Egg porn Vol. 273

Scrambled eggs with blood sausage I picked up at the Bacalhau Grill and Trade Rite Market in San Jose's Portuguese neighborhood. So heavy, I'm not sure I'd cook it for breakfast again. But great for afternoon tapas, I suppose. The sausage was mushy, chewy INTENSE!

The back of a Chinese cookbook I found at the East
 Bay Depot For Creative Reuse. The stuff of dreams...

I'm sorry, I'm obsessed with eggs. My preferred protein- they score eleven out of ten on the cost/deliciousness dynamic. So easy to prepare, so rewarding. So gourmet. So succulent, sexxxy. For pure visual recreation, I thought I'd post some egg pics of late. Some are my recipes, and some are from restaurants. Whatever floats your boat. 

SIDE DIATRIBE: I'm all for poached eggs at gourmet restaurants/cafes, but seriously, it's just fashion people! The best bite of egg ever has to be the yolk of a sunny-side up. When it comes to the base, unadulterated pleasure of luscious yolk dripping all over your face and body, nothing else compares. I'd like to see more chefs channeling the fried egg. Go for it people!

I love making pizza from flatbreads. Just take whatever's in the fridge and throw it on there. This guy has tomato sauce, caramelized red onions, fried sage, black olives and my beautiful baby chicken embryo. Just plop it on there and bake for a few minutes. INSANE.

Day after Thanksgiving breakfast: fried egg on green bean casserole with bakkin'

The best breakfast in the whole world: microwaved jasmine rice packet from Oakland's Koreana Plaza,  miso butter (you cook miso paste with butter on low for a minute), seaweed and poached egg. They start off separate, but become a miso/rice/egg mush by the end. Yolky rice is happy rice.

I spotted these Chinese tea eggs at the Imperial Tea Court's booth at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. They're basically hard-boiled in tea! Seriously the best idea of all time. 

Pleasantly surprised by the huevos rancheros at Bette's Oceanview Diner, Fourth Street Berkeley. Egg was perfect texture: soft and supple. With baked chz and some decent tomatoey salsa. Fresh and fancy. Thank you. 

Petaloomin'

Taking a day off from slinging wheels of Epoisses, I set off to Petaluma last Tuesday to visit cowtopia: a 470-acre organic dairy farm in the breezy beautiful Chileno Valley. My cheesemonger friend and I were attending the inaugural BACA (Bay Area Cheesemonger's Association) meeting. 

The 130-cow operation, run by fourth-generation dairy farmer and most accommodating man in the world John Taverna, supplies milk to Cowgirl Creamery as well as the startup gelato makers Cremeux ex Machina (two people making gourmet gelato out of a shed on the property) among others. 

Rather than writing up a big old long thing, I thought I'd just post some pictures from the afternoon. Let's not kid ourselves: you're just here for the cow photos anyway. 

ON THE WAY:

Petaluma Pie Company, a cute pie place downtown, serves miniature sweet and savory pies, plus cold-brewed coffee.  

Spinach feta hand pie

THERE:

Although the majority of John's cows are Jersey, there are a couple of black Holstein's running around. This is what happens when the neighbor's bull hops over the fence to have some fun. 

cow porn

A baby cow born at 10 p.m. the night before. John's dairy cows actually spend the majority of their lives pregnant, averaging about 9 babies in a lifetime. 

The milking parlor, where the cows gather twice a day. John is a firm believer in simple, low-stress operations. When the cow is more comfortable, it gives higher quality milk. 

The cows determine their own schedule, walking through the gate when they're ready to be milked. 

When they're done, they walk out here and eat some hay. 

In front: the Chimney Rock cheese from Cowgirl Creamery. Just one of the seasonal Cowgirl cheeses made from his milk.  

Three domestic camemberts from Andre Artisan Cheese, also made with milk from Taverna Dairy. Erna Andre, a former biologist, makes the cheese at Swallow Valley Farm in Valley Ford and then ages them at different levels to attain varying textures. My favorite was the youngest, gooiest one.  

After lunch, John dished up scoops of pumpkin and Oreo ice creams he makes from the unpasteurized milk. Ice cream-making is one of his hobbies.  

I scream! 

Looks like cement, but this is actually a shot of  hypnotizing black sesame gelato from Cremeux ex Machina. The couple Alex Saneski and Jenny Ko moved over from New York to start their own company, getting closer to where the produce comes from. Right now they're experimenting and perfecting their menu on a single gelato machine. But they have big plans for the future...