, I. Di Terlizzi, F. Olmeda, D. Revignas, and V. M. Schimmenti, working at the University of Barcellona, Max Planck Institute in Dresden, University of Padova and the Institute of Science and Technology, Klosterneuberg, Austria participated in studying the phases of the cheese and starch solution. Despite their labs being spread all through Europe, they emphasized that they were all originally Italian, and thus were not messing with someone else’s national dish.

In a nutshell, they determined that if there is not enough starch in the pasta water, the cheese is likely to clump rather than dissolving. They also noted that you should let the pasta cool for about a minute before mixing with the cheese to avoid the dreaded “mozzarella phase.”
So, rather than just using starchy pasta water, they propose making up a warm starch solution to mix with the cheese. We tried this and it works exactly as they described. They recommend potato or cornstarch.

• 240 g pasta (about half a pound, 8.4 oz)
• Water to cover the pasta in a wide, shallow pan.
• 160 g pecorino cheese (5.6 oz)
• 4 g cornstarch in 40 g water
• Freshly ground pepper

Mix the cornstarch and water and heat it gently until the mixture becomes nearly clear. The mixture will become quite thick and gelatin-like. (This is known as “starch gelation.”)
Grate the pecorino until you have a bit more than 160 g. Save the excess for sprinkling on top. You can use a cheese grater or a food processor.

Mix the starch gel with the grated cheese in a bowl, adding room temperature water as needed to make it moist enough to make a smooth mixture. Add ground pepper to the mixture.
Bring the water for cooking the pasta to boil in an open, flat pan wider than the length of the pasta, and cook until al dente. Be sure to test the pasta’s doneness, as it will take longer than the suggested 10 minutes, since the small amount of water will reduce the heat of the boiling water.
Scoop out around half a cup of pasta water about a minute before the pasta is done.
Lift the pasta out of the cooking water into a serving bowl.

Let the pasta cool about one minute and then begin to mix in the cheese mixture, adding the slightly cooled pasta water as needed. You want to add enough water so that the cheese mixture mostly dissolves in the water.
Add more ground pepper.
Divide the pasta into two serving bowls and top with ground cheese (here you could add Parmesan if you wanted) and more pepper. Serve immediately.

If you have some left over, you can refrigerate it and reheat it in a microwave without the sauce coming apart, as the starch stabilizes it.

Nathan Myrhvold, the author of Modernist Cuisine, has suggested that you might also be able to prevent the cheese from clumping by adding some sodium citrate, suggesting that this anticoagulant might be more more effective than the starch which could blunt the flavor of the the cheese.

Le Cremaillere in Bedford

We were always happy to visit Le Cremaillere for an excellent French meal, and this visit was another outstanding one. The restaurant reopened after the pandemic in 2022 with Chef Thomas Burke in charge. The menus were fresh and the chef came and chatted with you during your meal. It couldn’t have been a better experience.

In February of this year, Burke and his partners announced that they were revamping their menu to be “seafood forward,” and renaming the restaurant Le Poisson. They also rearranged the bar area as a lounge where you could eat without a reservation. They started serving in March and those who got there found it impressive. But eventually Burke and the owners had disagreements, and Burke left in late July, taking the “Le Poisson” name with him. The current restaurant simply restored its original name, Le Cremaillere. Watch for Burke to reopen his dream French seafood restaurant soon.

It was this latest incarnation that we visited last weekend. Before we even saw the menu, we received excellent hot rolls and butter and a little amuse-bouche crab puff.

The menu is divided into five courses, Froids (cold dishes), Chaudes (warm appetizers), Les Poissons (seafood) and Les Viandes (meats), and Desserts. You couldn’t possibly eat all five large courses, but they do offer a Chef’s Tasting Menu for $145 , in which you can pick one from each category and receive a smaller portion of it. The only drawback is that your whole table has to order the same 5 things. But this was a disagreement easily resolved, because everything on the menu was outstanding.

We started with the Country Style Duck Terrine, with pistachios, truffle, cornichon and condiments, along with some crusty bread to eat with it. It was silky smooth with a nice crunch from the pistachios. Other choices included smoked salmon, burrata, aromatic house salad and foie gras au torchon.

The Chaudes section included the beloved Billy-Bi (PEI mussels and saffron cream soup) as well as Green asparagus with hollandaise and Hudson Valley foie gras, but we chose the Baked Escargot in Garlic Custard with breadcrumbs, nuts, tomato puree and parsley sauce. This was a really interesting take on escargot: no shells, no curry flavor, but a lovely fusion of flavors.

The seafood course offers sea scallops, sautéed red snapper, and seared Scottish salmon. But the outstanding choice was the Dover Sole with fava bean puree, broccoli, carrot and caviar beurre blanc. I’ve never had a better serving of sole.

The meat course selections include Rack of Lamb, Duck Breast and Roasted Chicken, but we chose the Filet Mignon, with crispy shallot topping, pommes puree, mixed mushrooms and sauce au poivre. It was tender and juicy and much more flavorful than the run of the mill filet you often get.

The waitress suggested come French fries to go with it, but all this food we barely touched them. They were excellent, however.

Finally, while the full dessert menu contains nine selections, the waitress only suggested two when she took our dinner order. We chose the chocolate souffle with Grand Marnier and pistachio. This was a do-it-yourself souflee: you got to poke a hole in it yourself and pour the pitcher of chocolate sauce into it. And, if you look carefully, you will notice a small serving of a rich, chocolate gelato alongside.

And, of course, there were final cookies as well.

This is not an inexpensive restaurant. With 3 glasses of wine, coffee and tea and tax, but before tip the bill for two was $392. But it was a lovely evening, with superb service throughout, and outstanding food in every way. We’ll be back again!

Ventuno is absolutely top notch!

Eating at Ventuno (21 Federal St) is always a great pleasure. The breadth and creativity of their menu makes every visit delightful.

Last week was Nantucket Restaurant Week, and Ventuno gave you a choice of their Restaurant Week menu: 4 courses for $75 or their full menu. The only real difference is that that the smaller menu skips some of the more expensive items, but everything else was the same, and there was plenty to choose from. Either way, you get a selection from Antipasti, one from Primi, one from Secondi and a dessert from Dolci.

We were going to just order from the reduced menu until we discovered the breast of duck on the full menu. Thus, we became a full menu customer.

Our Antipasti choice was a Caesar Salad, made with Romaine, celery, ciabatta-parmigiano croutons, a Caesar dressing and thin slices of parmigiano cheese. Crunchy, delicious and substantial in size.

As a surprise, the waitress gave us an extra little course of the Chef’s Ricotta spread on toast as well. It was smooth, creamy and quite flavorful.

This was followed by Strozzapreti, dre’s spicy chicken sausage, broccoli rabe, and pecorino, served with some extra parmigiano cheese to sprinkle as needed. This was spicy but not overpoweringly so, and quite a change from the usual Nantucket fare.

And finally, the main course: cherry & balsamic glazed duck breast, roasted cherries, farro, radicchio, endive, hazelnut crema & candied hazelnuts, with scallions & pecorino. What a magnificent preparation. Tender, juicy duck breast sitting on the cherries and candied hazelnuts. What could be better?

Well, of course, there was still dessert. We’d had many of the other desserts, so we went with the burnt sugar and orange flan with a candied orange slice in it.

What a great way to finish a terrific meal. We are always really impressed with Ventuno, and hope you will be too!

Millie’s is as great as ever!

If you haven’t been out to Millie’s at the far western end of Nantucket in Madaket, you’re missing one of the island’s outstanding restaurants. The menu is mostly seafood tacos and quesadillas, but there is a lot more to it (beef, chicken and even berries), and all of it is imaginative and delicious. There is now a Mid-island Millie’s at the Rotary as well, serving lunches from 10:30-4, with a similar but not identical menu.

When we rented a house out in Madaket, the first place we’d always go would be to Millie’s for dinner, and sometimes we’d go again on our last day. Now that we stay downtown, it seemed as if getting to Millie’s without a car was too much trouble. It’s not.

We jumped on the Madaket Route WAVE bus in front of the Historical Society (across from the Juice Guys) and rode for 20 minutes to the end of the line at Millie’s. And this year the WAVE busses are free! We puttered around Madaket, and went to dinner at about 5, easily catching a return bus at 6:30. It couldn’t be easier! The busses leave downtown on the hour and Millie’s on the half-hour.

This year they’d added a new dish we had to try: Fried Oyster Mini-tacos with purple cabbage slaw, pickled jalapeño, and lemon aioli. There were two fried oysters in each taco, dotted with a bit of mayo and topped with that pickled jalapeno. They also provided hot sauces to top them with if you wanted. We had them without so we could savor the oysters. These were a great, crunchy appetizer that you could pick up or eat with a fork (or both).

There seems to be a bit more lobster on the menu than there used to be: you get a warm lobster salad, a lobster Po’ Boy and a lobster quesadilla. They all cost around $39 so they all probably have quite a bit of lobster in them.

We couldn’t resist trying the Steps Beach Lobster quesadilla with Lobster, slow-roasted tomato, grilled zucchini, and Monterey jack cheese. The lobster was indeed plentiful and with the cheese and veggies this is a very filling and delightful dish. If it’s too much for you, they’ll box the rest, of course, or you can cheat as we did an pick out the rest of the lobster with a fork! It still is a lot of food and outstanding! You can’t go wrong at Millie’s.

Black-Eyed Susan’s is back for breakfast

Thanks to Michael and Orly LaScola, Chef Todd Edwards and Anna Worgess, who purchased Black-Eyed Susan’s from its previous owner, Susan Handy, the beloved restaurant is back and this year serving its well-regarded breakfasts 6 days a week. (They are closed on Wednesdays.) Breakfast is served to walk-ins from 7am to 1pm.

Being that it is still early in June, we were able to walk in for breakfast without the longer summer wait and sit at a table. The menu is similar to the old restaurant, offering eggs, scrambles, pancakes, hash browns, French toast, omelets and breakfast sandwiches. But even if you have to wait for a while on the benches outside, it’s worth it. It is just about the only breakfast place downtown and it is simply excellent.

We ordered eggs over easy with sausage and their excellent oat bread toast.

But more to the point, we got our tea in an actual teapot: one of the few restaurants in the Northeast that serves it that way.

And did we mention the service? The staff is warm and welcoming, and you can watch it your order being prepared in the open kitchen behind the counter. Our bill for tea, eggs, sausage and toast was $30.49 including $1.99 tax. And it is likely to be one of the best breakfasts we’ll have here!

Dune- one of Nantucket’s finest restaurants

Coming to the island for a brief visit, we ate at Dune first. It has always been one of our favorites, with its imaginative menu and outstanding service. And to our delight, this is Nantucket Restaurant Week, and Dune offered a prix fixe menu of appetizer, entrée and dessert for only $68. As usual the dinner was excellent.

We started with their widely regarded roast oysters (traditional chilled oysters are also available). They are served with chorizo-ramp butter, cucumber, shallots, picked ramps and lemon. You actually get 5 oysters in this dish, but we cropped it down to 4 to fit on the page. The oysters are warm, and you can pick up each shell to drink any remaining juices without bring yourself. Absolutely terrific.

We vacillated on the entrée: considering scallops, swordfish and sirloin before choosing the roast cod loin.

The Pan Roasted Cod Loin was served in a coconut-lemon grass broth along with purple creamers (potatoes), Romanesco asparagus, bok choy, shiitake, fried garlic and basil. They server makes sure you have a spoon so you can spoon that terrific broth over your cod as you eat. The result is outstanding: we didn’t leave a drop behind.

Finally, you get a free dessert this week: a brown butter cake served with cherries, lemon cream icing, and candied almonds.

However, travelling solo, we managed to get a couple of photos of other appetizers. One was roasted red and golden beets with whipped goat cheese,pistachios, balsamic and a red sorrel beet vinaigrette.

And the other was Korean Barbecue Short Ribs, with sesame bbq, napa cabbage, Asian pear, red onion lime vinaigrette, fried shallots and cilantro.

What a terrific re-introduction to Dune’s cuisine. We couldn’t have been happier.

The battle of the buttermilks

I first tasted buttermilk at my grandmother’s house in Lincoln, Nebraska. My mother and I had taken the train from Columbus out to Lincoln to visit her family there. I was probably 10 or 12 years old. I came in from playing with my cousin Steve, climbing trees and the like, to find that they were going to make pancakes with buttermilk. I tasted the buttermilk and didn’t like it much. “But,” they said, “wait till you taste the pancakes. They will be like you poured a lot of butter into them!”

And, yes, the pancakes were very good indeed.

Some years later, when I started collecting recipes, I got that buttermilk pancake recipe from my mother’s sister, Elsie, and have saved it ever since. Since it was originally my grandmother’s it is probably over a hundred years old, and was probably made from real buttermilk. Here it is:

2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tb sugar
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

As a memory guide, Elsie pointed out that you can summarize the recipe as 2-2-2-1-1-1/2.

Mix dry ingredients and add buttermilk until you get a “thickish batter.” Cook in a large cast-iron pan or a griddle. Turn the pancakes when they start to show bubbles.

Buttermilk was originally formed by allowing the milk to stand to separate the cream allowing it to ferment a bit. Then, after churning, they let the buttermilk ferment and thicken. But once centrifugal cream separators were developed, you didn’t have to let the cream set and begin to ferment before churning the butter. So, another way to make buttermilk was developed, where they took part skim milk and added the same bacteria that were found in fermenting the original buttermilk. These were usually Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc citrovorum. This was called “cultured buttermilk” and is commonly found in the US, where there is little original buttermilk available.

I have been making excellent pancakes using Friendship Buttermilk for over 20 years. But recently, our local market dropping the Friendship buttermilk, offering only Kate’s Buttermilk. You can still buy it at ShopRite and at some Stop and Shops.

So, it seemed like a good idea to compare the two. We made up two identical batches of dry ingredients and eggs, and added buttermilk to each until we reached a “thickish batter” stage. We initially cooked 4 pancakes on each time on our Presto griddle. But recognizing that the griddle’s heating was uneven and measurement of each pancake aliquot was difficult we then simply put one carefully measured ¼ cup of batter on the griddle from each recipe, and placed them close together so they would have the same cooking temperature.

The result:

The pancake on the right, made with Friendship cultured buttermilk, clearly rose higher than the one made with Kate’s buttermilk. We would assume then that the Friendship buttermilk is slightly more acidic and reacts with the leavening more that the Kate’s recipe did.

How did they taste? We tasted a slice of each pancake without any added butter or syrup. The Friendship pancake had a rich buttery-milky flavor, but the Kate’s pancake was quite bland, with no distinct flavor at all.

So, how do the two buttermilks themselves taste? Not surprisingly, the Friendship buttermilk tasted more like buttermilk. The Kate’s just tasted sour. No real butter-milky flavor at all. So, we are sticking with the Friendship for our pancakes. An experiment with biscuits showed similar differences in rising as well.

Sorry to say, despite all the positive press Kate’s has gotten, we found it quite disappointing.