Wednesday, May 4, 2011
For Your Reading Pleasure
by Conor Friedersdorf
Throughout 2010, I kept my own running list of exceptional nonfiction for the Best of Journalism newsletter I publish. The result is my third annual Best Of Journalism Awards - America's only nonfiction writing prize judged entirely by me. I couldn't read every worthy piece published last year. But everything that follows is worthy of wider attention. Thanks to Byliner, a promising new site dedicated to publishing and sharing feature-length nonfiction, my annual awards dating back to 2008 are soon going to have a permanent home. I am indebted to its founder, John Tayman, for including me in an enterprise well worth checking out - and for his encouragement as I assembled this list.
It was put together before I began my current gig at The Atlantic. The pieces I've selected represent only my own judgment, and do not reflect the opinions of my colleagues, whose lists would surely be wonderful and different.
The Art Of Storytelling
WASHINGTON MONTHLY
Dirty Medicine by Mariah Blake
Thomas Shaw invents breakthrough medical devices. In America's hospitals they'd save lives and money. But the dysfunctional industry that supplies doctors and nurses prevents these wares from getting to the patients who need them. And health care reform hasn't changed a thing.
THE TEXAS MONTHLY
Last Days Of The Comanches by S.C. Gwynne
"By the autumn of 1871, the Western frontier was rolling backward, retreating in the face of savage Indian attacks. When a ragtag army of federal soldiers arrived on the Llano Estacado to crush the hostile natives once and for all, they had numbers and firepower on their side. What they didn't know was that their enemies were led by Quanah Parker, a half-white war chief who may have been the greatest fighter of his time."
THE NEW YORKER
Pandora's Briefcase by Malcolm Gladwell
During World War II, the British pulled off one of the most successful acts of espionage in history. In its details, however, even this fascinating tale of Allied trickery suggests that spying might not be worthwhile.
THE NEW YORKER
The Hunted by Jeffrey Goldberg
In a remote corner of Africa, two American conservationists did their utmost to prevent poachers from destroying an endangered species of elephant. In their zealousness, did they go too far?
THE MORNING NEWS
The High Is Always The Pain And The Pain Is Always The High by Jay Kang
After living the ups and downs of life as a professional poker player, the author observes that "gambling narratives tend to glamorize the upswing." In his own story, however, the romance is wrapped up in the losses.
THIS AMERICAN LIFE
Patriot Games by Ben Calhoun
An unsurpassed case study in how idealistic people who enter professional politics wind up compromising their values.
ESQUIRE
The Gun by CJ Chivers
Shortly after President Eisenhower warned against the military-industrial complex, an unholy alliance of defense contractors and military brass conspired to cover up the fact that they put American troops into combat with a defective gun.
Read more:
(Way Past) Time To Go
 |
| Professor Juan Cole |
An American president, himself the son of a Muslim father and a Christian mother, has taken down notorious terrorist Usama Bin Laden. Despite being a Christian, Obama, it seems to me, had a personal stake in destroying someone who had defamed the religion of his birth father and his relatives. His 2007-2008 presidential campaign was in part about the need of the US to refocus on the threat from al-Qaeda. He said that the Bush administration had taken its eye off the ball by running off to Iraq to pursue an illegal war and neglecting the eastern front, from which the US had been attacked, and where riposting was legitimate in international law. Obama began threatening to act unilaterally against al-Qaeda in Pakistan in August 2007, during the early period of the Democratic primary.
Ironically, Obama had to admit that Pakistani intelligence helped the US develop the lead that allowed the US to close in on Bin Laden. So the operation was not unilateral, and young candidate Obama was too over-confident. The US story that the Pakistanis were not given prior notice of the operation is contradicted by the Pakistani news channel Geo, which says that Pakistani troops and plainsclothesmen helped cordon off the compound in Abbotabad. CNN is pointing out that US helicopters could not have flown so far into Pakistan from Afghanistan without tripping Pakistani radar. My guess is that the US agreed to shield the government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asaf Ali Zardari from al-Qaeda reprisals by putting out the story that the operation against Bin Laden was solely a US one. And it may be that suspect elements of the Pakistani elite, such as the Inter-Services Intelligence, were kept out the the loop because it was feared they might have ties to Bin Laden and might tip him off.
Usama Bin Laden was a violent product of the Cold War and the Age of Dictators in the Greater Middle East. He passed from the scene at a time when the dictators are falling or trying to avoid falling in the wake of a startling set of largely peaceful mass movements demanding greater democracy and greater social equity. Bin Laden dismissed parliamentary democracy, for which so many Tunisians and Egyptians yearn, as a man-made and fallible system of government, and advocated a return to the medieval Muslim caliphate (a combination of pope and emperor) instead. Only a tiny fringe of Muslims wants such a theocratic dictatorship. The masses who rose up this spring mainly spoke of “nation,” the “people,” “liberty” and “democracy,” all keywords toward which Bin Laden was utterly dismissive. The notorious terrorist turned to techniques of fear-mongering and mass murder to attain his goals in the belief that these methods were the only means by which the Secret Police States of the greater Middle East could be overturned.
Alternate History
Or: An exploration of Dick Cheney's recent daydreams.
by Alex Pareene
President Bush announces the news to the nation on May 24, 2006, immediately following the East Coast airing of the finale of "American Idol." He appears in military fatigues and, for some reason, spurs. Behind him, an oversize Osama bin Laden "Wanted" poster, with the word "LIQUIDATED" stamped on the terrorist mastermind's face. The camera pulls back to reveal that the president's East Room audience is in fact made up entirely of firefighters. The Marine band plays "Stars and Stripes Forever" as the president speaks, forcing Bush to address the room, and the nation, through a bullhorn.
"America has won the war on terror," Bush shouts. "Tonight, I am proud to say, Osama bin Laden is in hell." The president explains that the terrorist mastermind was "taken out" by American forces in Afghanistan, along with the entire senior leadership of al-Qaida. Crowds spontaneously gather in celebration outside the White House, with handmade signs ("THESE COLORS DON'T RUN," "LET'S ROLL") in plain view of cable news cameras set up beforehand according to a White House communications office suggestion. A professional-quality sound system blares Lee Greenwood. Then, fireworks.
Thrilling night-vision footage of a daring firefight in a labyrinthine cave is immediately provided to news channels. All of them air it, without noting that the video was edited by the Pentagon prior to release, and its contents unconfirmed.
In background briefings to national security journalists, the Pentagon credits the kill to one lone unnamed but slightly Schwarzeneggerian special forces officer acting on intelligence procured by one lone unnamed but remarkably Jack Bauer-like CIA officer who personally "interrogated" the al-Qaida courier until he revealed bin Laden's whereabouts.
Read more:
Treats
Office jobs are tough.I know we cubicle farmhands aren’t exactly hammering diamonds in dusty mineshafts, landing planes in snowy storms, or performing emergency appendectomies.
But still — what we’re doing is complex mail merges to make envelope labels, compiling meeting minutes, and stapling through very thick piles of paper.
It’s demanding.
As a result, sometimes it’s tough getting through the week. When cloudy mornings, barking bosses, and long meetings got you down it’s time to get smiling with some office treats. Today we say thanks to the guy who brings them in — usually in one of five ways:
Level 1: Email Scrambles. A mass email is sent out reading “If anyone wants leftover brownies come to Sheila’s desk NOW!!!” Be careful because if you’re away from your desk you have to listen for slamming keyboard trays and quietly shuffling gang herds swishing down the hallway. When you spot a sugar rush like this there’s no time to waste — just jump in and get going. Slowing to tip someone off means no brownies for you. (2 points)
Level 2: Treat Fairies. This is the plate of lemon danishes someone leaves on a filing cabinet in the hallway or the box of donuts sitting in the lunchroom from yesterday night. Office raccoons like myself love finding goodies from Treat Fairies but they lose marks for freshness and selection. (5 points)
Wodka
by David Sax
Standing amid pleather ottomans in a dimly lit Manhattan lounge, New York Giants defensive lineman Jason Pierre-Paul was mystified by the vodka bottle before him. It had a screw top; conspicuously absent from its label were a flock of gray geese, a mogul's chateau, or any symbol of gratuitous wealth. Concerned, Pierre-Paul looked up Wódka Vodka on his smartphone and discovered that it retailed for $12. "What the f—k are you serving this for!" he barked at Matt Shendell, proprietor of The Hill bar and restaurant. In response, Shendell persuaded Pierre-Paul to taste the one-time Soviet favorite before passing judgment. He did. At the end of the night, he took a bottle home with him.
Wódka's journey from Polish tractor factories to American nightclubs is the result of vodka's latest reinvention. After a decades-long march of absurdly expensive "ultra-premium" and "super-premium" vodkas (Belvedere, Grey Goose, Chopin), the industry has come up with a new recession-proof formula—absurdly cheap "premium" vodkas. Along with Wódka, more than 50 vodkas with sub-$20 price tags and ridiculous names—KU:L, Blue Feather, and L'Chaim, to name a few—have recently created a vodka niche in the affordable luxury category. "If you can put 'ultra-premium' on your label and sell it at a low price point," says Agata Kaczanowska, a beverage analyst with researcher IBIS World, "you're going to be well off." According to Garima Goel Lal, a senior analyst at market research firm Mintel International Group, "Over one-quarter of all spirits drinkers reported moving to cheaper brands in 2010." And many cheap premium vodkas are now taking aim at vestiges of pre-Lehman excess. "Smirnoff?" says James Dale, Wódka's co-owner. "They can go f—k themselves, mate. You can print that!"
Dale, a 40-year-old New Zealander, is at the center of the cheap premium vodka universe. In 2004 he helped introduce 42 Below to the U.S., where it rode the frosted-bottle bull market until Bacardi acquired it, three years later, for $91 million. That same year, one of Dale's associates came across a bottle in a Bialystok, Poland, distillery with a hammer and sickle on its label. Wódka, the Communist Party-approved spirit during the 1950s, also happened to taste very good, and Dale believed it was ripe for an austerity-chic comeback. "We saw psychology change in the U.S. There's a whole generation that's now averse to spending more money than they have to," Dale says. "The whole concept of 'premium' would have to be redefined." In 2010, Wódka—"vodka" in Polish—entered the American market.
Read more:
image credit:
VJ Day - Honolulu 1945
Great video of a spontaneous victory parade in Honolulu in 1945. Take a look at this video-absolutely fabulous! Notice the cars and jeeps, and youth. The guys in khaki or gray shirts and black ties are Navy officers or chiefs. The rest are Army or Marine.
How young they all were to do what they did.
This guy really captured a moment in history! (You can listen to Jimmy Durante singing “I’ll be Seeing You” in the background, too).
This is a super video of a time past – we need to remember and be thankful.
Check out the color fidelity. It’s not bad for 1945. Nothing will ever compare with Kodachrome film.
via:
The Little Things
My friend Neil makes an interesting point about happiness: those “peak” moments in life — the big achievements and big releases that we imagine to be exactly what happiness is made of — will never amount to more than a tiny proportion of a person’s life. They are infrequent and quickly give way to the ordinary again. We invest a lot of energy getting to those exceptional highs, but they are exactly that: exceptions to the normal course of life.
In between these “violin crescendo moments” life unfolds without much fanfare, in its familiar way. But within these ordinary stretches of life lie frequent, intensely gratifying moments that arise out of the most mundane activities: waiting in line, parking your car, watching a TV movie.
Even in the context of a really bad day, there are humble little details that seem to hit some kind of “smile” button in the brain, and for those moments, life is unfettered. It’s great. Life is great just knowing that each day will contain them no matter what else the cat drags in.
Other than Ben Franklin’s two dreadful certainties, nothing in life is guaranteed — except (if you’re paying attention) that there will be a steady stream of these humble little awesome things, regardless of your situation, as long as you live. This is a powerful thought and even throughout the worst days I’ve never been able to forget it for long because the reminders come along so frequently.
Ever since I included him in a quick piece on three extraordinary blogs two years ago, Neil has been a friend of mine. I love his perspective on gratitude — it recognizes that the present moment really is the place to find everything you look for in life (and not just “in theory”), yet doesn’t stray into ego-dismantling, self-mortification or Stuart Smally-like affirmations. It takes playfulness, rather than determination.
I am not his only fan. Neil’s blog, 1000 Awesome Things hit its stride pretty quickly in 2008. He won the Webby Award the following year for Best Blog, leading to his first book The Book of Awesome, which became an international bestseller. Its sequel, The Book of (Even More) Awesome launched Tuesday.
There is something about couch cushion forts and the other side of the pillow that huge numbers of people seem to be able to identify with. I don’t recommend many (any?) products on this blog, but I’m all over this one. In terms of a practical, non-striving approach to cultivating quality of life, it’s hard to do better than to learn to celebrate these very things, just for what they are.
Recently I talked with Neil about the role of unhappiness in happiness, the role of “little thing” when it comes to quality of life, and cavemen. He’s a riot. Enjoy.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Hoverboard
[ed. For my son the physicist, who always wanted one of these.]
by Evan Ackerman
Scientists could be months away from discovering antigravity
Scientists at CERN have announced that they've been able to trap 309 atoms of antihydrogen for over 15 minutes. This is long enough that soon, they'll be able to figure out whether antimatter obeys the law of gravity, or whether it's repelled by normal matter and falls "up" instead. It would be antigravity, for real.
While it's never been tested experimentally due to how difficult it is to create and store the stuff, it's disappointingly likely that antimatter will fall "down" just like regular matter. The thinking behind this is that antimatter (despite the "anti-") is made of regular ordinary energy, and even if it's got an opposite charge, it should still obey the same general rules as matter does. Antimatter falling up would mean a violation of the law of conservation of energy, among other things.
That said, if antimatter were to exhibit antigravity, it would go a long way towards explaining some of the peculiarities of our universe. For example, the universe is supposed to have just as much antimatter as it does matter, but we don't know where the antimatter is. If antimatter and normal matter repelled each other, it could mean that there are entire antimatter galaxies out there. Also, that repulsion would explain why the universe is not just expanding, but speeding up its expansion, something that's tricky to figure out when everything in the universe is always attracted towards everything else.
In either case, the team at CERN should be able to put the debate to rest within a couple months, when they plan to trap a blob of antihydrogen and then just watch it to see which way it falls. Down, and the laws of physics stay in place. Up, and you might just get that hoverboard you've always wanted.
via:
by Evan AckermanScientists could be months away from discovering antigravity
Scientists at CERN have announced that they've been able to trap 309 atoms of antihydrogen for over 15 minutes. This is long enough that soon, they'll be able to figure out whether antimatter obeys the law of gravity, or whether it's repelled by normal matter and falls "up" instead. It would be antigravity, for real.
While it's never been tested experimentally due to how difficult it is to create and store the stuff, it's disappointingly likely that antimatter will fall "down" just like regular matter. The thinking behind this is that antimatter (despite the "anti-") is made of regular ordinary energy, and even if it's got an opposite charge, it should still obey the same general rules as matter does. Antimatter falling up would mean a violation of the law of conservation of energy, among other things.
That said, if antimatter were to exhibit antigravity, it would go a long way towards explaining some of the peculiarities of our universe. For example, the universe is supposed to have just as much antimatter as it does matter, but we don't know where the antimatter is. If antimatter and normal matter repelled each other, it could mean that there are entire antimatter galaxies out there. Also, that repulsion would explain why the universe is not just expanding, but speeding up its expansion, something that's tricky to figure out when everything in the universe is always attracted towards everything else.
In either case, the team at CERN should be able to put the debate to rest within a couple months, when they plan to trap a blob of antihydrogen and then just watch it to see which way it falls. Down, and the laws of physics stay in place. Up, and you might just get that hoverboard you've always wanted.
via:
Forever Online
We are the first people in history to create vast online records of our lives. How much of it will endure when we are gone?by Sumit Paul-Choudhury
NOT long before my wife died, she asked me to do something for her. "Make sure people remember me," she said. "Not the way I am now. The way I was." Having spent most of her life as an assertive, ambitious and beautiful woman, Kathryn didn't want people's memories to be dominated by her final year, in which the ravages of disease and continual chemotherapy had taken her spirit, vitality and looks.
To me, the internet seemed to offer an obvious way to fulfil Kathryn's wish - certainly more so than a dramatic headstone or funerary monument. So I built a memorial website to celebrate her life through carefully selected pictures and text. The decision was unorthodox at the time, and I suspect that some in our circle thought it tasteless.
Six years on, things are very different. As the internet's population has grown and got older, memorial pages and tribute sites have become commonplace. But when you and I shuffle off this mortal coil, formal remembrances won't be the only way we are remembered. I manage myriad websites and blogs, both personal and professional, as well as profiles on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and more. All of those will be left behind, and many other people will leave a similar legacy.
We are creating digital legacies for ourselves every day - even, increasingly, every minute. More than a quarter of a million Facebook users will die this year alone. The information about ourselves that we record online is the sum of our relationships, interests and beliefs. It's who we are. Hans-Peter Brondmo, head of social software and services at Nokia in San Francisco, calls this collection of data our "digital soul".
Thanks to cheap storage and easy copying, our digital souls have the potential to be truly immortal. But do we really want everything we've done online - offhand comments, camera-phone snaps or embarrassing surfing habits - to be preserved for posterity? One school of thought, the "preservationists", believes we owe it to our descendants. Another, the "deletionists", think it's vital the internet learns how to forget. These two groups are headed for a struggle over the future of the internet - and the fate of your digital soul is hanging in the balance.
Read more:
Want To Work At Google?
by Courtney FieldingSince word of the company’s gourmet cafeterias and bring-your-puppy-to-work atmosphere first began circulating in the national media way back in 2006, becoming a Google employee has held a special place in the American imagination, somewhere between graduating from space explorer school and winning the Power Ball lottery. The result: a lot of speculation — and hyperbole — surrounding the company’s hiring process.
While we’ve all heard rumors of mandatory 3.7 GPAs and the ability to answer math questions over the phone with no calculator, the world might sadly never know just exactly how Google makes its hiring decisions. But perhaps former CEO Eric Schmidt has a little more insight into the process. Schmidt discussed the company’s personnel philosophy and corporate culture with McKinsey director James Manyika at a McKinsey conference in mid-March.
Be exceptional. Duh. We’ve all heard the company likes to stick interviewees with brain teasers to parse out their thought process and job candidates should always be prepared to explain how they’d stick an elephant in a refrigerator or figure out how many piano tuners work in New York. Says Schmidt: “We spent more time — and pretty ruthlessly — on academic qualifications, intelligence, intellectual creativity, passion and commitment. What bothers me about management books, they all say these things generically, but nobody does it.”
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Give Me A Kiss
[ed. I don't know...this seems strangely disturbing for some reason.]
Or, at least, making out with the business end of a hamster water bottle. Close enough!
Kajimoto Laboratory researcher Nobuhiro Takahashi demonstrates the device for DigInfo News, explaining that the PC controller currently works with a single computer but could effectively be networked to allow for online tonsil-hockey. The lab specializes in researching tactile feedback technology, including a vest that simulates the feeling of hugging oneself.
"The elements of a kiss include the sense of taste, the manner of breathing, and the moistness of the tongue," Takahashi explains. "If we can recreate all of those I think it will be a really powerful device." And how. Attach this to a PC release of Konami's Love Plus dating sim and they'd fly off the shelves.
Of course, we've already seen kissing control innovation in video games, but an online ready controller that services the lonelier gamer in their times of frenching need seems like an exciting step forward for science.
via:
Of Course Japan Would Pioneer the Kissing Controller
Not content with cruder simulations of physical affection like the love pillow or mousepads with soft, wrist-comforting cleavage, researchers at Tokyo's Kajimoto Laboratory at the University of Electro-Communications have developed a kissing transmitter that aims to deliver the sensation of making out with someone over the internet.Or, at least, making out with the business end of a hamster water bottle. Close enough!
Kajimoto Laboratory researcher Nobuhiro Takahashi demonstrates the device for DigInfo News, explaining that the PC controller currently works with a single computer but could effectively be networked to allow for online tonsil-hockey. The lab specializes in researching tactile feedback technology, including a vest that simulates the feeling of hugging oneself.
"The elements of a kiss include the sense of taste, the manner of breathing, and the moistness of the tongue," Takahashi explains. "If we can recreate all of those I think it will be a really powerful device." And how. Attach this to a PC release of Konami's Love Plus dating sim and they'd fly off the shelves.
Of course, we've already seen kissing control innovation in video games, but an online ready controller that services the lonelier gamer in their times of frenching need seems like an exciting step forward for science.
via:
Here Come the VCs
by Courtney Fielding Venture capitalist William Quigley, managing director of Clearstone Venture Partners, will release his State of Venture Capital in America today. The 20-year-industry veteran details a VC community at a crossroads and poised for comeback after a rocky decade. But only the strongest firms survived the shakeout. While there were 712 active technology investors at the start of the decade, only 313 remained in 2009.
We caught up with Quigley at his Santa Monica office and asked the VC to explain to us just what the heck is going on in this cooky market and hand over some advice for internet-based startups looking to attract the remaining VC players.
Q. The U.S. economy has grown nearly 50 percent since 2000, yet there are half as many venture firms in existence today as there were in 2000. That’s pretty shocking. What’s the effect of that contraction on the market?
A. Well, our entire asset class was pretty much abandoned over the last decade. But it’s actually great for those of us left standing! We have half as many firms as we did as ten years ago. We also have far fewer assets under management than we did ten years ago — $225 billion in 2000 versus $179 billion in 2009. What that tells me is the venture market is really poised for some really great returns. Whenever there is less capital it will generate a better return.
Plus, there are far fewer venture capitalists, and especially far fewer experienced venture capitalists around today. The angel markets have been deployed, but I don’t think there is a substitute for an experienced VC within your company who has weathered multiple IPOs and can assist when M&A heats up. The ones who are there are going to win big.
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Enforcing Copyrights Online, for a Profit
When Brian Hill, a 20-year-old blogger from North Carolina, posted on his Web site last December a photograph of an airport security officer conducting a pat-down, a legal battle was the last thing he imagined.
A month later, Mr. Hill received an e-mail from a reporter for The Las Vegas Sun who was looking into a Nevada company that files copyright lawsuits for newspapers. The e-mail informed Mr. Hill that he was one of those that the company, Righthaven, was suing. Though the airport photo had gone viral before Mr. Hill plucked it off the Web, it belonged to The Denver Post, where it first appeared on Nov. 18.
Mr. Hill took down the photo. He was too late. A summons was delivered to his house. The lawsuit sought statutory damages. It did not name a figure, but accused Mr. Hill of “willful” infringement, and under federal copyright law up to $150,000 can be awarded in such cases.
“I was shocked,” Mr. Hill said. “I thought maybe it was a joke or something to scare me. I didn’t know the picture was copyrighted.”
Over the last year, as newspapers continue to grapple with how to protect their online content, Righthaven has filed more than 200 similar federal lawsuits in Colorado and Nevada over material posted without permission from The Denver Post or The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The company has business relationships with both newspapers. Like much of the industry, the papers see the appropriation of their work without permission as akin to theft and harmful to their business, and are frustrated by unsuccessful efforts to stem the common practice, whether it’s by a one-man operation like Mr. Hill’s, or an established one like Matt Drudge’s.
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Monday, May 2, 2011
The High Cost of Teacher's Salaries
by Dave Eggers and Ninive Clements CalegariWhen we don’t get the results we want in our military endeavors, we don’t blame the soldiers. We don’t say, “It’s these lazy soldiers and their bloated benefits plans! That’s why we haven’t done better in Afghanistan!” No, if the results aren’t there, we blame the planners. We blame the generals, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No one contemplates blaming the men and women fighting every day in the trenches for little pay and scant recognition.
And yet in education we do just that. When we don’t like the way our students score on international standardized tests, we blame the teachers. When we don’t like the way particular schools perform, we blame the teachers and restrict their resources.
Compare this with our approach to our military: when results on the ground are not what we hoped, we think of ways to better support soldiers. We try to give them better tools, better weapons, better protection, better training. And when recruiting is down, we offer incentives.
We have a rare chance now, with many teachers near retirement, to prove we’re serious about education. The first step is to make the teaching profession more attractive to college graduates. This will take some doing.
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Seared Lamb With Anchovies
by Melissa Clark, NY Times
Slipping a few anchovies into the stew pot is one of those sneaky little tricks that boosts flavor with virtually no effort. Unscrew the jar, plop in a couple of whole fillets, then watch them disappear into the sauce.
They act as flavor enhancers, bringing out the character of the other ingredients while adding a salty, complex nuance but with none of the fishiness that the anchovy-averse might expect.
A lifelong anchovy enthusiast, I embraced this secret the minute I heard about it. Now, I rarely stew a leg of lamb or chunk of pork shoulder without tossing in a few small fish.
I don’t know why it took me so long to think of adding them to a pan of quickly sautéed meat, but it makes perfect sense. Anchovies don’t require long simmering to disintegrate into a pan sauce. They don’t even need to be chopped. As any puttanesca fan knows, a few minutes of lazy stirring in a pan of simmering liquid or fat (usually olive oil or butter) will turn them into tasty paste.
In fact, that method is the basis of one of my favorite instant, there’s-nothing-in-the-house snacks. Just empty a drained jar of anchovies into a saucepan and melt them down with a stick of butter. After five minutes, stir in a little minced garlic and spread the resulting savory mush onto crostini, topping them with slices of ripe tomato or shavings of prosciutto.
In this recipe, I concoct a similarly flavored sauce for juicy little lamb chops. I use olive oil in place of butter and throw in a handful of capers. The pungent garlic and anchovies bring out the sweetness of the meat while a few sage leaves add a musky note.
The dish comes together in minutes but tastes as if you’d spent hours over the stove fussing and fine-tuning. And because the salted fish and olive oil meld into a smooth sauce, you can serve the dish to people who think they don’t like anchovies, then tell them when only the lamb bones remain.
6 baby lamb chops (1 1/4 pounds)
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 anchovy fillets
3 tablespoons drained capers
15 sage leaves
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Lemon wedges, for serving.
1. Rinse the lamb chops and pat them dry. Season them with salt and pepper, and let rest for 15 minutes.
2. Over medium-high heat, warm a skillet large enough to hold all the chops in one layer. Add the oil and when it shimmers, add the anchovies and capers. Cook, stirring, until the anchovies break down, about 3 minutes.
3. Arrange the lamb chops in the skillet and fry, without moving them, until brown, about 3 minutes. Turn them over, and toss the sage leaves and pepper flakes into the pan. Cook until lamb reaches the desired doneness, about 2 minutes for medium-rare.
4. Arrange the chops on serving plates. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 1 minute, then spoon the sauce over the lamb. Serve with the lemon wedges.
via:
Slipping a few anchovies into the stew pot is one of those sneaky little tricks that boosts flavor with virtually no effort. Unscrew the jar, plop in a couple of whole fillets, then watch them disappear into the sauce.
They act as flavor enhancers, bringing out the character of the other ingredients while adding a salty, complex nuance but with none of the fishiness that the anchovy-averse might expect.
A lifelong anchovy enthusiast, I embraced this secret the minute I heard about it. Now, I rarely stew a leg of lamb or chunk of pork shoulder without tossing in a few small fish. I don’t know why it took me so long to think of adding them to a pan of quickly sautéed meat, but it makes perfect sense. Anchovies don’t require long simmering to disintegrate into a pan sauce. They don’t even need to be chopped. As any puttanesca fan knows, a few minutes of lazy stirring in a pan of simmering liquid or fat (usually olive oil or butter) will turn them into tasty paste.
In fact, that method is the basis of one of my favorite instant, there’s-nothing-in-the-house snacks. Just empty a drained jar of anchovies into a saucepan and melt them down with a stick of butter. After five minutes, stir in a little minced garlic and spread the resulting savory mush onto crostini, topping them with slices of ripe tomato or shavings of prosciutto.
In this recipe, I concoct a similarly flavored sauce for juicy little lamb chops. I use olive oil in place of butter and throw in a handful of capers. The pungent garlic and anchovies bring out the sweetness of the meat while a few sage leaves add a musky note.
The dish comes together in minutes but tastes as if you’d spent hours over the stove fussing and fine-tuning. And because the salted fish and olive oil meld into a smooth sauce, you can serve the dish to people who think they don’t like anchovies, then tell them when only the lamb bones remain.
6 baby lamb chops (1 1/4 pounds)
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 anchovy fillets
3 tablespoons drained capers
15 sage leaves
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Lemon wedges, for serving.
1. Rinse the lamb chops and pat them dry. Season them with salt and pepper, and let rest for 15 minutes.
2. Over medium-high heat, warm a skillet large enough to hold all the chops in one layer. Add the oil and when it shimmers, add the anchovies and capers. Cook, stirring, until the anchovies break down, about 3 minutes.
3. Arrange the lamb chops in the skillet and fry, without moving them, until brown, about 3 minutes. Turn them over, and toss the sage leaves and pepper flakes into the pan. Cook until lamb reaches the desired doneness, about 2 minutes for medium-rare.
4. Arrange the chops on serving plates. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 1 minute, then spoon the sauce over the lamb. Serve with the lemon wedges.
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