Bouquet Garni

Per Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook, bouquet garni is one sprig of flat parsley, two sprigs of fresh thyme, and one bay leaf, tied together with string.



A couple of excerpts from Larousse Gastronomique:

A selection of aromatic plants used to flavour a sauce or stock. A bouquet garni generally consists of two or three sprigs of parsley, a sprig of thyme, and one or two dried bay leaves, but its composition may vary according to local resources. Celery, leek, savory, sage, etc., can be added. In old French cookery, bouquet garnis contained cloves as well as herbs, and the whole bundle was wrapped in a thin slice of bacon.

Almiro Tawny Porto

The French Onion Soup recipe calls for some port. I didn't know port was even a wine, but sure enough, it is. Maybe Ralph's carries a decent port, but I couldn't find one. There were a couple of three dollar options but I was skeptical.

BevMo's selection wasn't vast, but this one caught my eye. I liked that it didn't cost $40.


I cut through the copper foil with the handy dandy foil-cutting-option of my corkscrew and rather than a cork spied a plastic cap. Twisting that block knob, I simply pulled the cork free.
 

Port is so red it's almost black. It doesn't smell bad either, by the way.


And now a couple exerpts word from Larousse Gastronomique:

One of the greatest dessert wines of the world. Port is a wine made from a variety of grapes blended together that has its fermentation arrested by the addition of brandy; according to exactly when the spirit is added, the resulting port varies in sweetness because of the natural grape sugar retained in the wine. 

White port, which can be dry, but in its cheaper versions may be sweetish, is made from white grapes and is drunk as an aperitif. Ruby port is a blend of young wines, full, fruity, and with the colour that gives it its name. Tawny ports are matured rubies and fine old tawnies are wines that have aged some years in wood and can achieve great quality.

I learned somewhere that because of the high sugar content of tawny ports it can be kept for quite a while in the fridge.

 

Almiro Tawny Porto, available in a 750 mL bottle at BevMo for $7.99.

Slab Bacon from Celestino's

I thought finding a quarter pound hunk of slab bacon would be hard. Not so. Swinging into a place called Celestino's I learned that finding bacon is just a matter of stopping into a local non-chain meat store. If you have one in your town, I highly recommend you stop by and see what they have available.

My bacon was wrapped up and bagged by the extremely nice guy behind the counter, who I'm guessing is the owner. While chatting, I found out that Celestino's has veal bones from which they make stock and demi glace. If I call a few days in advance, they'll be sure to have however many pounds of veal bones I'd like ready to go.

Look at that bacon! I don't believe I've ever seen bacon that wasn't sliced before. It took all of my strength to keep myself from nibbling at the glorious brown edges.

And bacon cubes? These are going to make some soup really delicious.

Slab bacon, available at Celestino's for $10/lb. Normally I try to buy everything with my AmEx, but when it comes to supporting the local mom and pop shops I do cash so all of it supports the store rather than the credit card.

APCO Jumbo Onions

Bent on making some French Onion Soup, I picked up a bag of these APCO onions. Each one in the bag is about the same size.

One selected at random weighs in at one pound and three ounces.

Eight onions yields a ginormous bowl of thin-sliced onion, three cups of chopped onions, and more than 6 cups of peels and roots and stems.

APCO onions, available in a 10-lb bag at Costco for $3.59.

Chef's Pantry Kitchen Towel Set

I grabbed these when I saw them at Costco. There's a chance I'll reduce my paper towel usage with so many towels on hand. Certainly, I'll minimize the risk of something like this happening again.



Chef's Pantry Kitchen Towel set of 10, available at Costco for less than $10.

Food Plan and Grocery List, 010712

Having made all of that chicken stock, I am forced to try my hand at French Onion Soup.

Costco:

• yellow onions: $3.59/10 lbs

Bev Mo:

• Pocas Almiro Tawny Port: $7.99/750 mL
• Total: $8.61

Celestino's:

• slab bacon: $2.50/0.25 lb

Ralph's:

• organic flat-leaf parsley: $0.99
• brussel sprouts: $2.09/0.70 lb
• Boarshead Gruyere: $8.99/8 oz
• Private Selection Pugliese loaf: $2.99
• MPLF bread (day-old sliced baguette): $0.99
• Total: $16.05

Grand Total: $30.75

Total for the year: $92.30

Cost of Take-Out Lunch, Week Ending 010611

Monday: holiday

Tuesday: La Salsa's Chicken Grande Burrito: $6.41

Wednesday: Wendy's QP Single combo: $6.02

Thursday: Riptide Rockin' Sushi's King's Roll, on a coworker

Friday: Deemer's Grill Hickory Smoked Burger for me, Californian burger and vanilla shake for a coworker, plus a basket of fries to share: $24.73

Total: $37.16

Total for the year: $37.16