#109 | Dungeness 🦀 Season Is...

Pumpkin Millet Kasha from Anna Voloshyna

Nov 05, 2022

👋 Hello from Ocean Beach! As you read this, we’re snug in our waders at Ocean Beach, slinging crab snares into the cold Pacific and hoping to reel in at least one Dungeness 🦀 for dinner (the season for sports fishing Dungeness opens today). Yanking a big-clawed crab right out of the water is the only way to enjoy dipping that sweet, succulent meat into warm garlic-scented butter, at least for now, as the commercial Dungeness crab season has been delayed for the fourth year in a row by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Endangered whales are still populating San Francisco and Monterey Bay waters offshore and can become entangled in the traditional fishing gear used by commercial fishermen. More from Tara Duggan at the SF Chronicle.

By the way, I'm Bruce Cole, Publisher of Edible San Francisco. If you’re new here, welcome to EAT.DRINK.THINK., a newsletter spotlighting seasonal recipes, the latest SF Bay Area food news, poetry and more!

Today’s poem: Drinking for Free

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

I order a cocktail with a cut of red bell pepper.
Wrestle its ridged length back using my tongue.
The bartender smiles and I smile. He looks younger than me.
When I was twenty-four, I loved selling drinks.
One with woodsmoke. One where you stab the straw
through a thin slice of apple to get at an inch
of sugar and whiskey.

Continue reading Drinking for Free by Taneum Bambrick.

👉 ICYMI: The most-clicked link from our last newsletter was the video/meme featuring House of the Dragon stars Emma D'Arcy (Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen) and Olivia Cooke (Queen Alicent Hightower) discussing their favorite cocktail, the negroni sbagliato.

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Business As Usual: Our latest issue was stashed on a rail car somewhere in Sacramento last Saturday. 🤬 Yesterday the delivery gods at FedEx finally got around to releasing the shipment and delivered the magazines to us, and we’ve been dashing around town and dropping copies off at all the regular spots, including Gus’s Markets, Omnivore Books, Gemini Bottle Co., Millay, Rainbow Grocery, Green Apple Books, Browser Books, Bookshop West Portal, Pizza Place, Black Jet Bakery, Ballast Coffee, Heath Newsstand, Kantine, The Mill, Andytown, Piccino Cafe, Equator Coffee, and farmers markets everywhere. Be on the lookout for this cover:

We were about to walk into Fatted Calf with a stack of the latest issue when we ran into proprietor Taylor Boetticher as he was closing up shop—permanently! After twelve years in Hayes Valley, Fatted Calf is moving to the Ferry Building to occupy the space that Golden Gate Meats has vacated. Boetticher noted that with the bigger kitchen in the new space, they’ll be able to do more prepared foods than they were able to do in Hayes Valley and they are looking forward to serving the thriving Ferry Building lunch crowd. Longtime market shoppers will remember the outside stand Fatted Calf operated for years on the south end of the building, where they first started peddling their famed charcuterie and local meats. We see a serious uptake in our meat consumption on the horizon since we can swing by the new location after our farmers market shopping to stock up on the thick-cut bacon, the crepinettes wrapped in caul fat, that mortadella (swoon), the pork rib roasts…

Pumpkin Millet Kasha from Anna Voloshyna in our latest issue:

This pumpkin millet kasha recipe is one of my all-time favorites. It has everything I love: rich flavor, complex aroma and dramatic appearance. I slowly cook millet inside a whole pumpkin until the millet grains are plump, the pumpkin flesh is tender and the skin is golden and caramelized. I usually make this kasha for our weekend brunch and serve it cut into wedges topped with a generous amount of flavorful Napa honey and a handful of roasted California walnuts. Pure comfort—and if this dish doesn’t scream “fall” to you, I don’t know what does.

Be Careful What You Wish For: “Artificial intelligence can write poetry and play jeopardy...I thought, what if it can do Thanksgiving better than we can?” —Priya Krishna

#Protip: Susan Spungen says “everyone wants a magic formula for making perfect gravy right before the meal is served, but I’m not sure it can be done.” Why not make it now and stash it in the fridge instead? Here’s her recipe for Rich Mushroom Gravy.

#Protip: Easier than standing over a pan of hot oil watching your garlic burn—how to fry garlic in the microwave. Eater

#Protip: Kristin Miglore, author of Food52 Simply Genius: Recipes for Beginners, Busy Cooks & Curious People, shares the recipe for perfectly crisp bacon every time from Joe’s Bakery of Austin. Bon Appetit

🍶 Sake Brewers In Japan Reach to the Past for a New Drink: “As sake consumption declines in Japan, doburoku—an unfiltered, unpasteurized and once-illegal style of the wine—is providing a glimmer of hope for the next generation of brewers.” Punch

Mastering the Art of Julia: Julia Moskin of the NY Times remembers Julie Powell, who died on Nov. 2, 2022. Powell was the author of the Julie/Julia Project, the popular blog that led to the best-selling book and hit movie “Julie & Julia.” In 2002, Powell chronicled 365 days cooking her way through all 524 recipes from Julia Child’s 1961 classic “Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1.”

Ms. Powell’s blog made a huge splash in that world, without meeting any of the established criteria for the food writing that came before, from culinary memoirists like M.F.K. Fisher, Laurie Colwin or Ruth Reichl. It didn’t fit the model of later food blogs, where pretty pictures and cheerful women hold a powerful advantage. Nor did it have the standard equipment for what came after: Her blog contained no recipes, no videos, no actionable cooking tips.

Amerikkkan As Apple Pie: The recently published “Black Power Kitchen” cookbook, which has a recipe for that pie (a name that “plays on the spelling used to indict America’s institutional racism and deconstructs a national classic), is part of a long history of cookbooks’ serving as agents — sometimes overt, sometimes subtle — of political change.” The Washington Post

It’s All Downhill From Here: Has Fake Meat Already Peaked? “We need to stop thinking alternative proteins can stall the meat machine.” The New Republic

Remember WebVan? Companies are still trying to make the instant grocery concept work: