Gifted Gourmet

Right from Czechoslovakia .... It was, if I recall correctly, a spongy, cut in a thick oval white slice, bready dumpling resting on the meats and gravy in this dish.... wish I had a picture for you .. it was not a biscuit in any way, shape, or form ... not a flake to be seen!! Okay, here on the Slovakia websiteChef Stephan Benchik has photographs of the dumplings .. click on dinner menu first .. then on Duck "Europa" or on Svieckova in a separate window, you will see the dumplings ... spongy white ovals ...

I had bread dumplings at a local restaurant here in Atlanta, Slovakia, and spoke to the chef about how he prepared them .. he confided in me that they took a good amount of the day but were a requisite part of his eastern European cuisine... and so he continured to prepare them ... after eating them, I could easily understand the entire process ... and his thinking!

At my first, quick cursory reading of this thread, Cynical Chef, I was unaware of your reference to Bill Neal .. with a bit of Googling, I found what is indeed a treasure trove of his writing in his numerous books: Bill Neal's southern food writings ..lots of them! Bill Neal's Southern Cooking Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie Good Old Grits Cookbook : Have Grits Your Way The Last Frontier : The Story of Hardeman County Remembering Bill Neal : Favorite Recipes from a Life in Cooking Through the Garden Gate Back to Cynical Chef's initial premise: I was reading an article from CNN which directly touched upon this topic and it noted: and Please read the other points on this topic as well here ... from 2000 but still insightful

Thank you both, abbe and Joanne, for your contributions to this thread .... I had no idea of what was involved in being a maitre d' until I found your book, abbe, and began to read it! You are something else and I, for one, am duly impressed!

the article from NYT You eating more cereal now? Know anyone who is? Is this a possible carb-backlash to Atkinsing? Ah, 'noshtalgia' once again! the desire to return to the womb ... I don't wanna grow up, Wendy!

If Anne Rivers Siddons thinks so highly of it, and of him, then I will definitely buy it! Ode to Joy is a testimonial to my own life's motto!

all in good time, Ling ... patience allows us to learn from, and delight in, the thinking behind these guesses ...

Thanks for all you have done here and on the Manresa website! Having had the tasting menu at David Kinch's restaurant, I can see why you are so pleased! This restaurant needs the kind of site you have created to represent what it offers to its guests .. kudos to you both!

He doesn't care as much about the grits, I'll venture, as that okra he loves to rhapsodize about ...

Ach, vell Herr Doctor Freud, I am already "out" .. and I know a slimy green pod when I see one ... and nestled snugly in the bottom of my Waterford crystal relish tray on Thanksgiving ain't where I want to discover that pod .. lurking .. hiding behind the celery and trying to "blend" in ... Okay, Mayhaw, I'll double the meds and see how I feel then ... even okra paranoids are sometimes right ... and, apparently, the same name, Toasted!

Yes to the carrot batons and celery sticks, lots of olives, occasional gherkin sneaks in .. but nevah evah to the okra, Mayhaw ... verboten to the tenth power!!

Actually, there is no set number, I rather imagine ... Ghee, you folks are actually ruminating about this question! Bravo! You have made my pappadums quiver in anticipation of the answer to the fourth cuisine ...

Beautiful story indeed, mklynch, I am moved to tears .. and pleased your mother is fine!

actually the fourth is not such a stretch ... keep trying ....

mklynch, I am most impressed with your story! It is perfect for this thread .. and congratulations! How was Greystone, by the way??

Do you know which are the four greatest cuisines in history? What is the basis for your choices? Which is your very favorite? Why did you choose this over others? Do you use this in your recipe planning? Bonus question, but quite simple really, which cuisine is considered by many to be the standard against which all other cuisines are measured?

Beginnings in using items of necessity? Creating from what is available and easy to find?

Thank you so much for adding this to my "things to read" ever-multiplying list, Rebel Rose! You are so right, it is incredibly addictive!! In reading the list of contests, I remembered that I had once entered the Lindsay Olive Contest with my garlic-cream cheese-ripe olive spread ... but I never heard from them ...

I know why but it isn't about the taste ... rather, it is because they are scavengers, bottom feeders .. which, I assume is reflected in the taste of their meat ... Thanks, Robyn, for this!

Top Ten Bistro Cookbooks and, as you can see, there are some on this list which we have discussed in this thread ... Caprial, Sigal, Washburn, O'Connor, and Dannenburg .. to name but a few .. or is that "feu"??

I often find cooking contests which I invariably want to see eGulleters enter and, of course, win! Have you ever entered a cooking contest? If so, what was it for? Did you win? Place? Was there a prize? Was it exciting? Will you tell us all about it? I find these things most interesting! Here are some of the past competitions we have discussed here at eG: KFC Sidedish Contest Best Burger Contest The CIA Apple Pie Contest Best Grilled Cheese Sandwich Competition The $100,000 Chicken Cooking Contest

The catfish thread ....

One I love is called Daily Soup Cookbook by Leslie Kaul

I don't see why that would not be possible. It can be done with the right motivation and expertise ... plus a little cash ... we had a thread on doing a tasting menu at home .. same concept. The tasting menu .. is it doable at home?

With all due respect to your reasoning, Jaymes, I still think that the answer to Cynical Chef's initial query is to be found in Varmint's single line about teaching our kids the rudimentary skills of cooking southern foods like biscuits, greens, etc. and Cracker Barrel isn't anything I want my children to consume ...