HUNGRY GERALD

Blustery winds and bright sun on Prince Edward Island today after a night of heavy rain. Invigorating walks by the sea and through the blueberry fields. Exquisite Maiko made a lush Japanese version of Pad Thai for lunch. DInner was a platter of EM’s marinated mackerel with cherry tomatoes and slivers of cucumber. BSK blackened and peeled some peppers. Added anchovies from a crock SJ brought from Brooklyn. Meaty anchovies, not too salty. Much better than the tinned variety. Then, a steaming pot of BSK’s kale, onion, garlic and bean soup enhanced by local back bacon. BSK added chunks of Cajun sausage and Hungarian garlic sausage. Hearty eating. Green salad. Canadian cheeses (a remarkable blue from Quebec) and some PEI plum jam. Watched a very dramatic sunset and so to bed to sleep the sleep of the righteous and the full tummied.

Family R. has arrived — Profesore/Dottore Massimo, Brilliant Lesley, Italian-movie-star-look- alike Sofia. Lots of swimming on a hot, sunny day. And, of course, family feasting. HG and Massimo shucked two dozen oysters. A bowl of EM’s freshly pickled young daikon radishes. Smoked salmon with capers and onions. Exquisite Maiko’s mackerel sashimi. Then a big roast free range chicken. Smashed PEI potatoes enriched with olive oil, chicken broth and scallions. Fresh green beans. Goat brie and ciabatta with red wine to finish. Early bedtime for sun kissed folk.

Quietly, deftly and utilizing the knife skills of a surgeon, Exquisite Maiko turns out family meals that would win her three star Michelin status in France. Her dishes vary from ethereally light and crisp fried foods (like tempura) to juicy and savory (her homemade gyoza) to screamingly fresh and raw (varieties of sashimi, sushi and pickles) to powerfully robust (stews and hotpots). All of these dishes provide visual as well as gustatory pleasure. An EM dish is always a memorable still life. Her recent Caprese salad looked like a Mondrian with its linear precision. Last night showed EM at the height of her powers. Dinner was to be centered around pork belly obtained from one of Prince Edward Island’s Heritage butchers. EM’s rich, savory pork belly in a sweet bonito flake broth takes some effort. It is marinated, then seared (caramelizing the sweet proteins) and finally subjected to a long, slow braise to bring the belly to the height of succulence. It is then refrigerated for 24 hours allowing most of the fat to be skimmed off prior to re-heating. The pork belly was served with hot mustard, soft boiled farm fresh eggs and slightly bitter, sauteed daikon radish greens that were the perfect counterpoint to the sweetness of the broth — A dish for the ages. This amazing pork belly was preceded by an EM improvisation, two varieties of mackerel sashimi, one flavored with ginger and the other with oil and garlic. Both were accompanied by thin slivers of scallion. The mackerel improvisation came about this way. HG mentioned in casual conversation with the woman clerk at the local liquor store that HG and EM are fond of fresh mackerel. Please note: Mackerel, in order to be good, has to be very fresh. Like bluefish, it is at its best a few hours after capture. The liquor store woman said she and a friend would be fishing on the weekend, would haul up a load of mackerel (regarded as a junk fish on PEI) and would be glad to give us some. Got a call last night that they were pulling into harbor with plenty of mackerel. SJ dashed down and came back with three dozen. With knife flashing, EM fileted the fish just plucked from the sea. The resulting sashimi was a revelation. Better than any tuna tartare (or any other fish tartare) HG has sampled in big ticket Paris, London and New York restaurants. As HG writes, salted mackerel filets are air drying in the sunny breeze. EM intends to grill them tomorrow night. Oh, joy!!

Nice day on the sunny and breezy Prince Edward Island beach. Appetites were well honed. In fact, La Famille HG/BSK was famished. Fortunately, SJ was in charge of cuisine. Wow. The guy really delivered. Earlier in the day SJ picked up some PEI Tamworth (a heritage breed pig) pork ribs from local butcher Lloyd’s Specialty Meats. SJ dry rubbed these racks of high quality pork ribs in brown sugar, cumin, adobo, garlic powder, all spice, thyme, chile powder and crushed chipotle peppers. He then slowly smoked them over white oak. It was the type of BBQ that reached the kind of flavor crescendo that HG had only encountered some years ago at Corky’s in Memphis. No sauce. Just fragrant, super spicy meat. Tennessee/Mississippi cooking at its best. SJ (on the previous day) had made some super chicken broth. Last night, BSK enhanced the broth with chopped kale,white beans and chunks of grilled Cajun sausage. The meal started with mozzarella bocconcini, kumatoes and basil doused in splendid olive oil. Lots of red wine and and a baguette from the talented baker at Cardigan Farmers Market. Yes. Life (if you measure it in culinary delight) can be very good.

SJ, Exquisite Maiko and the dynamic duo, six year old Haru and four month old Teru, have joined HG and BSK on Prince Edward Island. Family fun. Much frolicking on the beach and in the sea. Sand castles, sand fortresses plus ambitious water works. And, of course, when Exquisite Maiko is present there is extraordinary food. Tempura is wonderful stuff but in Exquisite Maiko’s hands it verges on the sublime. Light. Greaseless. Crispy exteriors enclosing lush interiors. Slices of fresh haddock. Scallops from the waters off Nova Scotia. Shrimp. Whole cremini mushroom caps. Cauliflower and broccoli. EM served these delights with bowls of cold soba noodles in mentsuyu broth. The soba was topped with slivers of nori and chopped scallions. Very pungent horseradish and Japanese red pepper mix added some fire. How does EM do it? Just Far East magic.

Creative. Fusion. Molecular. Sous vide. Foam. These are some of the techniques and buzzwords used in creating and describing much of today’s cutting edge cuisine. “Piffle and folderol,” snorts HG. Line up all these scientist/five star chefs from Grant Achatz to Ferran Adria with their finest creations and HG, the gourmand will still state, unequivically: The key to good cooking is simple preparations using fresh, locally raised produce (organic, of course), local seafood and local meat and fowl.

Witness last night’s dinner at HG and BSK’s home by the sea on Prince Edward Island. A few little neck clams (harvested that day) steamed in a bit of white wine. A filet of hake (caught 70 miles away) gently sauteed with ginger and garlic. A stir fry of local snow pea pods (picked that morning). Some tiny PEI potatoes from a neighbor’s farm with butter and dill. Finished with a wedge of gouda cheese flavored with fenugreek (a specialy of a magical local woman known as “The Gouda Lady”). This was accompanied by a glass of red wine (sadly not a PEI product) and another local specialty, Theresa’s Pumpkin and Orange Preserves. Were folks eating better in El Bulli or Alinea? HG doubts it.

There’s a snake in very Eden. And, in HG and BSK’s personal Eden, Prince Edward Island, the serpent is the heavy Canadian tax placed on alcohol. This means good wine costs over 20 bucks a bottle and for a guzzler like HG this is prohibitive. So, modest (just a shade above plonk) wine has to be the choice. How to make the tipple drinkable? HG drinks red wine with ice cubes and white wine with ice and soda — a spritzer. For some reason, it works. HG’s pal, Peter Hellman, journalist, author and noted wine authority, would not approve. But, Hellman is a fastidious wine sipper while HG believes in overabundance. A sidebar: Many years ago, Hellman stocked his valuable wine collection in HG’s cool Montclair, N.J., cellar. HG got into the habit, when out of wine, to grab a bottle from the Hellman collection. When the time came for Hellman to retrieve his collection, he found it oddly diminished. For some reason, the friendship survived though many excellent bottles did not. (Here’s an HG post listing Hellman’s books. Moving. illuminating. Entertaining).

Warm (not blistering) sun. Cool sea breezes. Spectacular sunsets over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Gentle green farmland. Yes, HG and BSK are on Prince Edward Island, once again, for the summer. Happily, Andrew McDonald and his lovely daughters are stlll running their shellfish and chowder emporium at St. Peter’s Bay Landing. After a year’s separation, Andrew gazed at HG with fondness and deftly shucked some South Lake oysters. These oysters never appear in the United States. Plump. Sweet. Briney. They are a PEI secret, happily devoured by local gourmands like HG. Having gobbled oysters in Paris, London, New Orleans, Amsterdam, Florida, New York and locales bordering the Atlantic and Pacific, HG vows these are the best in the world. And, when shucked by Andrew not a speck of shell mars the interior and not a drop of lush brine is lost. Besides oysters, Andrew stocks quahogs, soft shell clams and mussels harvested in St. Peter’s Bay. In addition, a lip-smacking cauldron of mussel chowder is always steaming away. There will be happy feasting ahead.

As HG and BSK prepare to leave their oceanfront Prince Edward Island home they gaze upon the limitless sea, the silent rocky beach, the blazing sunset. Serenity. Quiet. Isolation. Beauty. A dramatic contrast to the shores of New York’s Rockaway where HG spent his youthful summers. Rockaway was, and remains, a crowded barrier beach filled with a million (literally) sweaty New Yorkers seeking relief from the sweltering city. Every inch of the beach was filled with hairy (for the most part) men, robust (and busty) women, screaming children and hyperactive teenagers involved in the timeless mating dance. Every inch of the sandy beach was occupied. Armenian families roasted lamb in pits dug into the beach; Italians set up folding tables to hold mounds of sausage, peppers and onions; the Irish settled in with ham and cheese sandwiches plus growlers (tin pails) of tap beer from
boardwalk bars.

Little HG tasted everything. Life on the beach was noisy, friendly, communal. In this sweaty environment there were few anatomical secrets. And, of course, there was the Atlantic Ocean. HG was an active swimmer, body surfer and splasher of nubile young women.Saddest day of the year was Labor Day. Fun was over and the first day of school loomed ahead.

It’s corn harvest time on Prince Edward Island and HG and BSK are shucking and nibbling. So fresh and sweet is this corn that no butter is needed. Just a sprinkle of kosher salt. BSK, the official corn cook, always makes sure we have some extra ears for morning time corn pancakes.

HG, official pancake cook, mixes flour, two beaten eggs, a bit of vegetable oil, a teaspoon of baking powder and the shucked kernels. HG fries the pancakes in grape seed oil and serves them with Canadian maple syrup. Makes breakfast a meal to remember.

And, here’s a sweet dessert idea. Butter tarts (only available in Canada, for some obscure reason) resemble mini pecan pies (but better crust and less sweet). The perfect end to dinner is a butter tart topped with vanilla ice cream.