Mayhaw Man

.Thanks for that. I'm glad that you had a wonderful and interesting trip and I am even happier that you shared it with us. Thanks for the photos and for the narrative. They are both equally enthralling.

Some Canadian folk should be enjoying some delicious fried chicken right now (or not ). I wonder how it's going?

Marlene, I'm at work and you have the recipe. You can post if you like, or I can do it when I get home. Love, Brooks

The key to the "next day award" is to make sure that the chicken is well crusted (see LoveBenton's frying hints #2). Cold fried chicken is a fine thing, although I don't reccomend that you eat it as cold as it might get up there at a picnic this time of year. Just enjoy it over the sink for breakfast.

Two words: Rice. Gravy. This simple combination is your friend when it comes to fried chicken.

Your chances of finding Lyle's Golden Syrup are probably about equal to Marlene's of finding Steen's. ← Karo dude, Karo. I don't need no stinking Lyle's. The maple syrup is a big enough departure for me. I have about 30 pounds of picked pecans in the freezer that came from our farm, but I only have a limited amount of maple syrup, and I won't be getting more until next Summer, when we return to the Northland.

For the sake of comparison I am going to make this pie with some fabulous duty free maple syrup that I bought this summer at the duty free in the Winnipeg Airport while unloading loonies that I was stuck with. I bet it's going to be awesome. Thanks Dave.

That looks alot like the pie dough recipe I use (out of Martha's Pie's and Tart's). One more hint-I keep the flour in the freezer as well. The colder everything is, the better it works. Also, in this part of the world, if meals and flours are not kept in the freezer, you quickly develop some crunchy bonuses in your flour.

Standing by, awaiting orders. Or clueless questions. Or whatever.

I am making pralines today, as a matter of fact. Lots of them, as they are much easier to do in a production line style. If I get happy enough I may even frustrate myself tonight by taking a shot at some divinity (divinity is not genetic, my paternal grandmother could make them in her sleep -she couldn't cook, but man could she make candy). Crawfish boil late this afternoon, impromptu. Four families with people already in town and nothing else to do. Prices are really cheap for this time of year, and the size is not bad, so what the hell? Went duck hunting this morning on a bluebird day. Total bust, duckwise, although we did catch 6 nice reds on the way in-so Monday night dinner is set. Grilled, skin on redfish. With a thin bbq type sauce. I love those things when they are cooked that way.

You people should really consider moving. It's too damn cold up there.

Happily, I have eaten more things on the list than not, and am at least aware of the items that I am missing, but I am vexed by one item: What the hell is a "Moreton Bay Bug" and is it something that I should go out of my way to get next time I am in Britain (I am assuming that Moreton Bay is there, but of course it could be on the other side of the world)? I could, of course, get my answer from the nice people at Google, but it would be so much more fun to hear it from ya'll.

It's true, chicks dig a good cook. I have actually become immune to swooning. I look for groveling now, as a true sign that I am not just being used for my Gumbo.

White Redneck here (although a very genteel and well raised one, just ask my Mama ) This is a pretty good version of the recipe, but most of the time for parties, people make them in pitchers (silver water pitchers, of course) and shake them to order, as they lend themselves pretty well to that. They are damn tasty. Milk and bourbon actually go pretty well together. Also, for you blender drink fans, a frozen milk punch is pretty great on a hot late afternoon when relaxing on the veranda is called for (or the fire escape, or whatever). Just add extra bourbon and a bit of extra nutmeg as it will kind of get lost in the ice if you don't. If you are going all the way, like some on you cocktail nuts do, you can make the ice for blending out of milk. Seersucker and white bucks not required (and never after Labor Day or before Easter-that would be the height of tackiness-people would accuse you of being from Tackistan), although a lovely, fair flower of the South to share the drink with is always a nice touch.

Rachel Ray announced, in the opening of her "$40 Buck a Day" show in New Orleans that: This is the kind of research and hard hitting journalism that I have come to expect from Food Network. This just in: French Canadians missed the boat on the Founding of New Orleans

Milk Punches are still a main part of the cocktail repetoire of the American South. Typically, at something like a wedding brunch, or a nice party before a fall football game, you will see three things (along with the usual bar) -mimosas, bloody marys, and milk punches. Here they are made primarily with Bourbon, although some people prefer the more traditional brandy. Many brides, my wife included, here receive monagrammed silver beakers as wedding gifts. A frosty silver beaker full of decent bourbon, nutmeg, and milk is a fine thing to behold. It looks as good as it tastes.

Excellent. Really excellent.

What kind of lemons? Those big ones that are the size of baseballs? Like in Placquemine Parish. I love those.

2004 Orange and Satsuma Crop is IN! And, as the gentleman from NJ can attest, it is a pretty good crop. The fruit is delicious. The satsumas have been plentiful and cheap (5 bucks will get you 10 pounds, that's alot of satsumas) and the navels are as good as they have been in a long time. Dense and sweet. I love those things. Really. We eat 3 bags of satsumas a week and have knocked off a couple of bags of navels making juice this week. If you can find them, don't pass them up. Louisiana citrus is the best.

There are many cakes that I prefer to make with brown sugar. Dense cakes, like pound cakes, seem to lend themselves to the molassses flavors found there. I just replace 1/1 for the other kinds of sugar called for.

It just so happens that I know a bit about this particular subject. I installed and operated a large number of breweries and brewpubs in the United States, Mexico, Hong Kong and Ireland in a period between 1987 and 2000. The world is awash with used equipment from failed brewing ventures ( I should know, I have been buying and selling it for years). There is a reason that there is so much used equipment around. Many (almost all) of the people who got involved in the brewpub and brewing business in the 90's were beer enthusiasts who were able to put together enough money to open a brewpub. Most of the time, they spent the majority of their efforts and resources on the brewing and beer serving side of the operation and gave almost no thought to the restaurant side of the issue. This is a really, really, bad way to go into the brewpub business. I have worked for alot of people who lost alot of money (and a few that continue, to this day, to make money and prosper) because they made the error of not understanding that they were operating a restaurant that served beer (hopefully good beer), and not a brewery that happened to have a restaurant. That being said, the restaurant business can be incredibly satisfying and the beer business even more so-and a well run brewpub is a hell of a fun thing to have. It can be done, and done well, but there has to be as much, or more, attention paid to the BUSINESS of the place, as there is to the beer. Now, lecture over. You probably didn't need it, but I can't help myself anymore. I don't want to see anymore trainwrecks. As far as the manufacturer goes, I don't know anyone who has installed the stuff, and you will need to find some (hopefully a few) people who are using it, GO TO THE PLACES! and talk to the BREWER (not the owner, unless it is the same person) and find out what he really thinks about the equipment and the beer that comes out of it. this conversation is usually best after a liberal amount of truth syrum has been applied to the brewer-give him a couple of beers and then switch him over to Scotch or Irish-you'll find out more than you wanted to know. This research is not something that can be done with a phone call and it is not something that EVER should be done with a manufacturers rep in tow. Just get them to give you a list of the places that are using the stuff and do the rest yourself. Now, to the extract (and then directly back to used equipment). It is really easy to make good beer with extract. Homebrewers do it all of the time. It is really, really hard to make GREAT beer with extract. In fact, I have never had any. Ever. Is this what you want? No, of course not. Am I opinionated? Why yes, I am. Years and years of hard experience has taught me that if one's goal is to serve the best, then make it with the best. Grain comes in sacks, by the pallet load-you mash it in a mash tun--this means that, you will need three more things than you would have bought with your extract system. 1) Storage space for grain. Not so much. A pallet is 48X40X60 (or so). You will need some roasted malts, which you will only order by the sack, so not much space needed here. 2) You will need a mash tun of some sort. And the little bit of gear that goes with it (and that will all depend on how much money you want to spend and how much automation you want to get involved with). 3) Some farmer to haul off spent grain. One phone call to the County Extension Service will handle this-make a trade for it. I used to trade ours at Abita for beef. Lots of grass and brewers grain fed beef. This is the one thing that I miss out of that deal. That was some awesome meat. I've still got a trade going, but the meat is not nearly as fine. Now, on to the used equipment--There is tons of it out there.and you can pick it up for really cheap if you do some shopping. Clearly there is no guarantee on it, and it's user beware, but most of it is really simple (aside from the boiler-unless it is under warranty I always reccomend buying one locally. You can always incorporate it into your hot water system so it can be a main source of your hot water needs for the whole place. Boilers are great to have around) and unless there's something visibly wrong with it (which there often is, as no one loves the stuff as they once did when they are uninstalling it one step ahead of the bankruptcy vultures) you are most likely in good shape. Also, if buying used equipment, try to find the guy who brewed on it and talk to him about it-he can tell you what worked and didn't, and what kind of shape that it was in when it was decommissioned. You should, really, get together a restaurant concept, whether it is your own or with the help of a group of professionals, and then sit down and say to yourself, "Self, would this place work as a stand alone restaurant, if I did not have the pub?" And if your answer is no, you should pretty much think about it some more. BUT, if your answer is yes, you should go ahead full steam (with the idea that you will have one years worth of operating capital in the bank, even if you don't get a customer in the door for a year) and put your heart into it. It's a great gig when it works. There is nothing like sitting around in your own place, drinking your own beer, while those around you look at you admiringly and tell you (over and over again) that you have "the greatest job in the world". You can smile back, because you know that they are right. My email is at the bottom of this post if you ever want to talk about your project. Edited to Add: If you ever, and I mean ever, use the term "pub grub" in any kind of description of your place or in any kind of promotional material--you will fail. Always. Without exception. Don't ever say that word. It is the kiss of death. Really.

In New Orleans, among those of Sicilian heritage, it is known as Tomato Gravy or Red Gravy. This article is about Rocky and Carlo's in New Orleans East ( "The East" in local parlance). It was written by the lovely Sara Roahen, a member of our august organization and a member of the Southern Foodways Alliance. Anything comes with gravy if you specify the color: brown or red?

I love it. It's the only thing that I buy anymore. And I'm with you on the roll. As long as you are used to dealing with a scale (for baking) it's no big deal and a good package.

URL, please? ← Your wish is my command.

Then you might enjoy this thread. One of our members, Placebo, is doing a foodblog this week and is, coincidentally, employed at Beecher's in Seattle as a cheesemaker. I don't know if his job extends to butter making, but you should ask.