# Favorite Specialty Food Items



## mr drinky (Jun 17, 2011)

I've been trying some specialty food items lately that I have grown fond of:

* Preserved Meyer Lemons. I've gone through two jars in two months.
* Ortiz Bonito Canned Tuna from Spain. I have a subscription off of Amazon, and they send it ever couple months.
* I also picked up some interesting spices at Williams-Sonoma (meyer lemon peel, blood red orange peel, ras el hanout, sumac, zahtar, and french lavender). Can't find those in my neck of the woods.
* And lastly I just found online Pommery Green Peppercorn mustard from France. I used to get this all the time in Europe and can't wait until it gets here. 

k.


----------



## apicius9 (Jun 17, 2011)

This one made me laugh, I could have written that same thing. Finding Meyer lemons (well, finding out first when they are in season) to salt them is one of my planned summer projects, as is canning some tuna because I can't affort the Spanish tuna in larger quantities from La Tienda - and Amazon doesn't ship food items to HI. I would love to get a whole tuna to take it apart but still feel a bit intimidated, would prefer to do it together with a pro first - maybe I should ask Morimoto who hangs around in Waikiki often  

And green pepper or tarragon mustard are among my favorite things. Oh, and I just bought some sumac and have no idea what to do with it...

Other than that, I need to stock up on a few basics, good olive oil, a few vinegars etc. Running low on salted capers, I have to see where I get those. No anchovies in the house, squid ink of undefinite age needs to be replaced, low on dried morel mushrooms etc. I also wanted to stock the freezer a bit, was thinking about ravioli with braised oxtail, soup dumplings, sauce bolognese etc - things a working guy can fall back on instead of getting take out stuff... 

What worries me a bit is that I have all these plans and it's mid-June already. Summer just flies by, it seems...


----------



## ecchef (Jun 17, 2011)

Uni. Followed closely by good Spanish lomo.


----------



## MadMel (Jun 17, 2011)

Echire Butter, it's expensive and quite hard to find here. Next would be cheese.


----------



## Craig (Jun 17, 2011)

The latest in a never-ending series of these for me has been Cuban honey. I'm still trying to put my finger on what the flavour is in it. Some kind of citrus or clove or something. I'll tire of it eventually, but it was well worth the buck I paid for a jar.


----------



## mhlee (Jun 17, 2011)

apicius9 said:


> This one made me laugh, I could have written that same thing. Finding Meyer lemons (well, finding out first when they are in season) to salt them is one of my planned summer projects, as is canning some tuna because I can't affort the Spanish tuna in larger quantities from La Tienda - and Amazon doesn't ship food items to HI. I would love to get a whole tuna to take it apart but still feel a bit intimidated, would prefer to do it together with a pro first - maybe I should ask Morimoto who hangs around in Waikiki often
> 
> And green pepper or tarragon mustard are among my favorite things. Oh, and I just bought some sumac and have no idea what to do with it...
> 
> ...


 
Stefan:

If you can find someone who has a mature Meyer lemon tree, they may have fruit throughout the year. However, generally speaking, like most citrus, Meyer lemons are a winter fruit.


----------



## mr drinky (Jun 17, 2011)

MadMel said:


> Echire Butter, it's expensive and quite hard to find here. Next would be cheese.



I'm heading to Paris in August for a few days, and I am hoping to bring back some beurre bordier. 

http://www.lebeurrebordier.com/les-beurres-bordier.php

And I also recently bought a 2-3 year old meyer lemon tree. I'll see how much fruit I can get. 

k.


----------



## Line cooked (Jun 17, 2011)

While you are talking about citrus I am a big fan of KALAMANSI or CALAMONDIN. It is difficult to find fresh in N. East but thera are some concentrates availabe. It is a nice sour component for dressing up things and excellent in cocktails.


----------



## DwarvenChef (Jun 17, 2011)

After cutting Bacon out of my regular diet and making it a special treat now and again.... I have been searching out different makers to tryout. Currently working through the non-nitrite/nitrate ones I find in the 1 lb amounts I'll cut them in half and wrap them up 3 pieces at a time and freeze em. Keeps me from getting to crazy with it.


----------



## mr drinky (Jun 17, 2011)

Line cooked said:


> While you are talking about citrus I am a big fan of KALAMANSI or CALAMONDIN. It is difficult to find fresh in N. East but thera are some concentrates availabe. It is a nice sour component for dressing up things and excellent in cocktails.



That is good to know. With my meyer lemon tree I also bought a calamondin tree and it has a crazy amount of fruit growing on it right now (easily 100+). When they turn ripe, I might try to preserve some calamondins. And when the tree is in full-bloom, it smells amazing. 

k.


----------



## El Pescador (Jun 17, 2011)

French caramels rolled in sea salt.


----------



## mr drinky (Jun 17, 2011)

El Pescador said:


> French caramels rolled in sea salt.


 
So does this make you hungry then?

http://galipetteparis.com/flavors.html

k.


----------



## Line cooked (Jun 18, 2011)

mr drinky said:


> That is good to know. With my meyer lemon tree I also bought a calamondin tree and it has a crazy amount of fruit growing on it right now (easily 100+). When they turn ripe, I might try to preserve some calamondins. And when the tree is in full-bloom, it smells amazing.
> 
> k.


 
Good luck with the harvest...and look toward south east asian or Filipino recipes more specifically for inspiration....just remember they call it KALAMANSI when doing your research. I will see if I have anything interesting in my bag of tricks that I can forward you


----------



## mr drinky (Jun 18, 2011)

Line cooked said:


> Good luck with the harvest...and look toward south east asian or Filipino recipes more specifically for inspiration....just remember they call it KALAMANSI when doing your research. I will see if I have anything interesting in my bag of tricks that I can forward you



Thanks a lot. I have no idea how long until the fruit ripens, but will send a reminder when it gets close. 

Btw, my green peppercorn mustard came in yesterday. It is oh so good. The wife made me cook up some sausage just so she could eat more, and then we had some sauerkraut bread to go along with it. 

pommery green peppercorn mustard

k.


----------



## BraisedorStewed (Jun 18, 2011)

:thumbsup:-Cotton Candy Berries
-Snake fruit
-Bluefin tuna
-Meyer lemons
-finger limes
-Live scallops
the list can go on and on, but these are the things I'm playing with right now. Guess I have too many favorites


----------



## Eamon Burke (Jun 18, 2011)

Kumatos ---- Best. Sandwich tomato. Ever.
What's Brewing? Organic Bleu De Brazil coffee (I fell in love with it before finding out it's locally roasted!)
Beemster 18 month Gouda
Marcona Almonds
Wondra(not exactly gourmet but it is very different from regular flour)
Amish Butter


----------



## deker (Jul 11, 2011)

So I've seen a couple mentions of sumac in this thread. I just realized that I have Staghorn Sumac growing all over the place around me. So far I've seen mention of making "Indian Lemonade" (sumac tea). I'm figuring it would be better used as a spice after being dried. Anybody want some? 

-d


----------

