THE GURGLING COD

NOLA Checkin

Happy Independence Day to all. As a non-food item, a missive from a New Orleanian* who is large, and named William, aka Biggwill:

Pitt for Mayor…Not Really That Funny 

Publicity Translates Directly into Dollars in Post Katrina New Orleans.

 

I don't know why it bothers me so much that the movie star (Brad Pitt) receives so much attention when it comes to the rebuilding of New Orleans?  There are many other matters that demand my concern (for example: the starting quarterback for the Tigers this fall or the Saints’ playoff chances this season), but it is July in New Orleans.  We are at the commencement of Hurricane Season (or what a good friend more appropriately refers to as Hurricane Fest), and issues associated with rebuilding and hurricane protection are top of mind right now.

 

I admit that when compared to our current mayor even “Homey the Clown” would be a better leader, but that does not provide enough of a reason for us to even jokingly consider Brad Pitt. 

 

Let's take a look at what other celebrities have done to help New Orleans.

 

Harry Connick Jr & Branford Marsalis - 76 Homes have been completed (soon to be 176) in the Musician's Village (Upper Ninth Ward).  A community center for music is almost complete.  Construction on a number of Elder Duplexes (retirement duplexes) associated with the village are also complete.  An additional 100 homes are being built in the Musicians Village by Baptist Ministries.  That project is well underway, and it is slated for completion by 2010 -11

 

Wendell Pierce & Terrance Blanchard - 215 Properties in the Pontilly Area of New Orleans (Pontchartrain Park and Gentilly) have been acquired by their investment group.  Demolitions of old structures began in March 2009, and construction is well underway on the first 35 homes.  Wendell Pierce and Terrance Blanchard donated between $3 to $5 million dollars for the construction of the first 25 homes.  They also secured another $2 million investment from Washington, D.C.-based Telesis Corp to build another 10 homes.  Their efforts have prompted other projects in the Pontilly area.  Development of a senior center and redevelopment of 6 parks/green spaces are currently in the works.  Also, the city and state have purchased an old mall in that area.  Redevelopment of that mall is in the planning phase.  Eventually, Pierce and Blanchard seem confident that they will be able to secure enough investments for the remaining 180 homes soon. 

 

Brad Pitt - 8 Homes (out of 150 planned) have been completed by Make It Right in Lower Ninth Ward.  They have received well deserved acclaim for their green design and sustainability; however they are experiencing problems in producing more homes due to the expense associated with the designs.  Imagine That!

 

Brad has created the most environmentally friendly neighborhood in New Orleans, but it is only 8 homes in the middle of a field of empty lots.  Imagine if he were to team up with Habitat for Humanity (like Connick and Marsalis).  They would likely have 200 homes near completion.  Instead, all we have is a nice experiment in Green technology and design. 

 

Pitt is clearly a good person with genuine intensions.  He has invested a lot in the effort to help New Orleans.  I simply would prefer more attention to be focused where it would do the most good.  While Pitt is struggling to build a 9^th home in the lower 9, Pierce and Blanchard are trying to get another 180 funded in Pontilly at more reasonable and sustainable costs. 

 

Who knows?  Maybe Pitt can start building normal homes in the lower 9^th ward, and send the Today Show to Pontilly this August when they return to commemorate Katrina. 

*Fun fact: New Orleans is in Louisiana, which is part of the United States! Yup, we bought it, and now it's our responsibility.

Worlds collide

The Blondie for 30 June echoes a major plot point of The Girlfriend Experience. Granted, Blondie is catering, not escorting, and the aspiring critic is not as creepy as Glenn "The Erotic Conoisseur" Kenny, but whoda thunk that a Depression-era syndicated fishwrap comic would have its finger on the zeitgeist in 2k9? 

Terrible salad

Apologies for the light posting. But the folks at the Awl have the solution to your sodden summer -- terrible salad. The Guardian offers a peek at Elizabeth David's library, complete w/ unflattering annotations (she did not think much of Waverly Root, for instance. David identifies "Italian Salad" from the Belfast Women's Institute Club cookbook, as the most revolting recipe ever devised:

Italian salad
1 pint cold cooked macaroni
½ pint cooked or tinned pears
½ pint grated raw carrot
French dressing to moisten
2 heaped tablespoons minced onion
½ pint cooked or minced string beans

Mix the chopped macaroni and vegetables; moisten with French dressing, flavouring with garlic if liked. Serve on a dish lined with lettuce leaves. Decorate with mayonnaise and minced pimento or chives.

The Awl comment thread is worth it for the competitors for this dish in terms of revoltingness, including a grape dish that sounds suspiciously like one once brought to my house.

How do you improve on perfection?

Finally, an answer to the age-old riddle -- what's one thing you can improve by making the holes bigger? The jalapeno roaster! The scientists at Williams-Sonoma have a new, improved Jalapeno Roaster 2.0!:
For a crowd-pleasing appetizer, stuff jalapeño peppers with cheese and other savory ingredients, then fire roast them over an outdoor grill. We’ve redesigned the roaster based on customer feedback so that the holes are now larger. Holding up to 18 stuffed or whole peppers upright, our jalapeño roaster imparts delicious smoky flavor while keeping the chilies a safe distance from the flame and preventing them from falling through the grate. After grilling, removing the peppers is simple.
It's great to be alive on days like these!

Still unfancy after all these years?

They are at it again in the 718, as the Unfancy Food Show returns. Like I said last year, I'm sympathetic to the idea, but wish the whole thing could be a litle less, um, Brooklyn. From the logo (L) to the vendors, the whole thing teeters dangerously close to unintentional self-parody. I predict next years UFFS will feature a performance of Old MacDonald by Animal Collective, who will arrive onstage via fixies made out of beef jerky.

Cookout lookout

Helping to put together a list of badly behaved BBQ/cookout* guests from movies. (Laugh all you want -- it's currently the most robust tributary of the household income stream.) I welcome your suggestions in the comments below. It's that, or Buster and Lulu go work in a mill.
*As good a time as any to mention that The Gurgling Cod's corporeal host will be soon appearing in The Gravy,  the revamped  Southern Foodways Alliance jawn. Say what you want about grits lines and sweet tea lines -- I'm not sure if I'd call it the South, but there is definitely a demarcation between parts of the country where people call grilling burgers  and dogs "a BBQ," rather than "a cookout," and the parts of the country where they know better.

Achatz to Pancake Humm?

From the Yankee Doodle of molecular gastronomy, the following tweet:
Daniel Humm in the house tonight. Had a great meal at 11 Madison a while back. Will be trying to blow him up tonight....
This is kind of exactly the sort of thing you hope for if you follow the likes of Humm/Achatz, in real life or on Twitter. Achatz' language -- "trying to blow him up" -- points to one of the unheralded aspects of cooking -- food is love, put cooking can sometimes be agression. I have caught myself thinking "how can I dominate this cookout?" more than once. I am confident that Achatz will beguile, charm, and entice Humm, rather than actually attempt to physically dominate, blow up, or pancake Humm, but it's interesting that it's expressed in these terms. For an explication of pancake, see below:

Alan Richman strikes again!

A friend we will call Food Media Subaltern passes along the following:

it must be hard to be the "dean of food writing" at FCI and be felled by a simple typo.

Linguine with clams, sweet peppers, and “nudja” was less admirable. “What’s nudja?” I asked. I sort of got an answer. Later, I Googled it. No help. It was the only dish of the evening I didn’t admire. The spicy sausage sauce—I believe that was the nudja part—was clumsy, with no discernable sausage.

 

Nduja, d-bag. Nduja. 

Apparently the Calabrians are as real as the Creoles.

This "dean," you will recall, is the same food writer who felt moved to piss on New Orleans while it was reeling from Katrina, follows with a gaffe that would be embarrassing in a freshman comp class. A helpful mnemonic: "the nudist bought a Nudie, then had gnudi and nduja." And, something for the ladies:

Gram Parsons = sexy. And thanks as always for the Peerles Photoshopping. 

A song for Governor Mark Sanford

It's hard out there for a governor. Sometimes, trying to cheat your own state's children out of money that might, oh, hire teachers, or keep schools open for the sake of your personal political grandstanding is stressful. Sometimes you just need to turn your phone off, slip your security detail, leave your four kids with the wife, and just chill. Here's a song for that.
The Beastie Boys "AWOL" Paul's Boutique, Capitol, 1989
Alternatively, the post-fugue press conference goes down like this:

Fight the recesssion... with Thomas Keller!

As predicted by Gastropoda, unable to stay off the Williams-Sonoma/Thomas Keller fried chicken set.

Our exclusive new Ad Hoc Fried Chicken Kit and All-Clad Sauté
Pan with Fry Basket & Tongs make it easy for home cooks to
whip up a favorite dish from chef Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc
restaurant in Napa Valley: old-fashioned fried chicken. As in
the restaurant, the chicken is brined to ensure tender, juicy
meat and twice dredged to produce a crispy golden crust. Pair
your fried chicken with potato salad and coleslaw prepared
with our exclusive Ad Hoc Dressings.

Words fail. The pan is marked down from $322 to $199, and the fried chicken set is $15 for two packages of brine miz, and two packages of coating. Yes, the wizard of Yountville is selling fried chicken coating. Shake and bake, Thomas Keller! And don't forget the potato salad dressing at $14, or the cole slaw dressing, a relative bargain at $12.50. The lady who makes the best damn fried chicken in the state of Illinois has some advice for Mr. Keller: