When most people go on vacation they hunt for postcards, key chains, shot glasses or other small trinkets to bring home as mementos of where they have been. While those things are nice, I have never been one to much care for spending money on postcards and key chains. I usually like the photos that I take better than the postcards and the fact that the photos are digital means that I can edit and publish them instead of having to hang on to a piece of card stock. I’m not a key chain person. Just give me the keys necessary to get through the day and I’m fine. Shot glasses and other small trinkets can be fun, especially if they’re a bit funky and fun. So, what do I hunt for when on vacations or look forward to when family or friends head away to foreign lands? Hot sauces, spices and oils.

Growing up with a Jamaican step-father I have a deep passion for spicy foods. When I was young I wasn’t allowed to get up from the table until my plate was cleared no matter how spicy it was. As I grew up I became intrigued by the different layers that hot sauces, curries, jerk seasonings and peppers presented to my palette. Some immediately sent excruciating stinging pain through my lips and the tip of my tongue while others had a deep smoky spice accompanied by a light burn minutes after eating and in the deep regions of my throat. I began experimenting and researching different types of sauces, spices and peppers with the goal of educating myself on all things spicy.  No, this is not to say that everything must be over-sauced in mouth-scorching hot sauce or so much spice that you need an ice-scraper to get it off. I appreciate properly seasoned and sauced foods and have grown my range to not be so simple as to think that Red Hot is the only sauce available.

Once I began to travel more for business trips and vacations, especially to the Carribean islands, I started to seek out collecting different hot sauces, seasonings and oils from around the world. Now when family or friends travel they know what will put a big smile on my face when they come back. I’ve had jerk sauces and seasonings that I bought from women who were cooking it in their kitchens and then selling their concoctions in the open markets the next day and have tried spicy oils where a drop into a vat of chili turns it spicy throughout, among many other experiences. What always amazes me is the variety of combinations and different flavor layers that are created by using, in general, the same ingredients. It’s simply incredible.

Being fellow foodies, I wonder if, when you travel, do you hunt for unique spices, oils or sauces to bring home with you, even if they’re not spicy?

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Photo Credit: ASurroca

When we launched Prime Cuts it was our goal to provide you with content around all things cooking including information, techniques, tips and recipes. Of course, since our name is “Prime Cuts” and we own an argentinean steakhouse we wanted a primary focus of our content to be on proteins, and specifically, steak, as well as the dishes, sauces, beverages and techniques associated with them. As our restaurant continued to grow and get busier we sought out help from a diverse group of contributors to keep new content flowing into your RSS readers or inbox. While this strayed away from the focus on steaks that we had originally intended, it allowed us the ability to focus on the restaurant, which demanded a lot of our attention, while still keeping up with the blog. Our contributors provided mouth-watering recipes, the joys of a French press and tons more.

But, as 2010 set in, the restaurant continued to grow and was growing, at times, at an even faster rate than we had anticipated. Along with that we had a lot of other things that demanded our time both personally and professionally. This perfect storm of circumstances led us to put this blog on the back burner. Sure, we created some content during 2010, but not nearly as much as we wanted to and not on a regular basis.

As we spent the better part of December planning out what 2011 would look like for us at Caminito, we made dusting off and refreshing Prime Cuts a priority for the two of us. We decided that we wanted to bring the blog back to its roots with no other contributors besides the two of us. This forces us to keep it a priority since we’re solely responsible for producing content. If we don’t write, then you don’t get anything new to read. This will put pressure on us, especially once Summer comes around and the restaurant picks up a lot. We’ll definitely have guest posts along the way and may even open our arms again to regular contributors later in the year.

We’re really excited at digging back in around here. We both have some recipes, techniques and tips that we can’t wait to share with you! To help us stay on a regular schedule and also not to suddenly start flooding you with new posts, we’re going to stick to 2 posts per week, one from each of us. Some weeks we may have more than that, especially if we put together a series or have a few guest posts and some weeks we’ll probably only have a single post. We’ll call it an average of 2 posts per week. Deal?

We hope that you had a wonderful holiday season and that 2011 is off to a great start! We hope that you’ll forgive us for not writing enough during 2010 and will pop back in and say hello during 2011.

Cheers!

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Photo Credit: elmada

Having no idea which direction to turn, I asked my friends.  The response was overwhelming. Each answer was incredibly personal, unique and most were linked to a story.

My friend Justin said “anything cooked by my grandma I would spend my last meal surrounded by my family at grandma’s table. Yup. For sure.” Spending time with family, you know I back that.

A peer, who I served with on PRSSA’s National Committee, surprised me with his thoughtful response. “French onion soup to start. For an appetizer, go for an avian theme and serve foie gras with a cinnamon rub atop two pieces of buttered cinnamon toast and scrambled quail eggs. For the main course, a veal and crab leg medley with sides of asparagus and potatoes au gratin. Warm blackberry cobbler topped with strawberries for dessert. Finish with black coffee.” Okay, I’ll admit, that sounds pretty incredible.

Two friends said they’d delve into their food allergies. Kayley would brush aside her gluten allergy to indulge in a loaf of fresh baked bread, and Lisa would head straight for the dairy aisle with nothing but thoughts of cheese on her mind.

But after hearing from so many of my friends, I still couldn’t answer my own question. So I turned to My Last Supper by Melanie Dunea (I highly recommend for its beautiful pictures), which features 50 top chefs and each of their last meal’s recipes.

But the book only confused me more. I was complicating the process. And then it occurred to me — the one thing I ALWAYS ask for when I go home. This is going to sound ridiculous…so drum roll please…

…..My mom’s toast

Allow me to explain. For every meal my mother prepares, she takes my likes and dislikes into consideration. And as silly and/or sweet as it may sound, she prepares even the smallest meals that way. Every dish is full of love, even if it’s just bread and butter.

Now that’s a last supper I can toast to.

What would your last supper be?

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Photo by: basheertome

Realizing that most of you connect with us via an RSS reader, we wanted to call your attention to the updated design.  If you haven’t stopped by the actual website in a while, head on over and take a peek.  We’re really proud of the updates and are still continuing to make several tweaks and other updates.

I really like the changes and was getting bored staring at the same blog day in and day out.  I’m curious to know what you think.  Do you like it?  What’s ONE thing you want to see around here?

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You have probably noticed that recently we haven’t been posting as frequently, well Justin has been involved with a lot recently… even for him.  He is transitioning to a new job where he will be working more than ever before in addition to all of his responsibilities at the steakhouse; planning a move to Boston; planning a wedding; and oh yeah, working as much as ever every day.  For me, I have been working the steakhouse as I always do, throughout the craziness of the Holiday season, and now that the holidays are over and the cold of winter has begun to set in I have been involved in another passion of mine… ice fishing, yeah that’s right.

I will start off with a quote from myself sometimes found posted on the front door of the restaurant in wintertime “Caminito Argentinean Steakhouse will be closed Mondays Jan, Feb, and March to observe the 2009 ice fishing season.”  The date changes, as does the accompanying picture of whichever staff member, and a freshly caught fish.  I began ice fishing when I was in college about 6-7 years ago.  I had always wanted to ice fish but never knew anybody else who did, or could teach me how, until I met up with an old friend from my high school days.  We began the season with a bang, catching loads of trout bass and pickerel.  I loved it right away! I knew I would because I don’t mind the cold.  I don’t ski or snowboard, I love fishing, and I usually have more time off in the winter, its perfect!

I fish for sport approximately 95% of the time, rarely keeping my catch.  When I go I am always respectful of my surroundings, leaving nothing but footprints wherever I fish.  When I get out, my favorite fish to catch are Northern Pike, Largemouth Bass, Pickerel, and Trout.  Trout are one of the few types of fish that I prefer to catch to eat and the type I fish for the least frequently.  Ice fishing and ice fishermen/women have a reputation for being a bunch of drunks who dirty up the ice and kill all their fish.  While this can be true I feel that the true fishermen, (there are a lot of them, myself included) respect the fish and their surrounding environment.   I belong to a fishing forum online called iceshanty.com and represent the Massachusetts team.  It is a great place for local ice fishermen to communicate about ice thickness, what’s biting and where, and to plan trips for groups to meet up and fish together. All of the guys I talk to and read posts from on the forum all share the same passion and respect for fishing and all that comes with it.

There are many great place to ice fish in Massachusetts.  I love fishing at the many lakes and ponds in the Berkshires, surrounding Hill towns, and right here in Northampton.  I would have to say that right now the Connecticut River Oxbow is my favorite place to go ice fishing.  It is also minutes from my home and restaurant.  Many a mornings in the wintertime I can be found cooking my breakfast on the ice, before work.  I love the peace and tranquility of it and I have a pretty good catch record to boot.  My largest catch through the ice was a 37” Northern pike that weighed 13 pounds, and I caught it on 6 pound test fishing line, through a six inch hole in the ice.

Over the last few years, I have gotten many of my friends and co-workers from the restaurant out on the ice with me.  Several of my prep cooks, my kitchen manager who is from Guatemala, and even a waitress!… once.  Many of them fish with me on a semi-regular basis, us having the same days off when the restaurant is closed and all. Ice fishing is one of those things that you just have to love, in order to do it on a regular basis.  I am glad that I discovered it when I did, and glad to pass it on to my friends and coworkers.  It’s an excellent, peaceful time to be outside, obviously you have to dress warmly, but the sun on your face, a couple friends, a portable grill, some camp chairs, and a few fish biting and you have yourself a recipe for a great winter day.  I just love ice fishing, it is something I was born to do, and while the wintertime can be a slow time for businesses, I stay busy and wake up earlier than I do any other time of year.

Oh, and by the way, many more posts are coming.  This is not an excuse to be slackers, we apologize, and are right back to grinding, with a great list of content coming.

To conclude I will use another quote from myself, also found on the front door of Caminito: “see you on the ice”….

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There have been about 15 posts since then that haven’t dropped into your RSS readers.  The problem is fixed now and you should have everything from this month as well as everything new going forward.

We value all of our subscribers and apologize for the technical error.  Please take some time and check out all of the posts from this month which you may not have read yet and let us know what you think.

Enjoy!

Oh yeah, and one more thing: we finally have a logo! Let us know what you think!

Thanks for the continued support.  We hope we keep bringing you quality content that is helpful and informative.