And it was fucking glorious.

This was Jamon Iberico de Bellota, which is the highest grade of jamon available because the pigs are raised on acorns and get to prance around freely on the pasture. According to Wiki, the jamon is cured for 36 months.

Although certain types of jamon, like jamon serrano, can be found in gourmet food shops, jamon Iberico was banned by the US until recently. Not sure of why, but I’m guessing that it had something to do with how Spain cured this particular ham. In any case, I’m happy to hear that the ban is lifted- although I’ve yet to find it here.

No joke, Spain’s jamon is (in my humble opinion) the #1 cured meat in the world. Better than Italy’s prociutto di Parma. There, I said it. The taste is more robust and gamey, but with that, you get a seriously mindblowing version of cured pig that is so intense, profound, luscious and floral.

Here are some jamon porn shots.

I’m really into Pinot Noir lately and trying to learn more about it. I picked up this bottle of Richard Grant Wrotham Pinot, which went really well with the jamon. Fascinating story about this wine is that this guy Richard Grant, formerly of BV Winery in Napa, found a rare Pinot grape called the “Wrotham Pinot” in the boondocks of England and cultivated it in Napa. Very bizarre, but ultimately a very refreshing wine that really got us all super drunk tonight!

I just went to this new tapas place on 19th and 8th Ave called Socarrat Paella Bar. It is the newest tapas place on 19th street. Sala, Boqueria, and further on there’s Tia Pol, El Quinto Pino, to name a few in this neighborhood. Portions are totally great, perfect for “permanently weight watching” gay people.

Me and my friend Keiko, whenever we hang out, we end up going to a tapas place, and we have had good times.

The more tapas places I go to though, the sadder I get. El Cid, the old school, don’t-fuck-with-anything, just damn-fresh-and-yummy food place is just another victim of too-damn-expensive, we-are-outta-here rent prices. I heard they might move to Billyburg, which is great, but I don’t think they will see me at the new location.

Food at Socarrat was so very mediocre. I was VERY disappointed by their shrimp. You know that supposedly fresh and plump and hot and garlic-filled shrimp swimming in olive oil? It didn’t taste fresh.

Tortilla was ok, squid was how it should taste, croquette was ok. I thought this “pork belly” would have been totally good, but it was just ok. Nothing was better than El Cid…

Since they are so new, I bet they will have to adjust everything (they were training waitress on site), and I will give them a second chance, once they get the liquor license. As much as the bill was cheap as hell, which I liked, opening a tapas bar without a booze license is just like the Olympics in China without any scandals. They have to get it together (if I offended anyone, I apologize).

Now my breath smells like nothing but garlic. Great…

Socarrat
259 W 19th Street
Btwn 7th & 8th Ave
NYC
T: 212.462.1000

It was a wonderful surprise when I found out that her parents would be in Madrid while I would be stopping in for 24 hours. Besides being able to spend some time with them, this meant that I would look at Juana, Marta’s mom, with pleading eyes and ask her to cook all my favorite dishes for lunch. I’m shameless!!! But there’s nothing like Spanish home cooking- I’ll take it over a night at El Bulli any day (wow, strong statement!).

I am so spoiled. I mean, I actually WENT to the market with Juana and rattled off all my favorite Spanish comfort foods. Who do I think I am???

Anyhow, to recount my gluttonous requests, here are the lunch preparations- all my favorites (except for tortilla, but we won’t go there).

Albondigas (mmmmeatballs- ground beef, pork, and an egg, covered lightly with bread crumbs, then deep fried):

Boquerones (fresh anchovies marinated in garlic, olive oil and vinegar):

The lovely, master chef Juana preparing the mouth-watering dish:

The all-important deep fryer, an absolutely MUST HAVE staple in any Spanish kitchen. Not really sure what they did before this was invented. Recall George Bluth Sr. and the cornballer:

Albondigas are fried to perfection- using olive oil to fry really makes a huge difference in the taste- it’s essential for Mediterranean cooking:

Patats fritas:

And finally, the meal– all this fed 5 of us!

Albondigas can be enjoyed plain:

Or with ketchup- which isn’t so sweet in Spain, and is more just like tomato sauce:

I told you I’m spoiled.

Mangiamo 2007 Archive:
24 Hours in Madrid

So I went to El Cid on 15th street (between 8th and 9th) last night. There are quite a few tapas restaurants in the city, and I have been to some of them. This place completely blew my mind. I guess the place has been running strong for a long time, but I did not know anything about this place.

Looking from outside, it didn’t match the neighborhood. I felt like I was in Queens or something. Door knob was kind of greasy and hard to open. There were only about 8 tables, and a bar, where regulars sit. I had no expectation at this point.

We ordered bunch of seafood tapas.

First comes octopus with potato and some kind of garlic and paprika type of marinade. Octopus was soo tender, yet not mushy, the flavor was just right. Awesome!

Then came AMAZING shrimp in garlic sauce. I have never had shrimp that plump and tasty. When I eat shrimp, it always has a bit of chlorine or some kind of chemical taste to it because who knows what kind of process shrimps go through at farming locations. But these were absolutely fresh, garlic oil/sauce was soooo amazing, bread dipped in it was great. It had parsley, garlic, some kind of red thing in the oil, hard to guess what it was in it, but AMAZING.

Grilled sardine. Unlike many fellow Japanese, I hate small fish because they have small bones everywhere. Also fish with heads gross me out. I only had a bit of it, but I have never tasted fish like that in my life. Absolutely no fishy smell, nor taste, just how fresh fish should taste. If you like yaki-zakana (grilled fish), you will definitely love it.

Mini squid in ink sauce. It was one of yesterday’s specials. We were looking at each other in disbelief. Absolutely amazing. It came with flavored rice, and a MOUND of squid, just perfect. Again, it was the freshest squid and ink, and the only words to come out of our mouths (aside from blackened teeth, which is always fun) were nothing but praise.

We also had sauteed sweetbread and Spanish ham, but by the time they arrived, we were quite full, but they were good as well. If you are a seafood lover, stick with them, you will not regret any dish you order. Too bad we couldn’t afford $200 baby eel in garlic oil. Why are they so expensive?!

We left the restaurant, well fed and satisfied. Although we were talking about going to Pinkberry for dessert, we were way too full. Also I can make it at home now…

Anyhow, the next evening after I made Peking duck, (main course of that evening was hand rolled sushi. I had bunch of fish leftovers as well) I hosted a Pride weekend party for my bf’s friends. Since it’s a party, you don’t want to make things that require cutting or plating. Also this helps the cleanup since you don’t have to wash too many small plates. By the way, I am dead against using plastic plates. No, I am not an environmentalist, I just think it’s very trashy to use plastic. I just buy bunch of little cocktail napkins, and people can rest their food on them. How cute, right?

So this party menu consisted of following. Since I don’t measure, please don’t ask for specific recipes:

edamame
boil the things, put in a TON of kosher salt, and you are good to go.

vegetables
(gay boys are worse than anorexic girls. I must always prepare vegetable platters so that they don’t have to feel guilty about putting food in their mouths)

fruit bowl (of course the bowl is made out of the watermelon)

Korean flavored beef skewers (below left)
Marinate cut up beef (use fattier part so that it doesn’t dry up after cooling off) in soy sauce, sesame, ginger, sugar and garlic overnight. Sauté them in hot pan, get a nice color. Once they are cool enough, skewer them.

bacon wrapped dates (above right)
cut bacon into 3, then wrap pitted dates with it, put tooth pick to hold it. Put them on top of rack so that grease will render, bake them on 400 oven for about 20 minutes, or how you like your bacon to be. Salty and sweetness, the best combo!

cucumber topped with creme and salmon
cut English cucumber into about half inch thick, and with a small spoon, make a small hole, set aside. Mix cream cheese, sour cream, chives, mayo (of course, you gotta use the Japanese one), salt and pepper together. pipe it onto the hole you made on cucumber, top it with a small chunk of salmon. You can use smoked salmon as well, but since I had salmon sashimi leftovers, I just used them.

home made guacamole
mix avocado, lime juice, garlic, tomato, minced parsley (I don’t like cilantro), and salt together.

home made gyoza
(i should stop using “home made” by now, you get the point, yes, i don’t buy pre-made stuff, I make almost everything from scratch)
mix ground pork, nira (they call it chives, but it has a lot more garlic flavor than chives, you can buy them at Japanese grocery stores), ginger, soy sauce, salt, pepper, an egg together, put small amount in gyoza skin and make into a gyoza shape.

I will probably blog about specifics of gyoza making after I have better pictures of the process in the future.

leftover duck meat with vegetables in hoison sauce wrapped in philo dough
cut up left over duck, and sauté them with chopped onion, scallions, and vermicelli noodles, and hoison sauce. Let it cool. Take philo dough gently, and stack 5 of them (of course you paint butter in each layers to get crispy and flaky), cut them and put small amount of duck mixture, and wrap it however shape you like it. Bake them till golden brown.

watermelon with goat cheese (not shown in picture)
cut watermelon into small squares, and put small amount of goat cheese shaped into a ball, stick a tooth pick, and that’s it. I hate goat cheese, so I don’t eat it, but people seem to love it.

fig with goat cheese
I had goat cheese leftover, and had some figs, so basically created the same thing as above.

tuna sashimi marinated in soy wasabi sauce on top of cracker (again, not shown in picture)
cut sashimi into small chunks, pour soy sauce and wasabi, marinate it, and put them on top of a cracker.

baked eel and Brie cheese on piece of baguette (not shown)
I had a frozen eel, left over baguette as well as Brie cheese, so cut them up, put eel on top of baguette, topped with cheese, baked them. This sounds odd, but good stuff.

Below is the spread of the evenings food items (some were on different tables since no pics). We had about 15 guests, all the food eaten, about 20 bottles of wine drank, a couple of hook-ups, everyone went home drunk, happy, and full. What a great success!