A number of articles have come out of late that I just couldn’t resist posting about. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

  • I was excited last week to see Tim Carman, who recently moved from the Washington City Paper to replace Jane Black in the Washington Post food section, write about modern twists on pho in the DC area. Included in the piece is Ba Bay, a French-influenced Vietnamese restaurant that recently opened in my neighborhood and that I’ve been meaning to try. The menu looks really intriguing, with dishes like roseda farm shaky beef, lemongrass pot de creme, and the controversial already composed pho bowl with sous vide beef slices.
  • This week, the New York Times ran a piece by Julia Moskin on hand-pulled noodles at various restaurants in New York City. I have to confess that I’ve attempted noodle-making several times since I’ve returned from China, with no luck whatsoever. The flour here seems to be quite different, and I’ve heard that mixing in some bread cake flour may help with that. With Chinese New Year coming up, I may just give it another try next week.
  • And, as if I don’t already have enough on my plate in 2011, with a blog name like Meat Loves Salt, I feel like at least one of us is required to jump on the Charcutepalooza wagon, which I just discovered through the Washington Post article on DIY meat. I live in fairly cramped quarters, with less-than-normal-size appliances in a pretty pitiful kitchen that required some remodeling to be functional. I don’t have a dining table or even counter space for my knife block (which is now in storage), much less somewhere to hang a chunk of meat. We also have trouble with temperature control. But if there is one of my favorite things in the whole world, along with cheese and noodles, it is cured meats. I already missed the first Charcutepalooza challenge, but the project is quite flexible — cook along as often as you want, projects that don’t involve hanging meat, and open even to non-bloggers. (If you do do all twelve challenges, though, you’re eligible for the grand prize: a trip to France to learn about charcuterie. And though the challenges are technically due to be posted the 15th of each month, the site seems to mention you having a little more time to get your post up since the roundup isn’t posted until the 30th of the month. Not sure about that one.) January’s challenge was to make duck prosciutto. February’s apprentice challenge is to make bacon; the charcuterie challenge is to make pancetta or guanciale; and the vegetarian challenge is to cure salmon or make preserved lemons. Complete rules are here.