• 12 oz smoked machkerel or kipper fillets
• 6 tbs white wine
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 4 oz butter
• black pepper

1. Heat the fish in a pan with a little water for a short while to soften. Remove skins and bones.
2. Blend fish with wine, softened butter and black pepper to taste.
3. Pack into a decorative bowl and place in fridge for a few hours to harden.

Stumptown has a small store in NYC that Olga (friend) put me onto. Variety is Ethiopa Heirloom, grown at 1700-1900 meters.

Organic, Cooperative

You can see the official page about the paper (and read the paper) at http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/simulations-of-underwater-plumes-of-oil-in-the-gulf-of-mexico.

Some personal observations about this whole exercise (caveat: these comments do not reflect the views of my employer, Princeton University, or of NOAA):

• I had too high expectations of using a fast track journal; whereas normal publications times are of order 6-12 months, GRL published in exactly 5 weeks. However, it seemed like each step of the process took a week when it might have taken only a day. For instance, it took a week for the editor to make the final decision to accept the revisions (no reviewers involved). This was actually a very short time to publish a paper but in a time-critical publication it felt fustratingly slow. Lesson: don’t do time-critical research!
• We didn’t go to the press first because we believe peer review is part of the scientific process.
• We submitted the paper on the morning before the cap was installed (July 15th). We were deliberately conservative using a shut-off date on September 1st so the discrepancy in duration of leak might seem large. However, it turns out the revised estimated of flow rate (released at the beginning of August) was at the upper end of the large error bar we had assigned to flow rate. In the end, the total amount of oil spilt was pretty close to what we used, and in particular the overall consumption of oxygen is probably about right.
• I learnt that Deepwater Horizon should always be italicized because it was a vessel (the title of this page doesn’t accept the <em> markup tag).
• Working with such a large number of collaborators was educational; it added confidence and credibility to the research, which was well worth the minor headache of coordinating such a large group (multiple vacations coinciding with submission of the paper was the worst headache). I also met some new and interesting people from a field I would otherwise not have been exposed to.
• We were careful to not be “critical” of other work but it hasn’t stopped others from using slights. No names shall be mentioned but I shall point out the following:
  • our simulations show the near-surface dissolved oil “vanishing” by mid-August (see NOAA announcement about where the oil has gone);
  • our simulations show that no dissolved oil ever made it close to the Florida straits or Gulf stream;
  • most other work to date (mid-August) emphasize that oil will make it to the Atlantic;
  • no oil from Deepwater Horizon has ever been found near the Florida straits or in the North Atlantic;
  • evidently we were right.
• After the stress of time-critical work, I am glad to be moving back to my more normal research topics…

Organic, Fair trade, Carbonfree

However, I did find an online supplier: groundsforchange.com list and, indeed, supply Ethiopia Yirgacheffe. It’s a darker roast than I was used to from Wholefoods but nevertheless it is pretty good. I also bought their sampler pack (rather a lot of coffee to get through, even for me) as a backup in case the EYC didn’t work out. I’ve yet to taste them but will report here as I do. As for the supplier, the packaging and site claim: “Shade grown”, “Fair trade certified”, “USDA organic”, “Certified Carbonfree“. I’ll trust them on all that and focus on the coffee…

In the meantime, why has Ethipia Yirgacheffe become hard to find? Spouse’s theory: gourmet coffee is no longer profitable for the growers.

Truffle center (as usual): 10oz of bitter-sweet chocolate, 3 table spoons of UNsalted butter. Melt in microwave together in 30 second bursts, stirring in between. Takes approximately three bursts. Heat 1/2 cup of heavy cream with a table spoon of syrup (corn, golden or maple) until simmering. Add to the melted chocolate and slowly fold (allow cream to cool a touch before folding). Once smoothly combined, add 1/4 cup of your favourite liquor (brandy if you can’t choose – I recently used cloudberry – mmmm). Fold in again and once combined put in fridge for and 1 1/2 hours. With a teaspoon, scoop a two teaspoon dollop onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and return to fridge for at least another half hour or until set hard enough to be malleable.

Truffle shell: melt 8oz of semi-sweet chocolate in a metal bowl floating in a pan of hot water (I use hot tap water which is at 132F to start with and have the gas on low). The chocolate shouldn’t get too hot but only just past melting. Turn the heat down to very low before it all completely melts.

Have the [now set] truffle dollops and an assortment of coatings ready at hand. Roll a dollop into a ball (make sure the kids washed their hands extra well). Dip a measuring cup or ice cream scoop in the melted chocolate and roll the ball around in it. Transfer to a flat bowl with the coating of choice (coconut flakes, chopped nuts, cocoa powder, etc.) and roll around. Let cool on a sheet of wax paper.

Prepare joint as per normal roast lamb recipe. Cover loosely with foil. Set oven temperature to 180°F. I found the joint changes internal temperature at about 25°F per hour. Use a meat thermometer and adjust oven temperature to reach 160°F at the time you want to eat. When the joint reaches 145°F turn the oven up to 325°F and finish (brown) for five or ten minutes (or just turn on the broiler for a few minutes). Let it sit for ten minutes before serving.

Pre-heat oven to 425°F. Score the skin/fat side into diamonds. Score the skin/fat side into diamonds. Grind black pepper on all sides of the joint. Generously sprinkle salt on the fatty/skin side. Place fat side up in roasting pan and place in oven. Reduce temperature after 10 minutes to 325°F. Roast until the internal temperature is 160°F. Total time is about 25 minutes per pound.

Ingredients:

• 2lb sirloin tip roast (or chuck roast)
• bottle of dark ale (brown ale, porter or stout)
• oil
• black pepper

Pre-heat oven to 325°F. Oil an oven-proof saute pan (one that has a close fitting lid). Brown the joint in the pan on both sides on high heat. I usually coarse-grind black pepper onto the joint while it’s sauteing. Turn off the heat and pour over the ale. The ale often foams when it first comes into contact with the heat and meat. Cover the pan and pop it into the oven. Check the liquid level often to make sure that the ale hasn’t dried up. If it seems to be drying up add more ale, a quarter bottle at a time. The stout based liquid tastes the best but can become too salty if you let it dry out. Turn the meat over every half hour; the exposed part of the joint will dry out otherwise.

Timing: about 1½-2 hrs for a 2lb joint. The meat should fall apart when you poke it with a fork.

Alcohol: 3 parts dark rum + 1 parts triple sec
Base: 2 parts pineapple juice + 2 parts cranberry juice + 1 parts sours mix

Serve chilled and make a lot of it!

Make a syrup: dissolve 1/2 cup sugar in 1/4 cup of water in a saucepan over low heat. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolve before adding 2 cups of blueberries. Cook until the berries are tender. Sieve the syrup to remove the seeds. Chill the syrup.

To make the ice cream: stir the syrup into 2 cups of heavy cream. Add to the ice cream maker and follow the machines instructions from there on.

Update: added sieve step

• 2 cups of flour
• 2 eggs
• 2-2 1/2 cups of milk & water (1 1/4 cup of each)
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt [for savory crepes]
• 2 tablespoons of butter, melted

Mix the eggs into the flour, and the milk/water mix in small amounts until all the flour is a thick paste. Add the remaining liquid and salt. Add the melted butter at the end which will thicken the batter a little. Sizzle some butter into a hot skillet (I rub the butter pack around the skillet) and pour in enough to cover half the pan; quickly swivel the pan around to spread the batter out over the entire pan.

This makes about 8-10 x 12″ crepes.

Ingredients for meat sauce:

1 lb lean ground beef (Lean is important otherwise you have lots of fatty fluid that will ruin the sauce)
1 large red onion (It has been so long since I used a normal cooking onion that I forget why I switched)
2 tbspn of minced garlic
Olive oil
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 cube of beef stock
Dried basil
Fresh ground black pepper
Dash of salt
Tomato ketchup
Lee and Perrin’s Worcester Sauce

Coarsely chop the onion. Heat pan on high heat with a large dollop of olive oil (1 tbspn?) and sauté garlic for about 30 seconds and then add onions. Soften only for a minute before adding the ground beef. Repeatedly break up and stir the beef until it is a uniform brown (no pink) and there are no large clumps of meat.

Clear a region in the middle of the pan with a spatula and place the stock cube there. Juices will spread from the meat, where you piled it up, and dissolve the stock cube; break it up with the spatula and stir it up with the meat juices thoroughly before stirring it up with the meat. Add the herbs, black pepper and salt and diced tomatoes. Keep the heat high and stir regularly until the tomatoes juices are boiling.

Add a quarter/half cup of Ketchup and generous dash of Worcester sauce. Lower the heat and simmer for as long as you have time for. The longer the sauce cooks the better it will taste. The ketchup contains corn starch and will thicken the sauce; don’t let the sauce dry up completely – add water if it begins to dry up.

The best consistency to serve with is no spare fluid but enough moisture to bind the meat and tomatoes together.

The mixture should be prepared a short while before and allowed to stand:

Place 1.5 cups (8oz) flour in a large bowl. Sprinkle some salt onto the flour and mix. Make a well in the flour and break two large eggs into the well. Begin to stir and then while stirring slowly pour in 1 pint of milk and water (I use half water and half 2% milk). The trick is to keep the batter slightly stiff while stirring in more of the flour. The end product will be lump-free!

Pre-heat the oven to 425oF. Place a quarter teaspoon of lard into each well of a large muffin tray. Place the tray with lard but no batter in the oven to heat the lard and tray. This will only take a few minutes; if you leave it too long the lard will evaporate. Pour the Yorkshire batter into each well. The melted lard will rise above the batter. Place in oven on the top shelf until risen and golden; usually 20 minutes.

This recipe for roast lamb, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings is based on my Mum’s, which in turn was based on her Mum’s, etc… My Mum used to make the best roast potatoes and Yorkies on the planet. That was until I mastered them!

The key to a perfect Sunday roast is timing and it’s not just about how long the joint is in the oven; it’s about planning.

Ingredients (to serve 10) with cooking times:

• Leg of Lamb (9lbs, whole serves 10-12 hearty eaters), whole garlic cloves, fresh Rosemary and thyme. Oven is set to 325oF, internal temperatures should be 160oF (for medium).
  • 5lbs whole leg, 2 hrs
  • 9lbs whole leg, 3 hrs 15 minutes
  • 5lbs boneless, 2 hrs 15 minutes
• Yorkshire puddings: flour, 2 eggs, milk, lard
  • 20-25 minutes at 425oF
• 8lbs of large white potatoes, salt, goose fat (or oil)
  • 20-30 minutes boiling
  • 1 hour roasting at 325oF
• 2lbs carrots
  • 15 minutes boiling
• 1lb parsnips
  • 25 roasting at 325oF
• 1lb frozen green peas, (optional fresh mint)
  • 5 minutes in microwave
• gravy: 2 cups of port (the cheap stuff), table spoon of flour
  • 5 minutes on stove top

First, I write on a dry-erase board the time that each dish has to start cooking in chronological order. For example, for everything to be ready at 1pm:

10:00 Lamb in oven, 325oF

11:15 Potatoes (boil)

12:00 Potatoes (roast)

12:30 Parsnip

12:35 Yorkshires

12:45 Carrots

12:50 Peas

13:00 Gravy and eat!