Yes, you can get a Reuben in lots of New York delicatessens and sandwich shops. Zingerman’s Deli, the long-established Jewish food emporium in Ann Arbor, Mich., is renowned for its version and will be bringing them to New York to the Olly Olly Market in Chelsea on Saturday. The classic Reuben and a pickle, along with “Binny’s Brooklyn Reuben” made on grilled pumpernickel, and other combinations including corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, all $25 each, will be freshly made and sold from noon to 8 p.m. or as long as supplies last.
Olly Olly Market, 601 West 26th Street, zingermansdeli.com.
Sample the Finer Things in Long Island City
Hossein and Amy Aimani, the owners of Paramount Caviar, an importer and distributor, have carved out a new tasting room, the Caviar Vault, in their Long Island City, Queens, headquarters with the help of their children, Ariana and Armaan. There, starting on Oct. 16 (open for reservations now), they offer a comprehensive tasting and caviar seminar for groups of four to 10 people. There are six caviars served in half-ounce portions for tasting with blini and crème fraîche. The basic tasting features mostly domestic roes ($175). For $215 you get domestic and imports. The top tier, $245, involves higher-end caviars imported from China, Denmark and Italy. The tastings include an interesting vegan pastiche made from seaweed. Guests can bring their own wines or spirits to drink alongside at no extra charge. There is one session each day, Monday through Friday starting at 4 p.m. (except the last week of December).
The Caviar Vault, Paramount Caviar, 38-15 24th Street (38th Avenue), Long Island City, Queens, 718-786-7747, thecaviarvault.com.
A Kitchen Helper for the Novice Cook
“The Secret of Cooking,” a hefty tome by Bee Wilson, is meant to instill confidence in cooks less comfortable with skillets and spatulas. Though recipes are part of the title and 140 of them are included, its 400-plus pages are just a cookbook. They are filled with sound guidance in essays and tidbits on scores of topics, like learning to substitute or compromise, adding water, bolstering flavor with acidity, exploiting leftovers, adjusting recipes without fear, cutting corners, paying attention to texture, and avoiding ultra-processed ingredients. Her advice on knives is good, noting that “the best knife sharpener is the one that you use,” but some of what she says about pots and pans might feel dated to well-versed cooks. Among the recipes making it into my collection are the restorative white bean stew that’s a blank slate for improvisation, a stunning whole miso-glazed eggplant, and chicken with fennel and citrus for two which can easily be scaled up. The way she writes, like how I imagine she cooks, is personal and breezy, sweeping the reader along to address the task at hand.
“The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen” by Bee Wilson (W.W. Norton, $40).
This Toasty Rum Ushers In Autumn
The weather is starting to demand rich brown spirits to savor as the day winds down. A new option is a lush honey-toned rum by Brugal of the Dominican Republic. In the Colección Visionaria, this rum is aged in casks that have been toasted with cacao beans, giving the rum a complex, nutty aroma whispering of dark chocolate, and flavors of charred orange and spice with a sweet vanilla finish. The toasting technique was developed by Jassil Villanueva Quintana, the company’s rum master and a fifth generation member of the Brugal family. She plans to use other elements for toasting in the future.
Brugal Colección Visionaria Edición 01 Cacao, $99.99 for 700 milliliters, woodencork.com.
A Wide-Ranging Spice Blend Set
Spice blends fall into two categories: traditional and concocted. The first group consists of standards like ras el hanout, Chinese five spice, French quatre-épices, garam masala and even Old Bay. Then there are mixtures put together by spice companies and chefs meant for seasoning fish or chicken, to evoke Cajun flavors, or to be “the only spice you’ll ever need.” To its credit, a new gift-worthy set of blends from Savory Spices, a Denver company, leans heavily on the classics. The eight jars in the set are: garam masala, za’atar, Chinese five spice, Tan-Tan Moroccan seasoning richly similar to ras el hanout, chai spices, Cuban island with robust notes, Bohemian forest hinting of pine and mustard, and also the nonspice herbes de Provence.
‘Round the World Spice Collection, $58.99, savoryspiceshop.com.
This Bright Apron Is Ready for Noodling
Enhance your cooking chops as you stir-fry with this new apron from Tilit, a company that produces a range of sturdy kitchenwear often devised by chefs. The company collaborated with Omsom, a maker of packaged Asian ingredients, on this apron, which includes a vinyl sleeve next to the breast pocket designed to hold a pair of cooking chopsticks, and another at the hip. The apron, with an adjustable neck strap and waist ties, is made in sturdy orange cotton and polyester with bright pink and chartreuse accents screaming Omsom’s signature chile-bright palette. As sold starting Tuesday by Tilit, it comes with a pair of long red cooking chopsticks, $75; Omsom bundles it with the chopsticks and a collection of its sauces and noodles, $120.
TilitxOmsom Rowdy Apron, tilitnyc.com, omsom.com.
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