Fausta's Blog

Ron Rosenbaum says, Let Them Eat Fat
Listening to the doctors on cable TV, you might think that it’s better to cook up a batch of meth than to cook with butter. But eating basic, earthy, fatty foods isn’t just a supreme experience of the senses—it can actually be good for you.

We are discovering that fatty delights can actually be good for you: They allow Spaniards, Italians and Greeks to live longer, and they make us satisfied with eating less. I’m speaking up not for obesity-generating fat, then, but for the kind of fatty food that leads to swooning sensual satiety.

And it’s all about sensual pleasure,

Something deeper than concern for nutrition and cholesterol is going on here. You don’t have to be a Freudian (I’m not) to see in the antifat crusade a cowering fear of sexuality. The evil of oral pleasure as Satan’s tool of seduction, dating back to Eve, is deeply embedded in American culture. Recall Cotton Mather’s denunciation of the hell-bound wickedness of the pleasures of the flesh and his call for self-mortification (anticipating today’s egg-white omelets).

Here are

Crème de la Crème

The Wall Street Journal’s 10 Fattiest Recipes:

• Stuffed, Stuffed Goose
• Flavor-Bomb Burgers
• Deep-Fried Pancakes With Warm Maple Cream Syrup
• Pappardelle With Tomato and Stewed Pancetta
• Truffle Tagliatelle
• Mortadella, Egg and Brioche Sandwich
• Fried Soft Shell Crab
• Tidewater Cinnamon Cakes
• Baked Penne With Cabbage and Pancetta
• Baked Hot Chocolate

Rosenbaum mentions lamb burgers, a big favorite at casa de Fausta. I just remembered, I’m out of ground lamb, so excuse me while I get some.

Grilling indoors made easy!

You can get the pan through Amazon, and support this blog at the same time.

Proceed with caution to the panty-dropping pantry,

1.5 quarts is big enough to cook a stew containing 1.5 lbs. of meat, plus vegetables, which will feed at least two. The inner pot comes out, can be taken to the table, and is dishwasher safe.

My friend gave me one for Christmas, and I love it!

For those obsessing on what to give (or get) the coffee perfectionist, the WSJ has a list, video, and interactive graphics:
Making a Better Cup at Home
More U.S. Homes Adopt Single-Cup Machines as Coffee Culture Goes Self-Serve

My mom makes her expresso in a traditional stove-top brewer that is decades old. Amazon has one for $20.56. The 3-cup size leaves you the option of having more than one cup, or boiling some milk for a nice cafe au lait.

And remember, if you buy through the above links, I make a small commission at no cost to you, which is a nice way of supporting this blog.

Yes, Romney lost. Life goes on, and one must eat. Continuing the Le Creuset how-to series, Michael Ruhlman shows us how to roast:

You can buy the roasting pan from Amazon, with free delivery on time for Thanksgiving.

Cute guy Michael Ruhlman pitches Le Creuset while teaching you how-to:

He’s using a braiser, or as it’s called in France, the “everyday pot,” and a hand-held blender.

Prior in the series: how to bake bread.

Needing to be on a low-carb diet, I don’t bake, but many of my readers do. Le Creuset is starting a series of how-to videos with sales pitch (h/t Al Dente via Mr. Bingley) taught by cute guy Michael Ruhlman, starting with bread baking:

Very simple.

Blogging about the world’s troubles shall resume later.

UPDATE,
Well, what do you know! Amazon carries them,

Just heard from Andrew Malcolm that it’s National Cheeseburger Day,
National Cheeseburger Day 2012: Free Burgers And Other Great Deals Across America

It so happens that at lunchtime, I headed to Cheeburger Cheeburger on Nassau Street and celebrated with a bacon blue cheese burger.

As Julia would say, “Bon Appetit!”

It’s been a very hard week, even when I had a wonderful birthday, so the other day, after a friend mentioned the movie, I took some time to watch Julie & Julia, which I missed when it first came out.

Yes, it’s a chick flick.

I must have been the only blogger on earth to not know that Julie Powell blogged her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking , an endeavor that brought her fame and movie rights. This is yet another thing (like coming up with Ninja Turtles action figures named after Renaissance artists) I wish I had thought of first; would blogging my way through Cocina Criolla bring me movie rights? And, if so, would J-Lo want to star in it?

But I digress.

The movie is two stories in one, Ms Powell’s, and Mrs. Child.

What a revelation it was.

While I have been known to do Julia Child’s “Bon appetit!” falsetto at times (two glasses of Malbec help), watched her on TV, and bought The Book (no way I’d cook all 524 recipes, thank you) I knew very little about Julia Child. It turns out Julia was a very strong woman who worked for the [warning: annoying audio starts when you click on the next link] Office of Strategic Services – the movie doesn’t dwell into that – during war, traveled the world, married a great guy and had a fabulous marriage, and persevered in bringing about a literary (and culinary) masterpiece.

Best of all, Julia was resilient, fun, and terrific.

Compared to larger-than-life Julia, poor Julie comes across as self-absorbed and whiney. Paul Child is interesting, strong, and supportive; Julie’s husband pales by comparison. The movie also takes a few jabs at Republicans, a distraction that has nothing to do with anything other than perhaps Paul Child‘s career in the Cold War years.

In all, you wish the movie had more Julia and Paul.

Purists will also notice that the movie’s boef bourguignons (there are at least three) have lots of carrots and celery cooking in the stew, while the recipe in The Book (volume 1, page 316) only has 1 sliced carrot. Julia’s TV recipe in the first show of The Frech Chef omitted the carrot altogether,

“Bon appetit!”