Grilling season is upon us. Last week I was listening to KCRW’s Good Eats show and they had master Argentine cook and man of fire, Francis Mallmann on. All I caught really was him saying something about too much harmony of flavors in the mouth is boring. It’s much more fun to have flavors that are fighting with each other. I ordered his book, Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way, immediately.

The book is beautiful. Lots of pictures of him in his environs, of the food, and of prep techniques. It seems like it’s a new trend to photograph the cook in the settings of their lives, which is a bit cheesy but whatever. There are tons of amazing looking recipes and while I am pretty certain I will never have a whole fresh caught salmon to grill in a salt crust, it’s fun to fantasize that if I did/do I will know what to do with it.

Once of the coolest techniques is the idea of making crusts on fish and meat. This isn’t a crust in the sense that I think of, but a crust of tapenade on a smashed whole potato, brook trout with a potato crust, and pork tenderloin with an orange confit, thyme and brown sugar crust. I can’t wait to try these methods. There are also a lot of recipes for cooking various meats and fish with the salt crust, something I’ve always wanted to try.

Check out this book if you get a chance. For more info, Serious Eats did a review of it.

Fried pimento cheese served with pickles and tomato jalenpeno jam. At the Bistro by the Bijou. Amazing. Nothing more needs to be said–FRIED PIMENTO CHEESE.

In Mexico there is an abundance of cement and white paint. My brother and I went into town one day to get some dinero and they were setting up for this talk in the main square. Everything is freshly painted. The white was so bright it hurt my eyes through my sunglasses.

Finding good pita is tough. It either needs to be rebaked, is too bready, is not bready enough, or is just like ripping through rubber. I was doing some cooking a few weeks back that called for some pita. I figured I would cut it up into triangles and rebake it before serving. I just assumed it wouldn’t be that great so you know it was fine.

While I was cooking I needed to taste the Shrimp Pate I was serving with the pita. So I tore some out of the bag and was very happily shocked. It was good, straight out of the bag. Yay. I found it at the Earthfare.

Mexican Style. Way less invasive then those songs and barking dogs and creepy hellos…

Want to keep them in your backyard? Check it out:

May 7th
7:00 p.m. at Remedy Coffee
Movie Screening: Mad City Chickens
Hosted by the Parkridge Neighborhood Association, Three Rivers Market, & the Knoxville Urban Hen Coalition