As my readers have probably noticed by now, the new version of “Who Eats That Stuff?” hasn’t been updated as frequently as the old one. I guess that’s to be expected, considering that I blogged every single day for a year with the previous blog. Also, I haven’t really eaten any new foods over the past couple weeks – keeping it simple has been refreshing after the insanity of the last year.

Luckily, I managed to encounter a couple of new foods at the Sound Table in Atlanta last night that I thought were worth sharing. They were previewing their new fall menu, so me and the GF headed down to check it out. Even though I don’t go into each meal looking for something to blog about anymore, I noticed a couple of dishes that were new to me that sounded really good. One was brandade croquettes, and the other was a duck liver dish featuring whole livers wrapped in braised napa cabbage.

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First, the brandade. Brandade is a mixture of salt cod and olive oil that’s usually spread on bread or potatoes. I’d eaten brandade in its traditional form, but the ST’s version featured the brandade (mixed with potato and garlic) deep fried in croquette form, with each piece resembling a small hush puppy. They were also served with a red pepper coulis for dipping. It’s hard to resist anything deep fried, and these were salty, crunchy, slightly fishy goodness. The coulis provided a bit of heat, and I could have eaten about 20 more of them. Highly recommend.

Next was the duck liver. I’d eaten duck liver before, but only in its ultra-fancy foie gras form. Unadulterated duck liver was a new thing for me, and these were sauteed, then wrapped in braised napa cabbage. The dish also featured apple, bacon, and pistachio as flavoring agents, and I was curious to taste how the liver worked with the other ingredients. The liver itself had a intense, gamy flavor that reminded me of chicken liver, and the other elements added some sweet/sour notes that worked well with the main component of the dish. As usual, I could have eaten more of this one, but more than three pieces of liver would probably be overkill. If you like liver in any form, check out this version at the ST.

Hopefully my breaks between posts will become shorter as time goes on, but for now, I’m not pushing myself. Check back soon for more new foods…

Even though I just finished a whole year of blogging once a day, I couldn’t resist going ahead and starting something new. I really like telling people about new foods that I try, and I didn’t want to lose the momentum I’d gained by waiting too long to reveal this new blog.

With that in mind, I bring you my first new food post for this new project, and it’s a good one. By now, my readers have heard me speak highly of Holeman and Finch. It’s my favorite overall restaurant in Atlanta, and in my opinion, no one else has a menu as adventurous as theirs. During one of my visits a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to try something that I’d been curious about for years: brains. H&F was the first place I’d been to that featured brains on the menu, and I couldn’t resist. I originally ate these when my previous blog was still going, but due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to write about them.

I knew nothing about how brains were prepared, but H&F’s were described as “veal brains with black butter and toast.” Other than the toast, this was all new territory for me. When our server brought the dish, it didn’t look nearly as threatening as I expected. The thinly sliced veal brains looked almost like a hamburger patty, with a dark color that I assumed was from the black butter. I’d never heard of black butter, but it’s basically like brown butter that’s been cooked a bit longer in the pan.

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The flavor was nothing like I expected. It reminded me of liver, but much less intense. The texture was closer to scrambled eggs than anything meat-oriented, and when combined with a bite of toast, the egg comparison was even stronger. The black butter gave the brains an added layer of richness, and I’m glad I was sharing this dish with a friend – it wasn’t exactly light eating. I’d definitely be up for trying brains again, especially with a different preparation. Considering their relatively light texture, I’d imagine they’d be fairly adaptable to other cooking methods.

Even though I won’t be posting every day anymore, I promise to update whenever I discover something new that I think my readers might enjoy reading about. If you’re a returning reader, thanks for sticking with me! If you’re brand new, please check out my previous blog and follow along here from now on. It feels good to be back…