Hello!
PERSIMMONS
In sixth grade Mrs. Walker
slapped the back of my head
and made me stand in the corner
for not knowing the difference
between persimmon and precision.
How to choose
persimmons. This is precision.
Ripe ones are soft and brown-spotted.
Sniff the bottoms. The sweet one
will be fragrant. How to eat:
put the knife away, lay down newspaper.
Peel the skin tenderly, not to tear the meat.
Chew the skin, suck it,
and swallow. Now, eat
the meat of the fruit,
so sweet,
all of it, to the heart.
—Li-Young Lee from Rose, 1986
Despite hanging in a sunny window, our first batch of hoshigaki molded - argh! Maybe that atmospheric river of rain made the conditions too moist? Starting over…
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We’re missing the CUESA Farmers Market this Saturday, it’s the first day of Dungeness crab 🦀 season (for sports fishermen, sadly everyone else will have to wait until December), and we’ll be throwing lines into the surf at Ocean Beach. But if you’re heading to the Ferry Building, be sure to say a fond farewell to Joe and Amy at Marla bakery; it’s their last week. And grab a baguette, one of the best in the city IMHO.
By the way, I'm Bruce Cole, Publisher of Edible San Francisco. Welcome to all the new subscribers this week! But if you'd like to hop off anytime, simply unsubscribe. I appreciate you reading (and sharing) this newsletter.
P.S. 🎧 New playlist for this month!
Here we go.
Just Say No To Oil: We started watching Stanely Tucci make a pasta recipe on YouTube, but when he pours oil into the water “just to make sure the noodles don’t stick together,” that was it for us.* Then again, if you’re a fan of Tucci’s food obsession: Stanley Tucci is Savoring it All. The New Yorker
*Never pour oil into pasta water; when you drain the pasta, it will coat the noodles, preventing the sauce from sticking to it, which is the whole point.
You Can Judge This Book By Its Cover: Bryant Terry’s new book, Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora, is an exploration of black foodways and features a stunning collection of essays, art, and recipes. For Bon Appétit, Terry noted: “This book is the culmination of my vow to serve the needs, hopes, and dreams of the people. It’s packed with recipes, art, poetry, and essays from more than 100 contributors. I hope it will wake those sleeping on the future, the one in which Black food and the people who carried it across the globe for centuries will finally be centered, supported, respected, and celebrated.” The book (including cover) was designed by George McCalman, an artist and creative director based in San Francisco.
We’re sharing a recipe from the Black Food in our fall issue (still waiting for delivery of that magazine due to supply chain issues) and you can find it here: Black-Eyed Pea and Charred Octopus Salad.
SPONSORED
We want to introduce our newest favorite piece of cookware from Hestan Culinary: the 11-inch NanoBond Titanium skillet. Hands-down, it’s the first pan we reach for when frying, sauteing, or stir-frying, and we even cook our omelets in it (and no, they don’t stick, more on that later). The NanoBond cookware’s triple-bonded stainless-steel base delivers quick, even heating with exacting temperature control that cooks rely on, essential for searing meat, poultry, and seafood. Check out our recipe using the NanoBond Titanium skillet for cooking grass-fed steaks to perfection.
🥑 The True Cost Of Avocados: “Avocados are a $2.4 billion business in Mexico. That kind of cash has attracted drug cartels who are stealing land and forcing farmers to hand over their profits. To defend themselves, locals are arming up and forming vigilante groups to protect their avocados.” Business Insider
🥑 Avocados: Hipster favorite or ‘the blood diamonds of Mexico’? BBC Scotland
🥑 I’m a Mexican-Irish chef. We grew up eating avocados. But I’ll never touch them again. Irish Times
🥑 As Mexican drug cartels muscle in on massive avocado sales, armed civilians fight back. Courier Journal
🥑 End of the avocado: Why chefs are ditching the unsustainable fruit. The Guardian
🥑 #Protip: You can find California-grown avocados at the CUESA farmers market. They come from Brokaw Ranch Company, based in Santa Paula.
How Things Work:
🦄 Burgers: “You can go to Whole Foods, buy your Impossible Burger made of unicorn dust and rainbows. It's going to make everything ok. Nothing was harmed in making it – and it feels great. The only problem is it's simply not true. But it keeps going and going and going. People with really big platforms are continuing to sell the plant-based myth, and if we think vegan burgers are going to save the planet, we're screwed.” Rancher Matt Skoglund in Modern Huntsman’s podcast Into the Wilderness with Byron Pace
🥩 The Final Word On The Bel Campo Debacle: “Rather than investing in land, buildings and restaurants, all the money invested into Belcampo (an estimated $50 million, although that number seems low for owning so much real estate) could have been used to help farmers already using regenerative practices to scale up, said Doug Stonebreaker (Prather Ranch). “If your goal is to change the system and build and support communities, with capital you can control the structure of the business instead of necessarily owning land. There are many farmers and ranchers who are totally committed that need capital, those ready to bleed to death trying to make it all work.” Civil Eats
Cows and the Carbon Sink: Ranchers are collaborating with conservation groups to help restore vital grasslands and prairies “to sequester even more carbon from the atmosphere while also promoting soil health and biodiversity.” The New York Times
The Rest of the Story: The NYT’s story ☝️ omitted an essential issue, neglecting to mention how regenerative grasslands restore vital habitat for birds and pollinators, who maintain the delicate balance of a grassland ecosystem. Edible Communities
🍗 A Complicated Personal History of Fried Chicken: “I've always loved fried chicken. But the racism surrounding it shamed me.” Melissa Thompson in The Guardian
EAT.DRINK.THINK November 2021: The playlist we listen to while cooking dinner every night. New tracks from Remi Wolf, Amine, Little Simz, Serpentwithfeet, Joy Crookes, Alicia Keys, Tears for Fears, Hurray for the Riff Raff, and a Doris Day classic 🍁.
That’s all for this week.
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We’re outta here. Be well and take care,
–Bruce
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"Humans — despite their artistic pretensions, their sophistication, and their many accomplishments — owe their existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” Anonymous