Raven Jake Dawes

Have a Homebrew!

Y'all know from previous posts that Jane and I've been known to brew some mead. Most of it's come from our own hive too. Beer? Well, not so much. Did a batch for our wedding and that was the end of that. Seemed pretty complicated Besides that, our closest homebrew supplier, the Home, Wine, Beer and Cheesemaking Shop is an hour away. We love the Maltose Falcons, but it isn't exactly around the corner.

So we got pretty excited to find out that Culver City Home Brewing Supply had opened a new satelite in Eagle Rock. Decided to take a class. 

Here's the next one:

Eagle Rock, September 25th, 5pm-8pm - Beginning Home Brewing Class
Our next beginner's brew class will be on the 4th Sunday of the month, September 25th, from 5pm-8pm. Enrollment will open September 12th. Once you've signed up, be sure to get here by 5:00. You can see just what is involved in the process before you commit to purchasing your own brewing equipment. If you want to learn more, feel free to check out our How to Brew section for resources and tips on home brewing. Class participationcosts $10, $5 of which you can apply towards the purchase of one of our beginner's equipment kits later that night.

Thomas really just lays it out there - here's a regular guy with regular equipment and regular ingredients making a batch of beer in three hours (pretty much right on the dot.) In the meantime, he's telling stories, passing out some of his homebrew, and showin' folks how it's done. I think I'm goin' to the next one too. Thomas says he's doin' a dark batch for Christmas - our class got Pumpkin Ale (which smelled like liquid Thanksgiving).

So, we bought a bunch of beer fixin's (Jane's Uncle Doug gifted us with a bunch of equipment) and we're going to try a porter in the next few days. More on that comin' up. By the way, you can legally brew 100 gallons per adult in your household. More than that and you've gotta pay taxes. 'Course more than that and you might consider checking into a treatment program.

 

Culinary Historians and Homebrew this Weekend

Folks, I'm back at school and by rights I ought to be studying my butt off with no side distractions whatsoever. And I'd be stickin' to that plan too, except now we're gettin' into the time of the year when stuff gets interesting. Real interesting.

For starters, SoCal Culinary Historian Charles Perry switched up his Saturday talk. Instead of Spanish BBQ, he's goin' for the rise of the restaurant.   Here's the skinny on that one:

Dinner in the Exploding City

Saturday, September 10th, 2011 – 10:30 AM at the Los Angeles Public Library

Mark Taper Auditorium, Downtown Central Library, 630 W. 5th St.

Free and open to the public

Charles Perry presents…

“Dinner in the Exploding City: Los Angeles Restaurants 1830-1930″

Before the famous Hollywood restaurants of the 1930s, there was a restaurant scene in Los Angeles – in fact, a swift series of scenes, from tamales around the old Plaza and French restaurants in adobes to the Croatian-owned places of the 1870s and 1880s. In the 1890s there were temples of haute cuisine, 24-hour diners and Japanese-owned 10-cent dinner houses, and in the 1900s, L.A. spawned the cafeteria and the theme restaurant. Every decade seemed to forget the previous one … a pattern that has continued.

Charles Perry is a fourth-generation Southern Californian. After (or despite) majoring in Middle Eastern Languages at UC Berkeley, he was an editor at Rolling Stone Magazine from 1968 to 1976. In 1978 he returned to Los Angeles as a food writer and worked in the L.A. Times Food Section from 1990 to 2008. He is the president and a co-founder of the Culinary Historians of Southern California.

 Programs, except where noted, are 10:30 a.m. at the Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library, 630 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles 90071-2002. For more information, please call (213) 228-7241. Parking at the Central Library on Saturday and Sunday is $1.00 during library hours at 524 S. Flower St., with a library card and validation from the Information Desk in the library. Library cards are free.

Programs are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.

You do need to bring an id to get your library card, but an LA City Library card, besides the fact that you can use it at a bunch of locations, also gives you access to a bunch of internet resources. Well worth having.

And then I'm going to study for the next 30 hours straight.

Now some time back, Jane's Uncle Doug gifted us with a bunch of brewing equipment. We've made mead of course, and some beer, but we could really use a refresher course. Our primary brew shop is the Home Wine Beer and Cheesemaking Shop in Woodland Hills, home to the Cellar Masters and the Maltose Falcons. But it's kind of a haul to get out there. So we signed up for a new place that just opened in Eagle Rock for a Sunday evening class. If all goes well, there'll be a post on that soon. If all goes badly, there'll be a post on that soon.

Big Plans for L.A.'s 230th Birthday

Folks, it's L.A.'s 230th and the San Gabriel Mission's 240th this weekend. We got over to the mission last night just in time for the bell ringing, but there is a full-blown fiesta in effect with food and carnival rides and the whole works.

The San Gabriel Historical Association Museum will be open on Saturday, Sept. 3rd. 1:00-4:00. They just received a copy of an oral history of Eulalia Perez de Guillen Marine, and Helen Salazar let us take a sneak peak at it last night. It's a copy of the 1957 typed English translation, and it's in Eulalia's section of the museum. This one's got a little extra info in it, maybe things that other people don't think are as important - a little anecdote about buried treasure, and some funny little songs she sang to Thomas Savage when he interviewed her. If you ask me, that's the best part. Here's the address of the museum - I'm fixing to meet up with some of the Old Spanish Trail Association Rancho Chapter around 1, then headin' out to the mission.
546 W. Broadway, San Gabriel, Ca. 91776, Museum phone (626) 308-3223 

The mission website is down with a virus, but they've got a jam-packed schedule over the weekend. I'm hoping to catch the blessing of the kids and animals at 1:45. If y'all have a particularly cute llama or offspring, or just one that's in dire need of being blessed, you ought to haul it on down there today. The mission staff is very accommodating and can handle a blessing in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, and they've got support staff that can bless in Chinese, if that's the language your Pekingese understands the best. They even have a super-tall priest, if you're bringin' a giraffe. (Sadly, that ain't me - this year. But it's on my list)

I heard that there's a Tongva tour of the mission grounds at 2, and John Fantz, docent extrordinare, is telling a mission story at 5. So there's something for everybody. After 5 we've got to clear out, 'cause Capt. Tim Ream is heading back up to Oregon and we'll need to swing by Lucky Baldwin's to see him off. There's a bunch of stuff goin' on in the Pueblo too, if that's where you'd rather celebrate. Come by and say "hi!"  - I'm wearin' my red Scully gambler shirt, so you can't miss me!

LA County Fair Coming Up Sept 3 - Oct 2, 2011

In keeping with my resolution to try to promote some events before they actually happen, LA County Fair's coming up. Now I've got to admit, I haven't really been over the moon about the fair for a while, so we'll see how this one goes. I like the animals and the more "country" aspects - the 4H kids etc. Don't much care for the "as seen on tv" product demonstrations, shows featuring the bands of the '70s, and spin-til-you-barf carnival rides. Now I know for a fact that Los Angeles County still has some agricultural soul left, but can we still hold a decent fair? I'm ready to be impressed, LA...

Tom Yum Kai ต้มยำ

Just got back from NorCal  - doin' a drumming event with Fakir Musafar and havin' some adventures. More on that later. First, time for lunch. Haven't been to Marnee Thai on Irving Street since the '90s. Pleased to say it's still there, and it's still the best Thai food in San Francisco, although if you disagree I'm open to "convincing." Case in point, spicy chicken soup aka tom yum kai. Delicious. Great for a chilly evening after hangin' out at the Academy of Sciences all day. People of Thailand, thanks for all the great grub. And if you happen to be in the vicinity of Golden Gate Park, head down 19th for some fantastic Thai food.

Culinary Historians of So Cal Events

Folks, I wanted to take a second to promote a couple of things the Culinary Historians of Southern California have coming up - one is their big fundraiser used cookbook sale

Sun, August 21, 8am – 4pm at the Hollywood farmers’ market

map They're starting at 8 and going til they run out of books, so show up early.

Charles Perry on L.A.’s 230th birthday

Sat, September 10, 10:30am – 12:00pm

Barbara Ghazarian on "Simply Quince" (Armenian food)

Sat, October 8, 10:30am – 12:00pm

Kirstin Olsen on 18-19th century England

Sat, November 12, 2011, 10:30am – 12:00pm

To Be Announced

Sat, December 10, 2011, 10:30am – 12:00pm

Programs, except where noted, are 10:30 a.m. at the Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library, 630 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles 90071-2002. For more information, please call (213) 228-7241. Parking at the Central Library on Saturday and Sunday is $1.00 during library hours at 524 S. Flower St., with a library card and validation from the Information Desk in the library. Library cards are free.

Programs are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.

You do need to bring an id to get your library card, but an LA City Library card, besides the fact that you can use it at a bunch of locations, also gives you access to a bunch of internet resources. Well worth having.

Charles Perry at the Arboretum June 26 - POSTPONED

 Unfortunately, folks, this one has been postponed 'til fall:

 
Now one of my resolutions for the summer is to get a little more proactive about posting and maybe promote some events before they happen instead of writing about it months after. Case in point: The Californio barbecue thing.

So Charles Perry has another event coming up, that I'm sure will be of interest to a few people reading this blog, and that's "Of Beer and Baseball with Charles Perry," at the LA County Arboretum on Sunday, June 26.

Here's the skinny:

A lecture by Charles perry followed by a tasting of several craft brews from local breweries, among them Craftsman Brewing Company and Eagle Rock Brewery.

When: Sunday June 26, 2011 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Cost: $25 for members/$30 for non-members

In 1850, Los Angeles was a wine-drinking Spanish pueblo, but as Yankees filtered in, they soon started breweries, despite the lack of ice or cool caves for aging lager. By the end of the century a thirsty, fast-growing city had made Bavarian immigrant Joseph Maier one of its leading citizens. The Maier family promoted public entertainments, above all baseball – Eddie Maier pitched for numerous local teams before taking the helm at Maier Brewing in 1909 and organized his own Pacific League team, the ultimate ancestor of the Hollywood Stars of 1938-’58.

Along the way, Eddie lived life on the grand scale, organizing car races that set world records and throwing barbecues for 4,000 at a time at his Simi Valley ranch. The Maier Brewery closed in 1974, but the 101 Freeway still makes a jog just east of Alameda Street, where the brewery stood when the freeway was built.

Charles Perry is the president of the Culinary Historians. He has written and spoken widely on food history and is the co-author of Medieval Arab Cookery and Spuds, Truffles and Wild Gnocchi: The Patina Cookbook, and the author of The Haight-Ashbury: A History.


To register please call 625.821.4623

 

Charles Perry's Californio BBQ

Now in the previous post, I mentioned that  last week we went up to the Old Spanish Trail Association's annual conference, and that one of the presenters who really caught my imagination was a fellow named Charles Perry, President of the Culinary Historians of Southern California who gave a talk, "Cuisines along the Trail: Beef, Mutton & Game," but it really focused on the history of barbecue, in particular the old-fashioned pit roasting method. So here's some more about that.

No no one roasts a whole cow underground any more because it takes forever, it's expensive and labor-intensive, but that didn't even slow Charles down. He got one going at the ol' Palomares adobe (they have a pre-dug pit with a giant pipe sunk in the ground to make it slightly easier) and started the 24-hour process.

Now back in the day, the head was considered a pretty fine delicacy and not just somethin' to grind into sausage. Fact is that in my own personal life I don't really eat a lot of meat, but I considered this a worthy experiment. I ain't eating a puppy to find out if it really does taste like lamb, and I didn't eat cow face either. That sucker was frozen like an iceberg and Charles ended up not cooking it for fear that the rest of the meat wouldn't get done. So that's just somethin' that'll have to wait for another day. Or maybe not. I'll leave it to fate.

So there's a lot involved in doing this kinda cookout, and this was the old authentic style without any of those modern touches that might be a temptation nowadays. Charles marinated the meat in red wine vinegar, popped it into muslin bags and then put those in water-soaked burlap sacks. The meat went on a rack on top of the coals, a lid went on the pipe (to keep the whole process cleaner) and then dirt was shoveled on top of everything.

Cook for 18 hours or so then git the shovels, it's time to eat.

Final result? Interesting.  The meat is  fall-off-the-bone tender. There's no burned charcoal flavor that we're used to with barbecued steaks. In fact, the meat is so mild that it really doesn't have a lot of flavor, period, which might have been the point on the old ranchos - "this meat is so fresh you can barely taste it,"sort of thing. And of course, tastes change over time. Excellent when formatted as a taco or burrito with a nice salsa. Probably even better with a more flavorful sort of meat like goat or venison.

I think that a more aggressive marinade might be in order, but then we're talkin' about one of those modern modifications that didn't really fit with the muy authentico theme of the event. Indeed, I hope that we don't have to do a trapper meal of pemmican and a rock-hard biscuit at the next OSTA conference just to get the point that sourdough was a great invention.

So I'm not diggin' a pit in the back yard, which will probably save a lot of strife with my landlord, but I am thinkin' that Spanish Colonial-style barbecue could probably be simulated in a slow cooker. It doesn't have the thrill and the romance of course, but then again, how often am I cooking for 100 of my closest friends and household staff? So a big shout out to Charles Perry and the Culinary Historians of Southern California for an unforgettable (and darn near un-replicable) dinner. I'll be following up with more of their events in the future.

A Mission BBQ of the 1830s

Y'all, last week we went up to the Old Spanish Trail Association's annual conference, which was a blast and I'll be posting some entries regarding same in pretty short order. Now one of the presenters who really caught my imagination was a fellow named Charles Perry, President of the Culinary Historians of Southern California who gave a talk, "Cuisines along the Trail: Beef, Mutton & Game," but it really focused on the history of barbecue, in particular the old-fashioned pit roasting method.

These days, no one roasts a whole cow underground any more because it's slow, expensive and labor-intensive, but that didn't even slow Charles down. He got one going at the ol' Palomares adobe and I'll be posting about that next, for it really was quite spectacular.

BUT - all that talk about pit barbecue got Jane reminiscing about one of Hugo Reid's letters. Now Hugo was a Scottish sailor who jumped ship in L.A. back in 1832, and married a Tongva woman called Victoria, who was one of Dona Eulalia's favorite proteges. They ended up with the Rancho Santa Anita grant (originally called Rancho Huerta de Cuati), which became Arcadia and some of the surrounding area. In 1852, right before he died, he wrote a bunch of letters to the Los Angeles Star, LA's first newspaper (which was bi-lingual) about the missions and Tongva/Gabrielino culture.

So this was a letter written in 1852 about a mission barbeque, which was probably held in the late 1820s or early 1830s. For reasons that will become obvious, it was a memorable occasion. This isn't for the squeamish.

Hugo Reid's Letter # 20

Better Times

The Padre Jose Bernardo Sanchez had, for some time previous, been a colleague of Salvedeas [Zalvidea] but attended only to matters connected with the church. On the translation of Padre Jose Mariato San Juan, he became his successor. He was of cheerful disposition, frank and generous in his nature, although at times he lost his temper with the strange, unruly set around him.

He was a great sportsman and capital shot, both with rifle and fowling piece. Although no one could complain of Salvedea, in regard to his kind treatment, still there was a certain restraint in his presence, arising from his austerity and pensiveness, which even custom did not erase from the mind. Padre Sanchez was different; his temper was governed according to circumstances. In Ecclesiastical affairs, his deportment was solemn; in trade he was formal; in the government of the Mission, active, lively and strict; in social intercourse he was friendly, full of anecdote, fond of a joke, even to a practical one. Picnic parties were of weekly occurrence and generally held at the Mill, when, independent of a yearling heifer baked under ground, many other good things reigned on the table.

I cannot refrain from relating an anecdote connected with those parties of pleasure, as it shows the relish the old man had for anything ludicrous. A few of the actors are still alive, but the greater part have been gathered with the Padre, to the dust they sprang from.

Don J. M. M., an old Spaniard, who had large commercial relations with the Mission, having a negro cook, called Francisco, who was science itself in all relating to the kitchen, the Priest and M. made up a plan to carry out a joke at the expense of their guests. So having procured a fine fat little puppy, he was stuffed and roasted in a manner that would have tempted the most fastidious epicure to “cut and come again.” This was brought on as a last course under the name of lamb, with an excellent salad to correspond.

All eat of it and praised it much, with the exception of the two concerned in the joke. -- After concluding with a glass of wine, the old man enquired of his guests how they relished the Dog? No one would believe it, until the negro made his appearance with the head and paws on a plate.Then a mixed scene ensued, which brought tears into the old man's eyes, while he nearly killed himself with laughter.

All, of course, were squeamish, but while the quiet portion retired to ease themselves, in discharging the detested food, the pugnacious remained to fight M. first, and do the other afterward. The Padre eventually procured harmony, but for many a day after, roast lamb and salad were viewed with suspicion by the former partakers of his cheer.

Raven Jake at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire

On Saturday, we took a little trip on over to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire which,  unfortunately, ended today. I'll make it a point to get over there earlier next season, which generally translates to April - May.

Over to the right, I'm in the stocks. Someone else got "naughty" as their crime description - I got the second best, Pig Thief. Know what? I didn't see your name on it, friend.

I haven't actually been to the Faire in years, and I'm pleased to see that it's grown a bunch. And ladies, there's nothing wrong with being a healthy mammal, so go ahead and flaunt it. I will be offering my quiet support.

Over here on the left, we have the Poxy Boggards, one of my favorite "specialty bands" - actually, they self-describe as a "drinking band with a singing problem," and that sums it up pretty neatly. Just in case you're not hearing all the innuendo and off- color references, there is a sign language interpreter to the left of the stage to illustrate all the lyrics in vivid detail. Yes, they have a PG-rated act as well, but we were short of time and ended up in the NC-17 area. Just in case you were under the impression that life was boring in the 1500s - it wasn't. Read Chaucer.

Also on my exciting firsts list - jousting.

That stunt crew surely earns it, what ever "it" is. Knights in full armor knock each other off their mounts, then have at it with a variety of medieval weapons. The fact that no one has been brained with a morningstar is rather amazing, all things considered.

Of course, there's the shopping and the beer, the leering and the educational displays and the Queen and the historical reenactors.

So there's something for everybody. The dress code is pretty darned eclectic too. Got your hard-core Renaissance realists, the steampunks, the retro-goths, the pirates, the faeries, the barbarians, and some looks that just defy genre. So come as you are or want to be, and have a good time.