Gifted Gourmet

Methinks Shirley will never "sign off on" anything not done quite properly and to her exacting standards ... after all, she is a biochemist by profession!

Thank you so much, Rachel, for locating this highly appropriate thread again! Now I simply must get myself down to try those stone crab claws after those up close photos!!

more Corriher .... Too much is never enough!

Aha! I rest my case! Res ipsa loquitur, FG!

carp Substitutes: buffalofish OR bluefish (flakier) OR perch OR bass pike Substitutes: wall-eye Information from Cook's Thesaurus

Cholent is more about the meat, from my experience, Fat Guy .. and the kishke resplendent on top of it all ... but I will accept your explanation and rethink this dish ... everyone will be downing their divine cassoulets and I will shed salty tears into my cholent pot ... Don't cry for me, cassoulet lovers with apologies to Andrew Lloyd Weber ...

That I know all too well .... not the stealing part! all cultures have made their own variations upon a theme over the centuries ... Cholent I can make ... and it will approximate the experience of a lovely cassoulet ... but I want it to be real! There is no way to make other things taste like the real thing .. pork is pork, after all ... My closest friend made me a kosher duck prosciutto and gave it to me for Chanukkah .. it was lovely, but it was not the real thing ... I know, I know, picky, picky ...

It is only my *mishegas, you know .. of course there are approximations .. I know .. it is my current state of rebellion which doesn't allow me to substitute ingredients ... nothing realistic, only in my head ... *adj : senseless; crazy [syn: meshugge, meshugga, meshuggeneh, meshuggener]

Absolutely, Dale! Take a look: directions and maps from a few major SE cities main website for Boone Hall Plantation A lovely place, it appears .. and that combined with the oyster roast? Priceless!

Michelle, as I have been known to state here on eGullet, when the issues of kosher substitutes are mentioned, I tend to avoid them .. over the years of keeping a kosher home, I have relied upon many of them with only moderate successes ... so, I avoid ... actually, if memory serves me correctly, I think we both discussed this with Daniel Rogov on the desserts thread about parve desserts ... real things always are my issue ... So, back to kosher substitutes in the cassoulet? Never the real thing and the taste to me will not be the same ... what I most desire is authenticity in my ingredients ... were there no pork products in this dish, I would have proceeded with great vigor and enthusiasm!

Nope, older implies dentures, Depends, a walker, and Viagra .... I think using the term mature is less devastating ... now decrepit is more my style actually! Thanks for the laugh, Mabelline! Since I have heard on good authority that "sixty is the new forty", I am feeling positively vibrant and energized ...

Could??? Have already done that on so many occasions that my Dell monitor looks like a well-used throat swab (sans the strep germs! )

Can you imagine how positively green with envy I am at these words??? but make it rare, please ....

Perhaps that this remarkable book might inspire her to at least try out some recipes and become a bit more adventurous ... Cookbooks sometimes give one a little "push" to experiment ... or maybe she'll just want to try it some years from now when she is more 'ambitious'? (alternate word here? mature! )

That would most definitely work for me!

The holiday season is in full swing, as they say, and the meals we have been eating are replete with all manner of sublime and divinely decadent pleasures ... That said, what was the one food item which will mark Christmas 2004 for you tastewise? Does the memory of that taste still linger on your tongue?

Go really early .. the Orange Bowl will be a huge factor at one of the best known places for tourists! But if you do get in, please tell us all about your experience there!

Low Country Oyster Festival

why am I hearing Al Dente's pre-Thanksgiving plea for how to make a kosher collard greens?? and the chorus of responses screamed "smoked turkey leg" ... not the same, I tell you.. never the same ... dilemma resolved on kosher kollard greens

I have Les Halles ... that's a plus ... but ... the downside? keep kosher kitchen and risk-averse .... there is a lot of bacon and pork in this recipe ... classic cassoulet is very pig-friendly ... in the spring, perhaps Bloviatrix and Swisskaese and I will invite you folks to a gefilte fish cooking contest ...

I, too, am constantly appalled about the casual way in which holiday staff in restaurants is treated after they come to work on a big holiday, when others are lounging at home enjoying the big day ... now, given that the tips at IHOP are never going to qualify as "sumptuous", even a few dollars extra on a holiday says something about the value we place upon those who serve us ...

How about this scenario? Jason and Steven fly around the country (using their eGullet One jet) to taste test and objectively evaluate the results ... or we would FedEx them the "results" frozen in baggies ... They would have a rubric created for the cassoulet and, as you so correctly surmised, give the results a 10 or less, based upon things they found properly eGullet-replicated from whatever the original recipe ... Yeah, that works for me!

And so the cult continues to swallow up yet another unsuspecting victim ... Tapenade, huh?? O-live hashalom ...

Living well is the best revenge ... George Herbert, English clergyman & metaphysical poet (1593 - 1633) Good for you! Enjoy Belize! You have earned it ...

Merry Christmas to you and your family, Marlene! Your pictures and blog have made this season an even brighter one for us here at eGullet! Greatly appreciate your sharing this cooking experience with us who hunger for all manner of things southern Enjoy the fruits of your labor, kick back, and relax with those who love you!