How's Your Dry January Going?

[READER]( [Food & Drink]( What a terrible month to lay off the sauce, right? Like you and your mom, I was transfixed all day Wednesday by what should go down in the history books as the Cretin’s Coup of 2021. I wanted to add a couple addendums to my [matzo ball roundup]( and hip you to a cool new cassoulet project from food writer Maggie Hennessy and Sunday Dinner Club, but I had one eye glued to Twitter, the other to CNN, and my Third Eye on the tube of hand sanitizer by the door, wondering how a couple jiggers shaken with some leftover apple cider and a dash of bitters might go down. I remained dry. I wasn’t going to let a mob of treasonous mouthbreathers (ballcaps and suits alike) f*ck up my January recovery. Nor will it interrupt this F&D newsletter. Our motto: Neither rain nor snow nor seditious white riot stays this courier from the swift completion of his appointed rounds. So hot on the heels of the Meat Project zine—[El Che]( jefe John Manion and Hennessy’s COVID-friendly guide to building a backyard firepit—the creators have teamed up with Plate Magazine’s Chandra Ram, [Christine Cikowski, Josh Kulp, and Alex Skrzypczyk]( to launch another zine to guide you through a monumental but satisfying DIY home cooking project. Illustrated by artist Silvia Hidalgo, it unlocks the secrets behind SDC’s 16-year-old winter signature. At this writing, they still had a little more than a grand to go on [their Kickstarter]( to cover the printing costs, so depechez-vous. About those matzo balls: [Eleven City Diner]( owner Bradley Rubin gently reminded me that the South Loop’s 14-year-old deli is still alive and serving its own mbs, which I haven’t had in years but remember being pretty spot on. And Andy Kalish of [Sam & Gertie’s]( got back to me about how he pulls off the vegan matzo ball soup he be offering on Wednesdays, beginning with Inauguration Day. He makes a super-concentrated stock using the typical chicken stock veggies. For the schmaltz, he concentrates a portion of it even further and adds a seaweed gelling agent to give it that jiggle. And for the balls, he subs a mix of flax and aquafaba (canned chickpea liquid) to act as the binder in place of the egg. “If you’re asking how we’re keeping our shit together operating a highly specialized deli during a pandemic,” he added, “I eat too much and smoke really good Turkish weed.” That works for idiot insurrections too. Absent the swift exercise of the 25th Amendment, I think I’ll try that for the next two weeks. Sincerely, [Build your own Chicago bar cart]( The at-home bar cart starter kit that supports local businesses By [Jenna Rimensnyder]( [@j_rimensnyder]( [It’s suddenly matzo ball madness up in here]( An unscientific survey of classic and upstart floaters and sinkers By [Mike Sula]( [@MikeSula]( [Extra! Extra! Chicago Food Writing Inside!]( Read all about it in the Chicago FoodCultura Clarion. By [Mike Sula]( [@MikeSula]( [The year in pivots]( Chicago restaurants ate shit this year. A lot of shit was still pretty great. By [Mike Sula]( [@MikeSula]( [Issue of Jan 7-20, 2021 Vol. 50, No. 8]( [Download Issue]( (PDF) [View this e-mail as a web page]( [DONATE]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2021 Chicago Reader Store, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from Chicago Reader Store Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader Store 2930 S. Michigan Ave.Chicago, IL 60616 [Add us to your address book](