Eat this Word: Geoduck

by jbfauthor on January 19, 2010

WHAT? Ugly duckling. "These are the most bizarre-looking of all clams (and perhaps all foods)," James Peterson writes in Fish & Shellfish of the geoduck, which makes its home in the Pacific Northwest. Waverly Root wasn't much kinder, describing it as a "clam so fat that it cannot close its shell." The bigger specimens of the world's largest burrowing clam weigh as much as 20 pounds, live as long as 150 years, and their neck, or siphon, extends by as much as three feet. They resemble…er…something not polite to write here. But odd-looking as they are, the geoduck has many admirers, culinary and otherwise. "Geoduck meat is delicious," Alan Davidson writes in The Oxford Companion to Food. The siphon meat is stirred into chowders and used for sushi; the body is sautéed. Asians pay as much as $30 per pound to dine on them, according to William Dietrich in the Seattle Times, who also explains that the name comes from the Nisqually Indian

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On the Menu: December 27 to January 2

by jbfauthor on December 23, 2009

Here’s what happening at the Beard House next week: Tuesday, December 29, 7:00 P.M. Food of Maine, Wine of Paso Robles Regarded as one of Maine’s loveliest seaside destinations, the Union Bluff Hotel gets especially high marks for the critically acclaimed, Maine-inspired cuisine of chef Karl Mace. Join him at the Beard House for a Down East feast paired with the seductive wines of Four Vines Winery. Thursday, December 31, 9:00 P.M. New Year’s Eve Celebration Make a resolution to ring in 2010 at the Beard House’s annual New Year’s Eve gala dinner. Attendees will be treated to ever-flowing wines and Champagne and an extravagant farm-to-table menu prepared by Sarah Langan of the New England Culinary Institute’s Main Street Grill & Bar.

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On the Menu: November 22 to November 28

by jbfauthor on November 20, 2009

Here’s what happening at the Beard House next week: Thursday, November 26, 6:00 P.M. Thanksgiving Feast This Thanksgiving, leave the poultry thermometer and the casserole dishes behind and spend the evening at the Beard House enjoying a bountiful holiday menu of impeccably prepared American classics from this talented team of Art Institute chefs. For details and reservations, visit www.jamesbeard.org/events or call 212.627.2308. (Photo by Krishna Dayanidhi)

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Eye Candy: Beard House

by jbfauthor on November 09, 2009

April Bloomfield and her team plate a pork trio of head cheese, terrine, and rillettes during her Beard House dinner last Monday. View more images of the pig-packed event here. (Photo by Eileen Miller)

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