Happy Birthday–January 25

Danny Richardson (1863)
Les Nunamaker (1889)
Kenichi Zenimura (1900)
Ernie Harwell (1918)
Bill Lucas (1936)
Jake O’Donnell (1939)
Wally Bunker (1945)
Vern Ruhle (1951)
Kerry Taylor (1971)
Dan Serafini (1974)

Better known as an NBA referee, Jake O’Donnell was an American League umpire from 1969-1972.  He is the only person to have officiated both an NBA all-star game and a major league baseball all-star game.

Kenichi Zenimura was a long-time player and manager in Japan as well as an ambassador of the game of baseball.  He helped organize Babe Ruth's tour of Japan in 1934 and is known as the Father of Japanese Baseball.

Ernie Harwell was a major league baseball broadcaster from 1948-1991 and 1993-2002, mostly for the Detroit Tigers.

Bill Lucas was the first African-American general manager, holding the position for the Atlanta Braves from 1976-1979.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 25

Taking It To The Limit Cassoulet

In the interest of expanding my waistline and hardening my arteries, I decided I would take a swing at making cassoulet, inspired by a recent NYT recipe. (as it happens, this is a topic that the NYT returns to again and again and again and again and again; apparently, they really want their readers to make cassoulet).

anyway, I had already purchased the ham hocks with a vague plan to make either split pea soup or navy bean soup, so I was part way there. I picked up a package of chicken legs (to make confit), a turnip, rutabaga, small can of tomato paste, a bucket o' lard, and a bag of Great Northern beans. The rest, I had on hand.

Chicken confit in process.

Step one was the confit.

I rubbed the chicken legs with a spice mixture vaguely in line with the recipe (ground cardamom, ground coriander, ground clove, ground nutmeg, paprika, cayenne, salt; I forgot the white pepper and the ground ginger) and settled them into my cast iron dutch oven (in which I'd melted about 2 lbs of lard) along with an unpeeled, whole head of garlic, a sprig of rosemary from the garden, and a few bay leaves. I had to top off with about a cup of olive oil because I had so many chicken legs (about 4 lbs worth).
This is a great technique, well worth trying. The chicken came out succulent and delicious, and I now have a quart of nicely flavored lard for frying potatoes and such. Also, the confit-ed garlic is the bomb.

Beans for cassoulet

Step two was to par-cook the beans.

I soaked them for an hour or so in 5 cups of water (brought to boil, then shut off) along with the ham hocks, which I didn't have room to confit the day before. I then added about three more cups of water, brought the pot back to a boil and lowered to a simmer. After skimming several times, I added a pinch of red pepper flakes, a half-tsp of white pepper (trying to make up for forgetting it with the confit), a half-tsp of dried thyme, a tsp of kosher salt, a couple of bay leaves, and 4-5 smushed cloves of garlic. I let this cook for about 45 minutes, until the beans were mostly done. I then removed the hocks and poured off almost all of the liquid and reserved it separately from the beans.

Sweated veggies for cassoulet

Step three was to render the bacon, brown the sausages, and sweat the veggies.

I rough-chopped about three strips of thick bacon and browned it in the cast iron pot, then browned the sausages (truth be told, I forgot this step and had to pause half-way through the sweat to do it). I then added, in large-ish dice, an onion, a couple ribs of celery, about 2/3 cup carrot, a medium turnip, a small rutabaga, a sprig of rosemary and about five cloves garlic (rough chopped). After these were fairly soft, I added a couple tbs of tomato paste, the beans, the garlic confit, and stirred in about 3 cups of the reserved bean water.

Meats (ham hock, bacon, garlic sausages, chicken confit) for cassoulet.

Lastly, I added a bit of the reserved gelatin from the confit-ed chicken and layered on the meats. A lot of meats.

This is not a low-calorie dish.

Into the oven at 350 for 45 minutes covered, then 20 minutes uncovered and, lastly, I cranked the heat to 425, turned on the convection fan, and let it go another 20 minutes.
The finished product.

It smells great, but looks a little wet. This recipe mocked the use of bread crumbs for the topping, so I left them out.

Post-prandial assessment: It was really good. A bit wetter than I wanted, but excellent flavor and richness. The mouthfeel was not fatty, so the Mrs. did not get grossed out. The beans were creamy, the broth flavorful (could have used even more garlic!), and the meats were meaty. It was a really, really, really good, fancy bean soup/stew. Maybe a lot of work for the result, but fun to try.

1965 Rewind: Game One Hundred Ten

MINNESOTA 9, BOSTON 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, August 7.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fifteenth) a stolen base (his fifteenth) and two runs.  Jimmie Hall was 2-for-4 with a triple, scoring twice and driving in one.  Jerry Kindall was 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI.

Pitching star:  Mudcat Grant pitched a complete game, giving up four runs on nine hits and four walks with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Frank Malzone was 3-for-4 with a double and a run.  Felix Mantilla was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fifteenth) and a walk.  Lee Thomas was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run.

The game:  Each team scored once in the first, with the Twins run coming on a Versalles homer.  It stayed 1-1 until the fourth, when Don Mincher's two-run homer capped a three-run inning that put the Twins up 4-1.  Hall hit an RBI triple and later scored in a three-run fifth that made it 7-1.  Solo homers by Carl Yastrzemski in the sixth and Mantilla in the eighth cut the lead to 7-3, but that Twins scored two more in the bottom of the eighth to put to bed any thoughts of a Red Sox comeback.

Of note:  Tony Oliva was 0-for-2 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one.  Bob Allison was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

Record:  The win made the Twins 71-39.  Baltimore once again lost to last-place Kansas City, this time 7-4, so the Twins lead increased to 7.5 games.

Notes:  Hall's average went up to .306, while Oliva fell to .301...Harmon Killebrew sat out a second consecutive game, with Mincher again at first and Rich Rollins at third.  He would not return until September 21...Jerry Zimmerman started the game, but was removed for Earl Battey in the third inning.  If he was injured it was nothing serious, as he played again a few days later.

Happy Birthday–January 24

Dave Brain (1879)
Pinch Thomas (1888)
Cliff Heathcote (1898)
Flint Rhem (1901)
Jean Yawkey (1909)
Johnny Dickshot (1910)
Ray Kelly (1914)
Jack Brickhouse (1916)
Walter Haas (1916)
Dick Stigman (1936)
Sandy Valdespino (1939)
Jumbo Ozaki (1947)
Tim Stoddard (1953)
Atlee Hammaker (1958)
Neil Allen (1958)
Rob Dibble (1964)
Scott Kazmir (1984)

Jean Yawkey was the wife of Tom Yawkey and was owner of the Boston Red Sox from 1978 until her death in 1992.

Ray Kelly was a baseball writer in Philadelphia for fifty years.

Jack Brickhouse was a broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs from 1948-1981.

Walter Haas was the owner of the Oakland Athletics from 1980 until his death in 1995.

Better known as a professional golfer, Jumbo Ozaki played professional baseball in Japan for three seasons, pitching for two seasons and playing outfield for one.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 24

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.