I made one last trip to Bi Rite Market in the Mission and picked up some candy and a few slices of Jamon Iberico. For those who have not tasted, it’s as if a rich porky slice of Serrano ham mated with a luscious, creamy, yet slighty aged cheese.  The deep red ham, with a high fat content, melts in your mouth. The tongue first tastes a slightly salty pork flavor, the flavor then morphs into that of a cow’s milk aged cheese, and finishes off with a slight peppery taste in the back of the mouth. At $100/pound I only buy 2 or 3 slices at a time. But it’s a delicious treat if you can find it.

A while back at the Fancy Food Show I stopped by the Kerrygold booth and tasted one of the new varieties–Dubliner with Irish Stout. If a cheese can represent a season, this one represents fall. It has a nutty, full-bodied flavor, that finishes with a taste that’s reminiscent of classic Irish stew. The flavor that the stout adds is a complex combo of malt and yeast.

I can imagine nibling on a bite of this with some crusty bread on a cold, fall night. Dubliner with Irish Stout is available nationally at Whole Foods, and can be found at the below regional locations:
New England – Shaws
The Carolinas – Earthfare
Pacific Northwest – Haggen
Midwest – Jewel
Southern California – Gelson’s, Ralph’s

My absolute favorite was the Amalattea Tenerina, a goat milk Riccota Salata. No salty or bitter aftertaste with this cheese. It is slightly sweet with hints of citrus and slightly more creamy than a cow’s milk version. In fact, the taste is reminiscent of my grandmother’s lemony rice pie. Unfortunately it won’t be available in the U.S. for another six months or so. I suppose I have no choice but to wait.  The company, which makes cheese exclusively from goat milk, produces several other varieties varying in age from one day to nearly a year old. The mozzarella was tasty too-neutral with a slight chevre taste. I’d be interested to try this on a veggie lasagana–as opposed to a meat one–as I think the flavors would blend nicely.

My other favorite cheese find was a new cow’s milk variety from Kerrygold–Dubliner with Irish Stout. It seems that it’s so new it’s not even listed on the website yet. It has the same nutty, robust base flavor as the Dubliner, but with a sweeter finishing taste.

Catching up on the new season of Top Chef I realized I had a post I never finished from Rochester–white hot dogs. Growing up we were a Zweigle’s family and nearly always had a combo pack of red and white hot dogs in the fridge. It wasn’t until I moved to Boston to attend college that I (sadly) realized that white hot dogs are not widely availble, or even known, throughout most of the country.

The white hot dog, a combination of pork, beef and veal, has a mild flavor close to that of a bratwurst, but with the soft texture of a hot dog. Other producers of this variety include Hofmann out of Syracuse and Wegman’s store brand.

Upstate NY food bloggers–perhaps we can have a meetup this summer when I’m back home. Thinking we could do a littl hot dog cooking and sampling, as well as a few trips to some of the many diners that dot the landscape between Albany and Buffalo.

Even now when I go home to visit there’s only one flavor for me–chocolate with chocolate sprinkles. But because of the softer consistency, I always eat it out of cup and not a cone. It just melts too fast, especially in the hot, humid summers of upstate New York. For those of you who have never tasted custard, it’s creamier and denser than ice cream with an almost velvet texture. Also, it’s not served straight from the machine in the manner of soft serve. Rather the custard continuously flows out of the machine and is deposited into a holding bowl, and is then scooped into your cone or dish. By the time it hits your tongue it’s slightly warmer than your average ice cream, meaning you taste more of the flavor.

Now that I’m even hungrier than when I started this post, my mind wanders to another Rochester tradition–Zweigle’s white hot dogs. Made with beef, pork and veal it has the flavor of a mild bratwurst combined with the fine texture of a hot dog. My favorite is the natural casing white hot dog. When cooked on the grill the skin splits slightly and you experience a crisp ‘snap’ when you bite into it.

There are other Rochester foods that I crave from time to time. But I’ll wait and blog about those next time I return for a visit.

Had chocolate bomboloni from Boriana. I love chocolate, but I think this would have been better with no filling. The dough, fried and coated in sugar, is tasty, but a little dense. There was just something off about the combination of both the very sweet chocolate and heavy bread.

More on the honey…

After purchasing some local honey I spotted Zack with his portable typewriter. He sells poems-writes them on the spot. I ordered up a poem about honey.

Took a walk out to the Ferry Building this afternoon and had a salame and cornichon sandwich on crusty bread smeared with French butter from Acme Bread.

Btw, it’s official, I’m moving to San Francisco in less than a month! We now have a place to live but have to sell the house in Rhode Island. Wish us luck!

I made up a quick pot of tomato sauce with garlic and basil and some turkey meatballs. I cooked the pasta even longer than suggested and it was still quite chewy. After letting it sit in the fridge for a day in the tomato sauce it softened a bit, but still a slightly chewier consistency (and slightly different flavor – hints of artichoke as well as a subtle nutty flavor) than the typical pasta. And I’ve been eating whole wheat pasta for a while now. Overall, I like the fact that it has 23 grams of protein, but would suggest you make it a day ahead and let is ‘marinade’ in you sauce of choice before serving.

I’m going to try it again, but this time toss it with roasted vegetables and a little Parmesan, as I think that might make a better flavor pairing.

I haven’t seen any in Providence, then again I haven’t been looking. I’ll have to try Russo’s in Watertown, as it’s not too far from the office.

If anyone in New England has spotted this treat, drop me a line!