This is my blogchalk:
United States, North Carolina, Carrboro, English, Paul, Male, 56-60, All Music, All Food.

Subscribe to this blog in Radio:

Sunday, May 01, 2005

I synthesized from 4 or 5 recipes for Peking duck. One of them described how to make “brushes” out of spring onions: Trim the roots, cut 3” of the “front” end, and make 1” slits along it. You bloom these in ice water for about 20 minutes, just before the duck finishes, and use them to paint hoisin or plum sauce on the mandarin pancakes before you load them up with duck skin and shredded meat. We liked a combination – hoisin on the pancake, plum sauce atop the duck. You throw the used “paint brush” in there too, a slice of cucumber, and a bit of cilantro, then roll ‘er up like a burrito. We ate the whole duck with occasional ritualistic observations that it could have used another 10 minutes in the oven to crisp the skin a little more. I figured the remaining pancakes would not get eaten without any leftover duck, so I took them outside to fling to the squirrels. They make incredible Frisbees! Some of them sailed at least 100 feet through the trees out back. Some of them seemed to have brains, curving between branches and diving to miss leaves. Some veered to the left; others to the right. Wish I’d made a few more.   An outstanding meal and not that difficult to fix. Duck always takes a little special care because of all the fat and this is no more difficult than any other recipe. The original Chinese recipe used 8-week force fed ducklings, slaughtered with a blow to the head so as not to break the skin, then gutted through a tiny slit under the wing by the cook’s apprentices before preparation. As fun as all that sounds, a simple glazing in boiling water with honey and other things, a drying period either hanging or in the fridge, and a couple hours roasting is all that is really required. It’s not all that much trouble. This recipe will be visited again.     11:49:13 PM    comment []

Mmmmm...duckskin pancakes. 5:18:29 PM    comment []

Mandarin Pancakes   Not much to these – just flour and water – but a lot of rolling pin work. Small circles of dough are separated by a thin layer of sesame oil (Rayne – this is the oil I had, House of Tsang) and rolled into a 7” circle (or something close to a circle). These are toasted in a skillet (no oil) and pull apart easier than I imagined. I added a few tablespoons of chopped spring onion to the dough.     11:50:02 AM    comment []

I’m listening to some rockabilly while the duck dries out and NPR has pledge week. Ironically, almost all the CDs in my player came from “tips” on NPR. The Johnny Burnette Rock ‘n Roll Trio got ordered because of a feature on Fresh Air by Rock Historian Ed Ward. Damn, that guy knows everything! The Burnette Brothers, Dorsey and Johnny, were playing clubs in Memphis about the time Elvis hit. They packed up their equipment, went to New York, and won three consecutive weeks on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. I became a fan of them 5 years later: Dorsey for his recording of “Big Rock Candy Mountain” and Johnny for his recordings of “You’re Sixteen” and “Dreamin’.” Their guitarist, Paul Burlison, arguably invented the distorted sound later embodied in the “Fuzztone” when a tube came loose in his amp. His solos, along with those of Elvis’ session man Scotty Moore and Ricky Nelson sideman James Burton, became the prototype of nearly all whiteboy Rock ‘n Roll guitar solos. This CD is a real treat for the ears. It gets you wondering if some of those sounds, heavy vocal reverb and staccato delivery like that used by Elvis on “Heartbreak Hotel,” weren’t originated by this energetic trio.   Also in the player: On their last pledge drive, WUNC gave away a trip to Paris for two. Keith Weston, host of the incredible Back Porch Music, played a track of “I Love Paris” sung out of character by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, a guy who featured a cigarette smoking skull in his stage act. I bought Voodoo Jive, which has his signature “I Put A Spell On You” and the insane “Constipation Blues.”   From Weekend Edition features, I picked up two CDs: Carnival, vol. 5 of Los Hombres Calientes (Irvin Mayfield and Bill Summers), and Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band XXL, with “Hunting Wabbits,” a tribute to his years scoring for Warner Bros. That has become a drum line standard. Los Hombres Calientes named a few tunes after New Orleans musicians on their CD. One, “George Porter,” prompted me to Google him and I ended up buying a DVD of The FunkY Meters live at the 2000 New Orleans Jazz Festival. Porter is their bassist.   Finally, a few eeks ago Mark Hoback suggested I listen to “Pachuco Cadaver” on Captain Beeheart’s Trout Mask Replica. I was horrified to discover that I didn’t have this CD! That’s like the Pope not having holy water. Shit! I ordered it and it now occupies one of the five trays in my computer room CD player that’s a radio when there isn’t a pledge drive. Didn’t we just do this a couple of months ago?     Update: Should you be inclined to buy the Burnette Brothers CD, it is not trivial. It is only available from Hip-O Select from a limited pressing of 5,000. Even if you go to their main website and search on “Burnette” you won’t find it. Click on the link if you have $20 and a hankering for a little primordial rock. You can also sample all the tracks there.       10:04:01 AM    comment []

Social Security Benefits Cuts   Ozzy Mandias predicted all this!   60 days, 60 cities, and then a press conference…                   To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life ’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. 2:01:29 AM    comment []