Max at Friday Mornings @SELMA May 21, 2009
Posted by Max in : Cooking, Events, SELMA , add a commentFriday Mornings @SELMA is a hub of Ann Arbor’s West Side local food community. Every Friday morning, a different guest chef prepares their take on a breakfast dish. It’s a delicious way to start off the weekend and there’s always ample Roos Roast coffee in addition to whatever the chefs prepare. Here, I should probably reveal that I was a guest chef a few weeks back and prepared two delicious entrees, Hippie Hash and Sweet and Savory Crepes (sounds complicated but really wasn’t). I held the record for attendees for a few weeks until Silvio came by with his Pizza Rustica.
I’ll be there again tomorrow, serving up Breafast Burritos with Jeff’s homemade chorizo, homemade authentic (that means lard, folks) flour tortillas (ok, we made vegetarian too) and a scrambled egg inside. Topped off with some homemade salsa and served alongside a green salad straight from the SELMA hoophouse…what more could you ask for? Stop by between 6 and 10AM for breakfast.
Peach and Apricot Pulled Pork May 17, 2009
Posted by Eli in : Uncategorized , add a commentSo lately, we’ve been pork crazy around here. Max made some bacon the other day, and I decided that I’d try making pulled pork because it’s my hot body, i do what i want. I was sitting at my desk on friday with terrible RSA (restaurant selection anxiety) agonizing over where I should spend my hard earned loot. I was yelping around for some inspiration and really felt like something BBQ’ed or smoked meat item. Just as i was narrowing down my choice, I heard rumblings from the office kitchen. Turns out some meeting had been catered and there was ample leftovers. With that, I abandoned my quest for a tasty restaurant opting for the free option (economy folks, economy). As the day came to a close I still had that subconscious mind and stomach rumble for some tasty meat eats and my mind zero’ed in on pulled pork.
Most grocery stores route you through the fruits and veggies when you enter (gives your mind the perception that everything in the store is fresh and not packaged – trust me, I’m a food psychologist) so I decided that a pulled pork would be awesome with a peaches and apricots sauce. Now that I had my ingredients, I was ready to head home and get started.
Pork N' Peaches (and apricots)
Back at Kitchen de la Freshman, I busted out my trusty dutch oven purchased at Surfas (www.surfasonline.com/) with a bday gift certificate. Into the dutch oven went some broth, lotsta cut up peaches and apricots and some cayenne pepper. I seared the pork first in butter (hey it’s not like this meal was every progressing towards the “light and healthy” quandrant anyway) and then popped it into the already simmering liquid. I covered it and put it in the oven at 275 for 4.5 hours.
my roomate walked in as i was lighting this shot with a lamp and when she turned the corner and stumbled upon this food porn shoot i could clearly tell was out of her comfort zone
After 4.5 hours, I removed the pork, pulled it, and place it into a seperate dish. I then reduced the remaining fruit and pork meat broth for 2 hours by simmering it on the stove top. I added more salt and pepper, some chili paste and some brown sugar. After 2 hours it was a thick paste with awesome viscosity. Since it was past 2am, you might think I went to bed and would try the porks of my labor the next day. Well, you sir would be wrong. I busted out a baguette, popped it in the oven to toast it a bit, spread the apricot/peach pork meat dripping sauce i’d reduced and pilled that pulled pork high. I poured myself a 7 and 7 plopped down on the couch and chuckled to myself with glee.
Note: i thought I took a picture of the finished product but it turns out i actually smashed that sammy before I could even snap one but no fear there is still plenty of pulled pork and sauce so I’ll twitpic a sambone pictorial later this week.
Bacon Makin’ May 12, 2009
Posted by Max in : Bacon, Cooking, Recipes , 1 comment so farMuch to the chagrin of our parents here’s another post on a delicious adventure involving a pork product. This time it’s Max’s first attempt at curing and smoking bacon.
In order to make bacon you need to start with a pork belly. These are available at any good butcher and I got mine via eve from Heritage Foods. First thing is you need to rub the belly with a blend of sugar, salt, and spices. Next wait about a week to let the cure do its thing as the salt and sugar soak in to the belly. It’s not an exact science and I use my favorite technique – poke it to see if it’s done. I used the smoker set-up at SELMA (thanks Jeff!) which is very basic but gets the job done.
On the left there is where we put the coals and once they cooked down a bit we threw some hickory sawdust on there. If you a good smoke going you can walk away which is what I did. Two hours later I had some intensely smokey delicious bacon!
However, the best part was later that night, since Kate and I were already planning on making burgers. Then some friends brought over some fresh morels they found earlier that day, so we made some bacon-morel cheeseburgers–a perfect way to finish the day.
A few pics from New York May 12, 2009
Posted by Max in : Pictures, TODAY Show , add a commentPeople in New York think it’s weird when you ask them to take a picture of you in front of a random window with a poster in it, especially when the Empire State Building is just out of frame (that’s a poster of us at Barnes and Noble on Fifth Ave.)
Here’s one of Eli signing books for the masses…there’s that famous signature that I’ve been working on forging.
May 9, 2009
Posted by Max in : Press , add a commentThanks to FriendsEAT for the awesome interview!
Anyone who has gone to college is well acquainted with what used to be the Freshmen 15 and has now turned to the Freshman (or woman) 20. It’s those extra pounds that come on due to late night study sessions, sometimes a little binge drinking and the oh so fabulous meals made up of creamy chicken ramen, ready made stuffing, delivered pizza and dining hall murder burgers. Lucky for the new class of Freshmen (as well as anyone who wants to learn to make a quick and delicious meal on a budget and on a time constraint, Max and Eli Sussman have authored the cookbook Freshman in the Kitchen: From Clueless Cook to Creative Chef to make the culinary college experience a little more delicious, healthy and quick.
