Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2015 i SAVEUR

A long while back I had two regulars in my bar who enjoyed tasking me with interpreting classic cocktails. One night, these fellows ordered their all-time favorite, the Pendennis Club Cocktail. I blushed over my inability to conjure it: I had heard of it but had never encountered one nor seen a recipe. They walked me through it—gin, apricot brandy, lime juice, and Peychaud’s, the revered, anise-inflected New Orleans bitters. Taking a sip, I experienced one of those zoomfreeze moments. Intriguingly opaque, slightly frothy, and salmon-hued, the Pendennis Club Cocktail has a mesmerizing balance of flavors: sweet, tart, and packed with spice and strength all at the same time. It has remained one of my favorite drinks for some two decades, during which time I have tinkered with its parts…

If he wants to talk to you about chowder, he’ll get in touch,” said the bartender who answered the phone at Cliff’s Elbow Room. Then she hung up. Three unreturned messages later, I came to terms with the fact that Cliff didn’t want to talk. Cliff’s cedar-shingled dive is something of a North Fork, Long Island, landmark known for its shell steaks, which are marinated and broiled to a degree of black char that lies beyond the redemptive power of any Instagram filter. I had eaten two bowls of Cliff’s transcendent, Manhattan-style clam chowder—as in red with tomatoes, not cloudy with cream—the stuff that’s long been denigrated by New Englanders as worked-up vegetable soup from the borough that bears its name. Cliff’s version has been served in round, heavy bowls…

Black-Eyed Pea Hummus with West African Chile Paste Serves 6 to 8 Active: 1 hr. 20 min.; Total: 2 hr. Pierre Thiam’s nod to hummus uses blackeyed peas, native to West Africa and brought over to America with the slave trade. In Senegal, you’ll often find them ground and fried into fritters called accara and served with spicy chile sauce. Here, they are puréed smooth and brightened with lots of lemon juice and served with a tiny dollop of intensely aromatic shito, a Ghanian chile paste, made sweet and spicy from caramelized onions, dried seafood, and smoky chile flakes. The paste will last for months in the refrigerator, but you can use crushed red chile flakes or any spicy chile sauce as a substitute, if you like. For the chile…

The best turtle hunting anywhere, I’d been told, was down this one road—“can’t miss it”—in that far southwest outback of Virginia where the state resembles a wood planer peeling Kentucky off from Tennessee. One of the few champions of the almost extinct practice is Ricky Crouch, a logger whose South Carolina twang is music to my ears (I’m from there, too). But his directions, translated through crummy cell reception, ended up on paper as: “Past a gas station, out of business, a road goes off there, left, right, the one-lane bridge, and careful there’s a rise where the road goes to gravel and it looks like you’re going to drive off the earth.” And finally, before he hung up: “Don’t worry, just get there and I’ll find you.” Somehow I…

After the scandal we’d caused, Janez, the tall waiter with a taut black vest fitted over his keg-shaped belly, decided to take me into his confidence. Pensively stroking his red shoe brush of a moustache, he came to clear my dessert plate, and then leaned in and spoke behind the fence of his thick fingers. “You must go east if you want our best food, Mr. Alexander. Go to the countryside east of Maribor, my hometown. Go to the Štajerska and Prekmurje regions. That’s where the food in Slovenia is still good and honest and true.” The scandal was minor but telling: The night I’d arrived at the faded grand hotel on the shores of Lake Bled where my grandmother had once stayed as a young woman with a married…

We Didn’t Forget the Pie! Neither, we’re guessing, did you. For there is no more correct, satisfying, nay patriotic way to end our beloved annual circus of overindulgence than with a table full of pies—preferably lots of them and all of them your favorites. Which raises the basic pie paradox, which is itself a subset of the central Thanksgiving conundrum: Even as we seek new recipes, what we’re really hungry for is what’s most familiar. We want exciting and different pies (and turkeys and gravies and, sometimes, visiting uncles and brothers-in-law), while we yearn secretly for the never-changing status quo. Solution: a few pie fixes that riff on the standards without straying too far from classic formulas. We consulted pie experts at Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits in Chicago and…

Ruth Reichl’s Cream Biscuits Makes 20 biscuits Active: 20 min.; Total: 1 hr. 45 min. If you can’t find “00” Italian pasta flour (available on amazon.com or in Italian specialty stores), substitute cake flour. Its low gluten content lets you mix it with the cream without developing the gluten. 2 cups (10 oz.) “00” pasta flour, plus more 1 Tbsp. baking powder ½ tsp. kosher salt 1 ¼ cups heavy cream, chilled, plus more for brushing 1 In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt. Pour the cream into the flour and stir until a dough forms. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and briefly knead until smooth. 2 Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough until ⅝ inch thick. Using a…

Atelier Niuris Higueras and her brother Herdys opened this restaurant in a mansion five years ago and serve a constantly changing Cuban-Continental menu to a packed house every night. Eat outside on the roof if you can. Calle 5, #511, between Paseo and Calle 2, Vedado Corte del Principe When you arrive, ask owner Sergio which of that day’s homemade pastas he recommends (his are the best in all of Havana) and then add some beef carpaccio or simply cooked fresh local fish to round out your meal. Calle 9na at the corner of 74, Playa El Cocinero The people-watching can’t be beat on this late-night rooftop tapas bar reached via three flights of spiral stairs. The menu includes everything from tuna tataki to grilled pork ribs. Calle 26 between…

Hopping into a little boat with friends and heading out in the pitch black of an early morning to hunt in the duck blind as the sun rises—to me, that’s the sign that Thanksgiving is coming. Waterfowl hunting season in Louisiana opens the second week in November, and ever since I moved here 13 years ago, the holiday, hunting, and my duck and andouille gumbo—which takes pride of place on my Thanksgiving table—have been inextricably linked. I love hunting because it’s methodical: To hit your target, you have to go through steps, making sure your stance and sight picture are both in line before you pull the trigger. And as a chef I believe each bite tastes better if you’ve had a hand in what you eat, from start to…

SERVES 8 TO 10 Active: 1 hr.; Total: 2 hr. (not counting the turtle hunt) The recipe for this classic preparation—spiked here with warm spices and dried anise-like herbs to contrast the mild gaminess of the turtle meat—comes from chef Bill Smith of Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and is finished with old-school garnishes like hard-boiled eggs and a splash of sherry. If you can’t find turtle meat, boneless veal shoulder makes a fine substitute. Freeze the turtle and beef for 20 minutes to make cutting easier. 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter ½ cup (2 ¼ oz.) all-purpose flour 6 celery stalks, finely chopped 1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped 1 lb. beef chuck, cut into ¼-inch cubes 1 lb.…

GETTING THERE There are no direct flights from North America to Slovenia, but the country’s international airport in Ljubljana is served by Adria, Air France, and Lufthansa, among others. It’s a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Ljubljana to Maribor. WHERE TO STAY Dvorec Jeruzalem Perched on a hillside, this old manor house in the winemaking village of Jeruzalem offers great vistas of the surrounding countryside. Jeruzalem 8, Ivanjkovci Hotel City It may lack Old World charm, but until Maribor gets the boutique property it needs, this business hotel by the Drava River fits the bill, with a friendly staff and comfortable rooms with good views. Ulica kneza Koclja 22, Maribor; cityhotel-mb.si Sončna Hiša Improbably hip for its location in a tiny rural Slovenian village, this friendly boutique hotel with a spa makes…

Beer for Turkey Day! Serve up your November meals with a craft brew in the new Eparé Beer Glass. A design meant to bring a hint of modern to your beer experience. These glasses are crafted from Boron Oxide, making them break-resistant, thin, light, and scratchproof. Crafted to be practical and visually appealing, these double-walled glasses stylishly eliminate condensation and feature a thick rim for comfortable drinking. An exciting product for any home, restaurant or café. Eparé glassware is dishwasher, microwave, and freezer safe. Get yourself a set for $30 from Eparé on Amazon.com Use code SAVEURON when purchasing items from Eparé on Amazon.com through the end of November for 10% off. Follow us on Instagram @epare_usa 347.682.5121 www.epareusa.com Brownie Innovations that are Simply Sweet Do you crave brownies without…

Even before I’d ever been to Tokyo, I looked up pictures of the famed Hotel Okura—a spectacular 1960s architectural anomaly in a city where things are torn down all the time for shiny steel-and-glass newness. Some 15 years ago, before I moved to the city, I made the pilgrimage to its vast double-level lobby to gawk at the gilded panels and cascading hexahedral chandeliers. Like other design lovers, my heart sank when I heard that it would be demolished this year as part of the city’s preparations for the 2020 Olympics. I knew I had to witness its luxurious, period-piece spectacle one more time, so for the very last day it was open, I made lunch reservations in the hotel’s restaurant, a space that offers the same stunning design and…