Kauffman's Five: This Week in Bloggery

My favorite morsels this week from SFoodie and beyond:

​1. The thought of pickled eggs induces a pang of nostalgia in anyone with Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry (ahem) ― and probably fear and distrust in most other people. John Birdsall's interview with Comstock Saloon's research-happy chef, Carlo Espinas, concluded with a recipe for his recreation of this old-timey dish.

2. It makes complete sense: CUESA launches an Urban Eats County Fair, with competitions for all the jammers, picklers, meat-curers, and other competitive DIY-ers. It's a great idea, and if you want to participate, you've got a week to submit your schedule. Think of it as a warm-up for the big time: Next year's Alameda County Fair, whose judges undergo rigorous training and will downgrade your strawberry jam to a third-place ribbon for infractions you whippersnappers never imagined. (Unfortunately, the deadline for that contest was June 1.)

Ssam and tacos: Distant Relatives?

​3. Our Tamara Palmer looks over the just-released lineup of food and music at Outside Lands and comes up with band-and-dish pairings, such as Namu's Korean tacos with Nas and Damian Marley.

4. Reyhan Harmanci, the new food and culture staffer at the Bay Citizen, files a good piece about artisanal jerky in the Bay Area ― some of it legal, some of it Underground Farmers Market fare. What with Food & Wine's recent recipe collection from Brooklyn jerk(er) Rachel Graville, it seems a national trend has popped. Now I need to get my hands on some.

5. Bite o' the Week: That'd have to be the strawberry shortcake I made with a pint of organic Seascape strawberries from the Alemany farmers' market (which, by the way, needs a proper website listing vendors and farmers ― are any of you volunteer-minded designers?). The strawberries were so sweet, so red, they needed only a tablespoon of sugar to unlock their juices. A couple days later, I dispensed with the biscuits and ate another pint for dinner.