OK, enough excitement. Back to the food.
I haven't been able to write about this meal until now. It was just too good, and sadly, the photo is so inadequate.
Yesterday I got a little tutorial on spot metering and manual exposure from the good Dr. Biggles at MeatHenge. I practiced on handy items in a dimly lit room (OK, my foot and the dog), and dang, he was right. I'm not 100% there yet, but I'm workin' on it.
If only I'd known sooner, I might be proud to show you what was so delicious I couldn't talk about it for a few days.
As it is, you'll have to use a little imagination.
In fact, imagination is how I came up with this dish.
Eh, I borrowed a little inspiration from a fabulous meal I had years ago at Shanghai 1930. That night, I was served a crab and tofu dish of such tenderness: succulent crab, cloudlike super-fresh tofu... and the crab meat was dotted with its own unborn roe! (No comments were available from Harriet Miers on the "v. Wade" variant of this dish.)
So for my home version ― since I had half a block of impeccable organic tofu that needed using right away ― we bought a small amount of Dungeness lump meat and a little jar of Tsar Nicoulai Truffled Tiger Eye caviar.
What a taste explosion. Sure, truffles will do that to most foods. But this was synergy. Gestalt. Über-flippety-floppity-floo.
We nuked the tofu just to the point of warmth; topped it with crab that had been heated in a saute pan with melted butter. And then dumped half the jar of caviar over the top.
It was too good to even contemplate having again any time soon. Y'ever have something that good?
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12 comments:
was the dungeness fresh
i thought it wasnt in season
but i keep seeing it on menus everywhere!
I know. I don't feel exactly "right" about this. It's technically out of season. But Western Boat in San Rafael keeps live crabs... they're from Oregon. And fresh.
You ever been to Dungeness? It's like a fishing village on the moon. Can't eat crab's I'm 'lergic. But they always look like fun to eat.
"(No comments were available from Harriet Miers on the "v. Wade" variant of this dish.)"
Heh, heh, heh, hee, hee.
It looks scruptious.
I meant "scrumptious."
Monkey Gland's description of Dungeness is the most apt I have ever heard. How poetic.
Cookie Crumb. I hate Custard Powder. I bought it for a very good reason and have an excellent excuse for it being in my pantry. I would never make custard from powder. never in a million years. Unless I had a good reason that didn't involve having to eat it.
But that is a whole nother blog story in its own right for a distant day in the future.
(I did puposely hide Fred's jar of Nescafe though, I didn't want anyone to think it had anything to do with me)
That truffled tiger eye caviar is spectacular - so much so, that I'm convinced you could put it on anything and instantly convert it into a gourmet dish!
NS: It's awesome! We put most of the rest of it on small potatoes we baked on a cookie sheet (halved, oiled, face-down, then smeared with creme fraiche). Oh. Oh my.
What would you put it on?
Are you going to share your photo tips? That one looks really good by the way...the photo, not the crab, which isn't my cup of tea.
Crabby, yes, crab, no.
Crabby! Yes. At my house, we rotate the nicknames Crabby, Crappy and Cranky.
Biggles' tip was to use spot metering, and I'll quote him at length (we are talking about a Nikon here, and I really don't have this mastered yet):
When you're setting up the shot, one usually looks through the
camera's eye, to get your focal length and see what you like best.
Perfection.
What's next? OUTSIDE that area, look for the light you like. What
do YOU want to expose for? What shadows, highlights or whatever.
Where's the light YOU like?
Use your spot meter to check exposure. THEN go back to the image
and shoot.
Just to the left of the eyefinder you'll see an AE-L and AF-L
button. It defaults to the Auto Exposure. So, if you move around
the camera and find the light you'd like to expose for? Push and
HOLD that button and move back to your subject, squeeze trigger.
Love at first exposure.
Cookiecrumb: The best use to which I have put it so far was on top of some cauliflower panna cotta, which was made using Thomas Keller's recipe. That panna cotta alone is spectacular, but combine it with this caviar and you will never be the same again!
NS: That's brilliant. I have just a smidge left, and I've always wanted to try making a panna cotta. (I have the FL book, so technically, anything's possible!)
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