Surfas (chef's supply store in Los Angeles) haul

[Jenise]

DSCF0809.JPG

I can make out most of them ("oooh, Global!"), but not everything. How 'bout bragging a bit with a glowing itemized description?

But it's even more fun for us to tell Jenise what she bought! I see:
- a Global octopus-gutting knife
- two packages of pressed zebra-flesh crinkle-cut wonton wrappers
- a monkey brains scoop
- a Buffalo wings sauce hypodermic
- a large jar of pickled pimiento
- a small jar of dried larks' tongues
- and two terrine pans (because this year's Great Work is under way).

Howzzat?

But it's even more fun for us to tell Jenise what she bought! I see:
- a Global octopus-gutting knife
- two packages of pressed zebra-flesh crinkle-cut wonton wrappers
- a monkey brains scoop
- a Buffalo wings sauce hypodermic
- a large jar of pickled pimiento
- a small jar of dried larks' tongues
- and two terrine pans (because this year's Great Work is under way).

Howzzat?

You're an idiot. Those are obviously red breasted grosbeak tongues.

Sheesh. Amateurs.

[Jenise]

LOL! Pretty damned close.

The Global knife is maybe the first knife I've ever bought for myself. Except for the Katanas that I picked up cheap at TJ Maxx, literally every other knife I own was given me by my well-meaning, generous husband so quick on the draw that I never got the opportunity to stand in a knife store and decide what felt best in my hand. When I picked up that Global paring knife--at Surfas, they were just lying about you didn't have to ask for it like in a typical knife cutlery place--I suddenly despised all four of the other paring knifes I own.

The scoop makes quenelles.

Baby loaf pans. Just because. A square biscuit cutter or ring mold because I LOVE square shapes.

Ground New Mexico red chiles. Dried porcini mushrooms. The jar says they're 'superior'; it was half the quantity and more expensive than the next jar down in the line that wasn't called 'superior' and I'm hoping for more intense flavor. I used to buy dried porcini mushrooms that I LOVED--black little worms of unsulfured intensity and a zillion times stronger than the porcini of today--I'm hoping these get closer to what I remember. There are dishes I don't make any more because without that strong porcini flavor, they're flat.

Yeah, a meat injector.

And black and white paper cups cuz they match my décor.

Wellllllllll. Not quite as good as if they'd been Jeff's list. But still ok. I guess.

Good luck with the black worms! I hope they're everything you desire.

[Jenise]

Unfortunately, no black worms. All porcinis seem to be sulfured these days, cut in slices and pretty. The super-potency of the ones I remember have vanished from the earth.

Now you've reminded me of a dried mushroom package that I used to get a lot, but haven't seen in several years now. It came in a small plastic tub -- the wide, flat kind that is the smallest container you can get at the deli counter. The lid only said "dried mushrooms", never the species or the country of origin. The mushrooms were unidentifiable - stems? caps? pieces? -- and almost always black. And potent as all get-out, once you revived them for a while in warm broth or water. Maybe those were broken porcini (hence, sold cheaply)?

[Jenise]

Now you've reminded me of a dried mushroom package that I used to get a lot, but haven't seen in several years now. It came in a small plastic tub -- the wide, flat kind that is the smallest container you can get at the deli counter. The lid only said "dried mushrooms", never the species or the country of origin. The mushrooms were unidentifiable - stems? caps? pieces? -- and almost always black. And potent as all get-out, once you revived them for a while in warm broth or water. Maybe those were broken porcini (hence, sold cheaply)?

Those are what I'm talking about! Used to get them in Italian delis where they were sold by the ounce or packaged like you say. When we moved to Alaska I bought a pound to take with me as I knew I'd never find anything like that up there. And I ran into them once more upon returning to Southern California five years later, but that was it. And they were in pieces best as you could make out any shape at all, but possibly chopped for drying in what were considered manageable/desirable quantities. No idea--I just know that something I used to buy often and considered a true pantry staple has disappeared and seems to be replaced by another, prettier but somewhat tasteless new era of dried porcini.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to buy FRESH porcini. The impossible dream.

I remember the intensity of those old dried porcini. You'd put them in hot water and the room would fill up with fragrance!

I can get fresh porcini at the fancy stores in NYC. It's got a good meaty texture, kinda like a portobello, but it only develops that earthly intensity when it is dried.

Oh! Jenise, it dawns on me that I have one of those containers here. I use it to hold whole nutmegs. ...fetch... It reads:
Genuine
"Imported - Dried"
NEW "1" OUNCE
MUSHROOMS
=bar code= =kosher symbol= =mushroom sketch=
Product of Taiwan
Net Weight 1 Oz.
Imported & Packed by:
Kirsch Mushroom Co., Inc.
751 Drake Street
Bronx, NY 10474

Let's see whether they are still in business... after a quick search, I can't tell. They had a distribution problem this past Xmas so they are likely still around. It appears they sell boletus luteus instead of boletus edulis.

Anyway, picture with the first article:
http://onequalitystandard.blogspot.com/2015/02/product-recall-kirsch-mushroom-co-inc.html
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1995-06-22/features/9506160571_1_porcini-mushrooms-key-limes

We get fresh porcini here once in a while. although they aren't cheap. Wonderful mushrooms.

So, back to the original topic: Jenise, why are you making Monkey Brain Quenelles?

[Jenise]

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to buy FRESH porcini. The impossible dream.

I remember the intensity of those old dried porcini. You'd put them in hot water and the room would fill up with fragrance!

Right, or drive around on a warm day with just an ounce in a little baggie--your whole car is bursting with that aroma in no time. Wouldn't happen with the sulfured porcini you can buy from Urbani (or whoever) these days.

[Jenise]

I can get fresh porcini at the fancy stores in NYC. It's got a good meaty texture, kinda like a portobello, but it only develops that earthly intensity when it is dried.

Oh! Jenise, it dawns on me that I have one of those containers here. I use it to hold whole nutmegs. ...fetch... It reads:
Genuine
"Imported - Dried"
NEW "1" OUNCE
MUSHROOMS
=bar code= =kosher symbol= =mushroom sketch=
Product of Taiwan
Net Weight 1 Oz.
Imported & Packed by:
Kirsch Mushroom Co., Inc.
751 Drake Street
Bronx, NY 10474

Let's see whether they are still in business... after a quick search, I can't tell. They had a distribution problem this past Xmas so they are likely still around. It appears they sell boletus luteus instead of boletus edulis.

Anyway, picture with the first article:
http://onequalitystandard.blogspot.com/2015/02/product-recall-kirsch-mushroom-co-inc.html
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1995-06-22/features/9506160571_1_porcini-mushrooms-key-limes

Great detective work. I should go take the lid off the new ones I bought and see if they come anywhere close. I don't expect them to...but might have to wait. Seem to have come down overnight with a summer cold, and at the moment I can't smell a thing.