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Post in The best English version of Larousse Gastronomique
I have a classic edition dated 1984 that's tattered and the cover and dust jacket are long gone.  But I refer to it often as I love not only the feel of a hard cover book and looking at the photos, but I don't find the same reference in online sources.  For example, a specific classic ingredient or technique.  It was a gift from some folks I worked with many years ago in a business unrelated to food and cooking but they new it was my passion.
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Post in Cooking with Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
Carta di Musica with Roasted Eggplant Spread, Herbs and Ricotta Salad from Six Seasons p 235.

This uses the crisp Whole Grain Carta di Musica crackers p 46, spread with a thick layer of the Roasted Eggplant Spread p 235 and topped with a "salad" of fresh herbs and scallions and a sprinkle of ricotta salata.
The flavors and textures are great - lots of contrast between the herbs dressed with lemon and olive oil, the creamy eggplant spread and crisp cracker base. I'd find it a little awkward to eat in polite company but it was delicious. <br style="color:#1d2129;font-size:14px;"> Served this with extra carta di musica crackers and eggplant spread, olives and roasted vegetables.<br style="color:#1d2129;font-size:14px;"> The Roasted Eggplant Spread p 235 is very simple and lets the flavor of the eggplant come through without being overwhelmed with garlic or other seasonings. <br style="color:#1d2129;font-size:14px;"> The Whole Grain Carta di Musica crackers p 46 were a bit of work. I baked them on the baking stone in the CSO to avoid heating up the big oven.  
I needed to make them a little smaller to fit the stone (~ 40g dough/cracker vs 53g if I'd followed the recipe) but I think they came out OK. I'm sure this would be good with purchased cracker breads but I liked the whole grain flavors and am glad I tried them. They stay crisp for a while, but do eventually soften under the eggplant spread so I'd recommend leaving a good rim around the outside that will stay crispy.
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Post in Cook-Off 59: Cured, Brined, Smoked and Salted Fish
My fish curing/smoking experience has been limited to dry curing and hot smoking. Always came out ok, but never could nail down the saltiness.
This is the last smoked trout I made two weeks ago. I was in a rush and slit the fish down to the bone to speed things up. Then I decided to debone and butterfly it.
The fish was covered thoroughly in a mixture of:
1/2 c Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1/4 c dark brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper.
It sat in the cure exactly one hour then rinsed, dried with paper towels and went on my smoker, so no drying.
It was smoked for about 1.5 hours. It came out great.
I have tried several cure ratios and curing times, sometimes twice with seemingly same weight and thickness of fish, and yet came out with different results.
Perhaps if I knew what a final (acceptable) salt content in the fish before smoking, I could calculate a brine saturation based on weight and let brine to equilibrium.
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Post in What Are You Preserving, and How Are You Doing It? (2016–)
Was a busy canning day yesterday.
 
Tons and tons of cucumbers this year so I made a double batch of sweet dill relish.  My mother-in-law loves this stuff and I've grown to like it too.
 

Then I did 3 pints of pickled jalapenos
 

 
Dried some cherry tomatoes in the oven and then put into oil and into the fridge
 

 
Now I'm getting ready to start a new crock of pickles
 
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Post in The Bread Topic (2016–)
First loaf of bread I've baked in at least six weeks. King Arthur's Harvest Grains bread, except instead of whole wheat flour I use sprouted wheat flour. It didn't rise tremendously
 in either the bowl or in the loaf pan, but when I gave up and popped it in the CSO, I got a tremendous oven spring. Bread setting, 350F, 25 minutes, tented the last 10 with foil.
 
I spritzed the top with oil and added the topping. Should've taken time to do an egg wash. All the seeds are falling off.
 
Probably won't slice until in the morning for toast; crumb shot then. This has become my go-to sandwich bread.
 
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Post in What do you do when you can't stand the heat but can't get out of the kitchen?
no AC in Vienna, my contribution to this thread: "vitello tonnato", using veal tongue, store bought. Leftover tuna sauce can be used on tomatoes making tomato tonnato 😉
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Post in eG Cook-Off #79: Resurrecting and Rethinking Summer Salads, Summer Food’s Unpopular Kid
I went back to refer to my 1913 edition of the Boston Cooking -School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer and was surprised that many of the salad recipes were similar to what we would prepare and eat this summer.  There are 11 seafood salad recipes, including a sardine salad, 3 different lobster salads and an interesting oyster and grapefruit salad that I think could be quite refreshing on a hot day.  It's very similar to a tomato aspic I make that has the flavors of a bloody mary cocktail.
 
"parboil one and one-half pints oysters, drain, cool and remove tough muscles. Cut three grape fruits in halves, crosswise, remove pulp and drain. Mix oysters with pulp, and season with six tablespoons tomato catsup, four tablespoons grape fruit juice, one tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce, eight drops Tabasco sauce and one-half teaspoon salt.  Refill grape fruits skins with mixture and garnish with curled celery."
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Post in Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Butterscotch panna cotta with candied pecans.
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Post in eG Cook-Off #79: Resurrecting and Rethinking Summer Salads, Summer Food’s Unpopular Kid
I've been looking through some of my summer salad photos for some ideas on putting together a new recipe for our Cook-Off and I came across one of my favorites that I came up with last year, green beans with egg salad.  My Mother was always a stickler for bringing any mayonnaise based summer salad along on a picnic, but if it came right out of the kitchen onto the table on the deck, well then that was ok as long as the salad didn't sit in the sun too long.
 
I blanch the beans for just a few minutes in salt water with a spoon of "Fruit-Fresh."  It's mainly used in canning and preserving but I use it for blanching green vegetables to help retain a bright color.  Then I chill the beans until ready to serve.  For my version of egg salad I make my own mayonnaise using Greek olive oil, mustard, fresh oregano and a good amount of lemon juice.  I like the strong flavor of Greek or Spanish olive oils.  Then some finely diced celery, chives and dill relish, fresh dill and celery seeds.  One thing that's not in the photo is a garnish of fried onions.  Yep, the ones out of the can for some crunch and flavor.  The salad is great for one serving or for a larger group, but take my Mother's advice and keep the egg salad chilled!
 
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Post in Trader Joe's Products (2017–)
Three shapes of Italian pasta priced at $2.69/500g pkg.  

I haven't tried them yet, but they look good. I particularly like the look of the little ridges on the orecchiette as it looks like it might help prevent them from nesting together so much.
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Post in eG Cook-Off #79: Resurrecting and Rethinking Summer Salads, Summer Food’s Unpopular Kid
The best salads I've made lately have been from Joshua McFadden's book Six Seasons.  The three summery raw corn salads have all been stellar. He often uses raw vegetables that are more often cooked, as in the Beet Slaw with Pistachios and Raisins that I posted here (recipe is available online at this link) which is kind of a riff on the old classic carrot and raisin salad.  

 
He regularly employs interesting combinations of raw, pickled and cooked vegetables.  A recent example was the String Beans, Pickled Beans, Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Olives on Tonnato that I posted here.
I don't think all the recipes necessarily hew to this cook-off's theme of updating old classic salads but I highly recommend Six Seasons if you're looking for ideas to update something you have in mind.    
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Post in Popsicles
Peach & Buttermilk

Top layer is 2 parts buttermilk, 1 part heavy cream, vanilla extract and a little simple syrup with chunks of fresh peach, bottom layer is roasted peach purée
 
Peach, buttermilk & bourbon

Roasted peaches, roughly blended with the same buttermilk mixture as above plus a little bourbon.
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eG Cook-Off #79: Resurrecting and Rethinking Summer Salads, Summer Food’s Unpopular Kid
The summer salad is often regarded as summer food's unpopular kid.  Sure, potato, pasta and egg salads are the standard bearers of summer salads, yet they seem stuck in a time warp in terms of creativity.

When I was growing up in the 1960's, the only "exotic" summer salad Mother served was a gelatin mold studded with shredded carrots and surrounded by heaps of Miracle Whip dotted with green olives.  We dreaded seeing Mother parade that salad out of the kitchen and put it on the picnic table yet we grudgingly ate it least we disappoint her.
 
Yet we should not ignore the basic elements of the summer salads of yesteryear.  One can easily use the concept of gelatin, fruits, vegetables and seafood into a contemporary and delicious salad that is perfect for the hot days of summer. 
 
Summer salads are well-adapted to a variety of cooking and preparation techniques, from poaching, grilling and roasting, to chilling, preserving and deep-frying.  And a summer salad benefits from a bevy of garnishes, cheese, spices and fresh herbs from the garden.

Let's join in the fun and present our summer salad bowls in eG Cook-Off #79: Resurrecting and Rethinking Summer Salads, Summer Food's Unpopular Kid.
 
(See the complete Cook-Off Index here, https://forums.egullet.org/topic/143994-egullet-recipe-cook-off-index/)
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Post in Tequila Cocktails
Infante (Giuseppe Gonzales) with 7 Leguas blanco tequila, lime juice, homemade orgeat. This really brings out the savory/peppery character of this tequila.
 
 

Post in Dinner 2018
Delectable!
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Post in Dinner 2018
Salsiccia Fennel Pizza with Caponata Topping
 
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Post in What Are You Preserving, and How Are You Doing It? (2016–)
Second crock of pickles started
 
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Post in Favorite balsamic vinegars
We managed to score a bottle. 
 
Well worth the expense and wait - a teaspoonful of complexity is the best way to describe the taste. Sweet-sharp with notes of oak, black pepper and vanilla. It lingers on your tongue for a few hours.
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Post in Jonathan Gold, LA Times restaurant critic dead at 57
OK well I've calmed down enough to write what I'm feeling. I am Los Angeles born and lived here always and was in the forefront of embracingn the various incredible food cultures and markets. I was a fixture at Grand Central and still remember a geoduk clam siphon giving me a nudge in a Korean fish market in the late 70's.  The day I first read the Counter Intelligence column  by Jonathan Gold in the LA Times was like finding your soul mate. I read his column religiously and was inspired always.  The Pulitzer was just icing on a  King Cake. RIP - your legacy is indescribably huge
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Shrimp and Grits
 Little cooler last night so Shrimp and Grits last night.
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Post in Dining in Bermuda
So I am back in Bermuda for the next couple of weeks, with my family.  We've rented a big old house and so will be cooking more than eating out, but I'll share my restaurant experiences here again.  Yesterday we went to Breezes at Cambridge Beaches, a casual beachside restaurant that is a two minute walk from the house we are staying at this week.  Drinks.  Left to right, a Pims No. 1, a Kamikaze, a Mai Tai, and a Dark and Stormy.
 

 
My nephew with the shellfish allergy chose a club sandwich
 

 
Most people got a fish sandwich on raisin bread with mango chutney and slaw. 
 

 
My brother in law chose a fish wrap
 

 
And my brother chose the pan seared snapper.
 

 
The teens got dessert, a brownie with ice cream
 

 
and a coconut-passionfruit panna cotta
 

 
Sunset from the beach at the house
 
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Post in Best Woks and Outdoor Wok Burners
...and here it is.
 

 
I hope he doesn't burn lunch while playing with his phone.
 
Edited to add:
 
Seems he managed to get off his phone long enough to cook successfully
 
Here are is staff lunch.


 
(Actually that is the next day, and a different member of staff cooked.)
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Post in Gardening: (2016–  )
We had a nice rain overnight so we decided it was a good time to pull most of the onions.  They sure didn't get very big this year.  I guess because it go so hot so early.  Will think about planting earlier next year.........
 

Todays other pickage
 
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Post in Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"
I had pain roustique dough sitting in the fridge for a week.  Work and all. It made a lovely loaf today.
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Post in Cold Noodles--Cook-Off 33
Inspired by the cook/off, we had some cold noodles today. The dressing was based on the 2 cold noodle recipes in eGullet mentioned above. I just mixed tahini, sesame oil, peanutbutter, rice wine vinegar, and sriracha together until it looked and tasted good. Besides that, it's just noodles and cucumber and some sesame seeds. Really lovely.
It did stick together during the hour or so I kept it waiting before dinner. It seems those noodles can go on absorbing dressing forever! I added a splash of cold water just before serving, just to thin everything and make the dish slippery again instead of stodgy.

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