Urban Belly and a Detour

After Hot Doug's, we made our way back to the el stop via a path that would take us by Urban Belly. But then we came upon Carniceria Guanajuato and had to swing in. Why, by the way, is there a big Mexican community in Chicago? One would think that somewhere warmer would be a whole lot more comfortable?

Bastard Consultant and I immediately gravitated towards the aquarium displays of crispy fried chicharrone. But what really made us swoon was something that I don't have a picture for. It is pig's skin that has been slowly cooked until the tough ingredient has become gelatinous, sticky, and infused with the cooking broth.

It is: God Crack. Seriously. Every time a bit of the heavenly substance touched my lips, my eyes widened in wonder. God. How can something taste so amazing before one has even started chewing. Just from the moment it hits your tongue. God Crack.

God Crack that we ate huddled in the doorway of a closed real estate agent's office. Because it was cold. 40 degrees cold. Even though it was May. I swear, if it weren't some of these recent food finds, I'd be seriously depressed about this town.

After we had had our fill of surprise Mexican market delights, we made our way to Urban Belly, where we got the Asian Squash & Bacon dumplings, which though a touch too sweet, are pretty good overall.

The real reason why I wanted to come was to check out the Rice Noodle with hominy, kimchee and spicy pork broth. I had previously tried the Urbanbelly Ramen and been none too impressed. But Art Smith had gone on and one about the Rice Noodles in The Best Thing I Ever Ate.

Okay, this is a lot better than the Urbanbelly Ramen. The broth is fantastic, though the need for the hominy was debated amongst the Bastard Consultant and the Pesky Pescatarian. I like it well enough, though I guess it's not utterly critical.

Carniceria Guanajuato, 3140 N. California Ave., Chicago, IL

Urban Belly, 3053 N. California Ave., Chicago, IL

Hot Doug's

My NYC friends descended upon the Windy City to do some serious chowing down. Hello, Bastard Consultant, Dr. Consultant, and Pesky Pescatarian.

Pesky Pescatarian, I'll call her PP for now, was mildly useless at Hot Doug's. Luckily the two C's can pull their weight, and we allocated 2 dogs a person plus one to serve as ballast for our food-crawling ship.

Wow, what a supremely crap sentence that was.

I got pretty gosh darn excited looking at the piles of links behind the counter.

BTW, I recently found out that one of my classmates thought I was attracted to him when we first met because there was always a sparkle in my eye and excitement in my voice when we spoke. It stood out because he generally perceived my energy levels to be on the low side of things. (What can I say, we usually saw each other at big sports bars, which I do not dig.)

Well, needless to say, over time, he realized that said flutter in my voice was due to the fact that we were always talking about food. And much as I think the fellow is a decent dude. Let me just say now that I think it was best for both of us that said fellow was able to come to the proper interpretation of our social interactions before he decided that it would be worthy of further inquiry. Because that could have made for some supremely awkward moments!

Anyways, back to more important matters at hand. Doesn't a site such as this put a dimple of joy in your heart?

The foie dog. The dog that helped Hot Doug's wage the foie wars. A dog to be handled with respect, anticipation, and general efforts to not drool and make more of a fool of oneself than usual.

Us three meat eaters cut the dogs into three pieces each, so all go to sample everything. I think this is the Corned Beef Sausage with Horseradish Mustard, Chicken Liver Mousse and Hickory Smoked Sweet Swiss Cheese.

It was 40 degrees in May while we waited outside, and I was feeling pretty curmudgeonly by the time we rolled in. It helps to have a table covered with dogs to make the bitterness go away.

Bacon and Jalapeno Duck Sausage with Blood Orange Dijonnaise and Goat Cheese. This dog could use some further tweaking, as I couldn't pick up the blood orange flavor nor much of the Jalapeno.

Saussicon Alsacienne.

We made the mistake of arriving 15 minutes after opening on a Saturday morning for our dogs. By then, the line already snaked down the block. Who knew that on a 40 degree Saturday morning, that there would be a line snacking down the block for hot dogs?

A standard Chicago dog. Remember, this was our ballast.

Okay. Hot Doug's uses different buns for different dogs , and the bun on this one was nice and soft. PP got the vegetarian version and she had one of the thicker buns, which really did not sit well with her. What is up with that? Slap a soft bun on that dog!

Duck fat fries, that the Bastard Consultant claims he has waited years to order. These are tasty fries, but not so redolent of ducky goodness that one needs to wait an hour in the bloody cold in freaking May for them. I think Sam had it right when he took me on a regular weekday to go. Oh yes, milk that grad student status to bypass the hungry hoards!

I think this is the Swiss Cheese Smoked Knockwurst with Chili-Garlic Mustard and Smoked Gouda. Good job on the Smoked Gouda, it had a really strong punch.

This. This was easily the best dog of the day. Alligator Sausage with Shrimp Remoulade and Irish Whisky Cheese. Very juicy, it was an incredible incredible experience.

Hot Doug's, 3324 North California, Chicago, IL

Duck Confit Part 2

The Duck Confit Collective met again a few weeks later, after the duck legs had had sufficient time to cure. We met on a snowy day that was perfect cassoulet weather.

Once again Sam did a better job of posting about this event. I went pickle-crazy and pickled several types, as I anticipated it would be nice to have something with a sour note to cut what would otherwise be an extremely gluttonous spread.

A soy-based jalapeno pickle.

Threw in a few coriander seeds for this carrot radish pickle with rice vinegar and white vinegar.

This daikon pickle tasted bitter to me. I love these daikon pickles at Korean restaurants, so I really want to learn how to get the recipe right.

Homemade sausage for the cassoulet. I want a KitchenAid with a meat grinder attachment too.

Duck prosciutto - traditional blend. For more on the making, go here at Sam and Abby's blog.

This is the one with the five spice blend. I could not get enough of this. Super fatty and salty, I revisted the prosciutto spread again and again.

Duck cassoulet ready to simmer.

Shredded duck confit for a pizza and for some Chines-style buns.

Prepped pizza with fig spread, shredded duck confit, and slices of Morbier cheese.

All burners on Sam's stove were going full force.

The finished pizza. Ain't it beeeeautiful?

Accompaniments for the Chinese buns. I sliced these. Aren't I a good slicer?

Beets and beet greens. Someone wanted these beets to go in the duck confit frisee salad. I am very very glad that he lost that battle. Beets are all very fine and well, but one need not meld all great things in life.

The finished cassoulet. This is a stick to your ribs, heavy-hitter of a dish.

Duck confit risotto. A lot of it. One easily forgets how much rice expands in liquid. I know I do every single time I make risotto.

The whole spread. Ah, the joy to sit down and see the following sight. It's usually at this point that I make a note of how much of my belly is straining against my jeans and make a not-so-subtle fit adjustment: stand up, grab waistband, shimmy bottom, sit back down.

And the first thing I got to try was this duck confit frisee salad with duck fat croutons and poached duck egg. The fantastic thing about poaching duck eggs instead of chicken eggs, is the significantly larger yolk. Gotta love the runny yolk!

Delightful Pastries

Also way back when, I went to Delightful Pastries to learn how to make Paczki. No, those aren't Paczki, that's just a sampling of some of Delightful Pastries' fare.

The staff hard at work.

First we made some angel wings. We cut the dough with this nifty antique-looking contraption. I want it. Not that I plan on ever making angel wings again.

We cut slits into each rectangle so we could fold over the pastry to make the "wings."

I like industrial-sized baking ware.

Okay the angel wings are ready to go into the giant fryer.

Stand back!!!

Once they turn golden brown on one side, it's time to quickly flip them over with some long chopsticks.

Dusted with some powdered sugar, they are ready for your belly!

Now onto the paczki which have been proofing until they are big beautiful airy balls.

And into the fryers these suckers go.

A quick slice.

Oh yes, let's watch them fry. (Is it sad that I'm not really writing, but just noting down some super crap captions? Well, this is what happens when there is picture overload.)

Okay, back to the fried paczki. Let's sweeten them up!

I seriously dig this jelly donut filling machine. The conical thing is filled with jelly.

Jam in the paczki, and the jam shoots in.

Glazed and topped with candied orange.

We each got to take a box home. Except I don't really like sweets. So I kind of didn't know what to do with them as they piled up in the fridge.

Delightful Pastries, 5927 West Lawrence, Chicago, IL