HUNGRY GERALD

Yes, salmon cooked properly in the unilateral style (as noted by HG in a previous post) is delicious. But, salmon really scales the heights to heaven when it is smoked. There are few better things than “Novy” smoked salmon sliced professionally at three old time New York stalwarts: Russ & Daughters; Zabar’s and Murray’s. Thankfully, these sources ship their products nationally. Go online for their treats. HG likes his smoked salmon on a warmed bialy coated with scallion cream cheese. Also good on buttered Jewish rye or pumpernickel (Zabar’s is a good source). Irish and Scotch smoked salmon are very good but denser and smokier than Novy. BSK likes smoked salmon with lots of capers and squeezes of lemon. HG eschews these adornments. BSK fries onions and warms slices of smoked salmon and adds them to lush softly scrambled eggs. A dusting of dill. Accompanied by buttered English Muffins and cups of hot coffee, this is breakfast (or brunch) glory. Gravlax is another salmon delight. Good quality raw filet of salmon is rubbed with a brown sugar, salt and pepper mix. Doused with vodka or gin. Smothered in fresh dill. Placed in the refrigerator under some heavy weights for a day or two. Then sliced thin and served with a mustard/dill sauce. HG first tasted gravlax on the deck of a Fire Island home owned by a very crazy lady and her husband, a skilled cook and bartender. After a long day in the sun and sea, HG ate gravlax and washed it down with icy martinis. Definition of the good life.

New Year Day marks the end of the holiday season thus the end of Holiday Feasting (but not the end of HG’s every day feasting, of course). Watched large, swift violent scholars bash each other about in the college bowl games. Have never quite figured out the connection between the intellectual ambitions of institutions of higher learning and coaches earning multi-million dollar salaries. HG believes the big time college football factories run very profitable athletic/entertainment businesses fueled by billions in TV contracts (as do the NBA and the NFL). The colleges have an advantage over professional sports as their players are unpaid. Since the majority of these athletes seem to be African-Americans, this leads to some uncomfortable speculation about historic parallels; however, for a day, HG put aside these speculations and enjoyed politically incorrect pleasure. Happy that the midwestern scholars from Ohio State, Michigan State and Wisconsin upended their opponents. Oregon is pure show biz in terrms of uniforms and “hurry up” offense and so HG was glad these entertainers triumphed in decisive fashion. HG put aside grid drama and joined BSK and Dessert Queen Karen K. at the home of their neighbors, Polly B. and David F. Gracious hostess Polly B. presented a big platter of Nova Scotia smoked salmon (some of the best HG ever tasted). Polly said this was a gift from “her husband’s widow.” (Figure that one out, Gentle Readers). The group drank some very good champagne and toasted 2015. The smoked salmon was followed by a savory turkey soup, good bread, excellent cheeses, grapes, green salad. Red wine. Apple pie for dessert. Two ice creams–cinnamon and salted caramel. Talented, generous friends and neighbors dining deliciously in Polly and David’s beautiful home. A fire crackling in the Kiva. A joyous way to begin the new year.

In New York, Nova Scotia smoked salmon is always called, with affection, Novy. It is one of HG’s favorite foods. Less salty than traditional lox and moister than Scotch or Irish smoked salmon. When HG lived on Manhattan’s West Side, a few short blocks from Zabar’s, the great smoked fish (and other splendid edibles) emporium, HG often breakfasted on a warm bialy decked with cream cheese and topped with Novy and capers. The shores of Nova Scotia are only a few miles from HG/BSK’s Prince Edward Island home so the local fish merchant always has Novy in stock (at a much lower price than Zabar’s or SJ’s beloved Russ & Daughters). BSK likes Novy on dense black bread purchased at PEI’s Farmers Market. HG finds the bread too assertive. If no bialys or bagels are at hand, HG enjoys his Novy sauteed with chopped onions in butter and mixed with softly scrambled eggs. Either way, HG’sh Novy breakfast tradition continues to be observed from the streets of Manhattan all the way to the shores of Eastern Canada.

New York Times had a story on the duck lunch at David Chang’s Ssam Bar and the “duckavore” dinner at Wong in the West Village. Duckalicious. The descriptions of the ducky delicacies were so riveting and appetizing that HG was tempted to leave for The Big Apple post haste. However, HG stayed put and ransacked his memory for tasty webbed foot treats.

Best duck dish ever was the braised duck with olives at the late Le Pavillon. Crisp and juicy, the abundant richness of duck fat cut by the sting of the olives. A runner up was the crackling Peking duck at the Peking Duck House in New York’s Chinatown. When in Paris, HG often indulges in the ubiquitous duck confit; however, the best HG has ever tasted came not from Paris, but was found behind the counter of Oyama, the great French-oriented charcuterie and cheese shop located in Vancouver’s Public Market on Granville Island. In Chinatown (both in New York and Vancouver), HG often does a simple (and cheap) lunch of barbecued duck and pork plus a bowl of rice and pot of tea.

During their ten years of residence on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, HG and BSK had a tradition of late Sunday dinner a deux (little ones safely snoozing). The duo devoured a rotisserie barbecued duck from the Bretton Woods Butcher on W. 86th Street accompanied by a salad of sliced orange, sweet onion and avocado. Then, a crusty baguette, runny brie. Two bottles of red wine. A nice way to close the weekend.

Yes, Sunday was a day of indulgence in HG and BSK’s rent controlled paradise. The day began with a breakfast of Zabar’s smoked salmon, sable, scallion cream cheese, bagels and bialys. The fat Sunday Times on the table. It was all worked off with long bike rides in Central Park. SJ strapped to HG’s back. Little Miss LR in a kiddie seat. Peaches, The Wonder Dog, racing along on a leash. Happy memories of food, fun and family — a ducky time, indeed.

In the early years of their marriage, HG and BSK often suffered from the money shorts. This did not prevent the Young Marrieds (and recent parents) from living very well. Indeed, when wallets were empty, HG and BSK went to the sumptuous Oak Room of the Plaza Hotel where HG had a charge account. The Oak Room radiated chic and old fashioned glamour. HG and BSK once dined at a table next to one occupied by Cary Grant and a merry party. It was a fitting setting for that most debonair of movie stars.

And what was on the menu for impecunious but happy HG and BSK? Beverages: Icy vodka martinis (for HG), carafes of the very good house Chablis and house burgundy (for BSK and HG) . First course: Thinly sliced Scottish smoked salmon with capers, lemon and olive oil. Buttered brown bread. Main: Tournedos (rare chunks of the center of beef tenderloin) in a fragrant wine sauce. Sides: Souffle potatoes wrapped in a linen napkin and served in a silver dish. Braised celery topped with beef marrow. Dessert: Chocolate pots de creme. Truly luxe dining. And, the Plaza never murmured when it took HG six months to pay the bill.

HG loves smoked salmon. New York Novy. Smoky Scottish. Lush Norwegian. Irish (best of all). Paris and London are made for salmon nuts like HG. Quick trip to the supermarket (Carrefour in Paris and M & S in London) and one has a very nice array of (modestly priced) smoked salmon to choose from. And, best of all, there are very good prepared blini, creme fraiche and dilled mustard at hand for feasting. HG’s technique: Warm blini. Melt butter. Pour butter on blini. Layer of smoked salmon (Ireland’s best) on top. A bit of creme fraiche. A wee bit of mustard. Ice cold Russian vodka. A sigh of pleasure. HG has never favored the lox and bagel combo. The cream cheese and bulky bagel dulls the salmon ecstasy. A bialy has its points but blini top them all. After all, even though they came to a bad end, the Czars knew something about smoked fish (and caviar) supping.

HG’s favorite philosopher, the Hyman Roth character in “Godfather Two,” says to Michael Corleone: “Good health. The most important thing!!”. The old villain had a point.

Paris cold and damp, crowded Metro cars gave undeserving HG pneumonia and landed the food maven in the acute emergency ward of London’s University College Hospital on Euston Square. Entered hospital late Monday afternoon (had to cancel trad Sunday roast beef gluttony at Dean Street Town House) and was discharged midday yesterday (Wednesday). All in all, a diverting stay. Was cared for by a platoon of sympathetic women led by a respiratory disease specialist. Lovely accents. Irish. Jamaican. Russian. Indian. Nigerian, etc. Food was not shockingly bad though still don’t understand the English love of cold, breakfast toast. (Horror food is that served on the Eurostar Paris to London train.)

Side effect of HG illness: A big scare for HG and BSK kids. All had read the touching Joyce Carol Oates piece in the the New Yorker about the unexpected death of her husband (much younger than HG) from pneumonia. Pneumonia can be scary stuff.

However, all seems to have ended well. Victoria and Albert museum today and dinner at J. Sheeky, HG’s favorite seafooder. HG and BSK had lovely light lunch yesterday (after hospital leavetaking) at the Mess Cafe in the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. Duck legs and greens salad for BSK and Bufala mozzarella and caponata salad for HG. Early to bed after light supper of smoked salmon, smoked mackerel (best ever) and buttered Poilane bread. Good to be back among the living.

Serious rain today. That meant the perfect time for a long visit to HG and BSK’s favorite Paris museum, Les Arts Decoratifs. It is a beautiful museum, occupying a lyrical wing of the Louvre. Very well organized. Starting on the ninth floor you descend the history of design and decor. All of the eras–from the Renaissance through the 20’s’ 30′, 40’s’ 50’s into the present. Great art deco and art nouveau sections. The museum is encyclopedic without being dull. Always an interesting special exhibition. This time the show was of 100 posters by the extraordinary Polish graphic artist Michal Batory. He is in the great tradition of Polish poster art, a tradition he combines with French surrealism. The result is gripping.

A sardonic sidelight for any of us with long experience in public relations and advertising. One of Batory’s poster clients is a major theatrical group. New management came in. They fired Batory and turned poster design over to their ad agency. So, even one of the world’s greatest poster artists can get tossed when there is a change in bosses. HG and BSK pondered this truism over a rump steak and wine at the museum’s cafe (a showcase of modern design). Dinner tonight Chez HG and BSK. Irish smoked salmon and a wide variety of salads (cucumber, carrot, mesclun, etc). BSK has been sniffling all day so True Grit is postponed until tomorrow.

There are three great department store food halls in Europe: KaDaWe in Berlin (never been); Harrod’s in London (HG’s been many times and will visit again in a few weeks) and Bon Marche (HG’s favorite) on the Left Bank in Paris. After some energetic shopping at Agnes. B. (last two days of “soldes”…the annual sales season in Paris when fashion is marked down as much as 70%), HG and BSK entered Bon Marche to provision tonight’s dinner. Everything anyone has ever dreamed of eating is at Bon Marche. Everything is the best of its kind. The prices are astronomically high. Customers are courteous but demanding. They want the very best and are willing to pay for it.

The staff is informed gracious and skilled. Smoked salmon is sliced with surgical precision. Ham is cut beautifully..never too thin or too thick. Chocolates have an other worldly beauty. Charcuterie dazzles. Meat, fish, fruit and vegetable departments contain still life arrangements that deserve a place in the Louvre. So, enough already. What did HG and BSk buy for dinner? Norwegian smoked salmon, Gravlax (and mustard sauce); Parma ham; roasted Spanish piquillo peppers; jambon persille (a ham, parsley and aspic loaf); a duck loaf enclosed in a pastry crust; cornichons; Maille mustard, chutney and some other good things. Wine from Cave des Abbesses and breads from Grenier a Pain are waiting.

Jolly times ahead.