Author Archives: Peter - The Roaming GastroGnome

Born and raised in the beautiful Mid-Hudson Valley of New York State, moved to DC for a job, stayed way longer than I thought, got married and moved to Chicago for her job. It's an awesome city!

Vieux Carré – A Crescent City Cocktail for Mardi Gras

What is it about New Orleans cocktails that they are all so inherently potent? Of the three you’d normally associate with the city, Sazerac, Vieux Carré, and Hurricane, only the Hurricane gets ‘watered down’ with any fruit juice. The other two are just straight up combinations of booze. This week I’m skipping over Valentine’s DayContinue reading “Vieux Carré – A Crescent City Cocktail for Mardi Gras”

Blackstrap Molasses Picnic Ham: The Final Piece from the Cold Smoking Experiment

It’s been over two months since I cured, cold smoked, and hung up a picnic ham to dry. A few days before Super Bowl Sunday I checked the weight and saw it was ready for slicing!

Choucroute Garnie

One benefit of all my charcuterie experimenting is we usually have some sausages and cured meat tucked away somewhere, just in case. At the moment we’ve got quite a variety with some speck, coppa, sausages, and bacon, so there occurred a great opportunity to cook up a pot of cured meat deliciousness: choucroute garnie.

Homemade Chicken Soup From Scratch

I was a little under the weather last week and really needed some good old-fashioned chicken soup. As you may have heard, chicken soup is supposed to help cure the common cold or at least alleviate some of the suffering. Over the years there have been studies about chicken soup’s alleged healing properties and fromContinue reading “Homemade Chicken Soup From Scratch”

Riso al Salto: All Leftovers Should Be This Good

Normally, when you make risotto you make just enough that it all gets eaten. Even if there is little extra you finish it off leaving just an empty pan. However, this past weekend I made an extra-large serving for us and lo and behold what was in the fridge the next day but a smallContinue reading “Riso al Salto: All Leftovers Should Be This Good”

Pork Shoulder Speck: One Result From My November Cold Smoking Experiment

Just before Thanksgiving I cured and cold smoked a boneless pork shoulder and a picnic ham then hung them in my curing fridge in the basement. This past weekend the speck cured shoulder was ready. I was pretty excited to see how it turned out.

Savory Buckwheat Crepe Breakfast – Galette Complète

Happy New Year! Once again, I’m finding inspiration from our trip to Paris. While waiting to check into our Airbnb flat on Ile St. Louis we ate brunch at a place on the tip of the island called Café St Regis. I had a ridiculously fluffy omelet and Cheryl had a buckwheat crepe with ham,Continue reading “Savory Buckwheat Crepe Breakfast – Galette Complète”

Vin Chaud – Mulling Over a Paris Inspiration

I could not let our Paris trip go by without trying my hand on at least one thing we experienced there. As I mentioned before, the chilly December weather in Paris made vin chaud a perfect café drink to warm ourselves up with. Perfect winter warmer for Chicago too.

Roast Duck with Apple-Chestnut Hash

A few weeks ago I decided to roast a duck for our weekly Wednesday date night. Looking at The Flavor Bible, duck has a pretty wide and interesting mix of flavor ingredients and most are very seasonal for fall and winter; like apples, potatoes, ginger, allspice, chestnuts, cinnamon, and more. There were many ingredients onContinue reading “Roast Duck with Apple-Chestnut Hash”