Priscilla

Suvir, we love mango lassi at our house, as you describe, with an Indian meal or alone. So good! We have our to-go sources, but I wonder if you would describe how you make them at home for yourself? Like other seemingly simple things they have to be just right! Priscilla

So now we're claiming butter apostrophe-N olive oil as some sort of po-mo innovation? Is that anything like a superrich rock star opining "imagine no possessions"? And yes, yes, the song IS in my head now, against my most fervent and constant wishes, but YEARS of such assiduous wishing have done me pretty much NO EFFING GOOD on that account, have they? And, but, Dr. Mr. Balic, if you were going to research an archetypal dish such as the presently discussed, where would you look? Priscilla

oh priscilla wasn't referring to you silly. it was that damned adam balic who was throwing around absolutes as if they were chunks of cheese at a tuscan dinner. ooh, bad analogy. sorry! Tommy is...correct? And chivalrous, to boot. As for Mr. Dr. Adam Balic: THAT's rich, an Australian, even an Australian living in Scotland, needing practice being loud and brash. (Not a criticism, an affinity!) I was OF COURSE not meaning you in particular, SobaAddict70, or anyone else, in particular, for that matter! As I said, the problem (in any cuisine) would be--IS-- mindless or inappropriate use (of ANY ingredient). Priscilla

Italians use cheese in pasta dishes. It seems unnecessarily chilling to conversation to invoke dubious absolutes. My goodness, as has already begun here, every single no-cheese citation could be countered with a yes-cheese example by anyone with even a smattering of Italian cookery knowledge. What is usefully avoided, of course, is mindless or inappropriate use of cheese, and not only in Italian cuisine, and not just cheese! Priscilla

Miss J I couldn't find the kedgeree discussion on the India board, but then of course I am inept. Can you point me to it? Your dinner sounded fantastic. Last night's dinner: Tonkatsu (Japanese fried port cutlet), quick cucumber pickles, sake-simmered carrots, marinated bean sprouts, nice rice from the cooker. Current fave bottled tonkatsu sauce is Kikkoman, which surprised me but the proof's in the pud and when it appeared at our house, due to being the only choice in the supermarket and I wasn't running to the Japanese supermarket just for that one item no way, we were astounded by its spicy goodness. I like it when ignorant snobbishness, my OWN ignorant snobbishness, gets a little cured. Priscilla

Wow I like that descriptor, Tommy, "large parcels" of flavor. "Sitting there"--"plain as day." I like it. I'm serious! Priscilla

I am no expert, but I do know that, MUCH to its credit, Persian cuisine does not shy away from using plenty of butter--the success of the basic rice dish, chelo, is dependent upon melted butter poured over and making its way down to become a golden-brown buttery ricey crust on the pan bottom, which one strives to remove (and there is a trick, of immersing the pan partly in cool water) all of a piece and serve atop the perfectly-cooked Basmati, everybody at the table getting a little. So in my experience Persian markets often have a good selection of butter not found in regular supermarkets, as per the lovely Lurpak. Other imported products, too, olives and capers and cornichons and Italian pastas and sparkling waters and oil, bales of flat-leaf parsley and cilantro for pennies, more more more, also often French-type bread, the best of which in Southern California is baked by Vietnamese bakers and is adamantly Frenchish in nature, the baguettes anyway. I should add, too, that the Persian women I have seen shopping at farmer's markets over the years seem not only impeccably dressed, exceedingly polite, uncompromising on veg quality (follow them to the best stuff), but also usually neurosurgeons or similar. In the interest of full disclosure I will say that behind my butter door is also a stick of Challenge so-called self-styled soi-disant European style, which I tried, OK, and found it to be oily and unpleasant. And Liza I think now that we've established Lurpak we need to know where you stand on the Beatles. Priscilla

Careful! He's still the NRA's prez, isn't he? (Taking the opportunity to wish you a very happy International Worker's Day.) Priscilla

Pork tenderloin, dusted with dry mustard and allowed to sit around a bit for the mustard to activate before being dusted again, this time with flour, and browned on all sides, salted and peppered, bunged into the oven to finish whilst I attended to the closing minutes of asparagus risotto. Deglazed with a hit of wine, seriously reduced, then a little heavy cream, allowed to reduce, salt and (especially) pepper adjusted, to make a little sauce. Tenderloin sliced, arrayed on the very last of my backyard curly endive, bolting faster than I can pick it now, risotto mounded on the other end of the platter, sauce over the pork, served! Bread based on that pain Italien in Bernard Clayton's Breads of France, a bread I've made for years but now am trying to make it happen with diastatic malt powder, rather than malt syrup. Priscilla

You are correct, Tommy, the overdub performances are absolutely brilliant. Kitchen Stadium-preferred pronounciations, e.g. the ubiquitously invoked FWAgra, have polluted my personal lexicon. Impressively consistent and respectful work by the actors, I think, and they're obviously working from an excellent, sensitive translation. Priscilla

I hope, IhopeIhopeIhope, that Korn NEVER EVER removes his shades. Such commitment, I submit, is very nearly the quintessence of superhiposity. Priscilla

Please. It is SOYLENT green. Behooves one to keep one's Charlton Heston references straight. You'll find some Yanks are a bit tetchy (today's OED WotD) on that account. Priscilla

Korn the band, or Korn the superhip Japanese musician/sometime Iron Chef judge, Tommy? Priscilla

Yvonne, I already knew you had good taste on account of what you said elsewhere about the Beatles. Priscilla

Wow CK Tillamook whey butter sounds great. (Makes me think of those Italian pigs with the proscuitto-intended legs being fed Parmigiano Reggiano whey.) Is it salted? I can find Tillamook here in Southern California, but never unsalted. I do rely on Tillamook cheese, so dependably good, and, I think, highly underrated, outside the Western U.S. Priscilla

B Edulis thank you for providing those photos. Beautiful work! Very inspiring. Any particular dishware you utilized? (Other than the commemoratives.) I'll be redoing my stove's backsplash soon, and while I am grout-averse in cooking areas, tiling is of course an option. And I ask myself, is broken-plate tiling an option? Hmmmm. That offset-hardware sink is very cool, too. Priscilla

Malawry, Keller's. Thank you. Wonder why they use the two names? Hope you try Lurpak sometime. Of course, there's the unpredictable freshness thing. But one hopes for the best. And I too am intrigued by these Italian butter references. Priscilla

I've been using a Danish butter, Lurpak, for a short while now, which is blessedly cultured and, crucially, fresh. Found it at my local Persian market. (A good place to shop for butter, and other good things.) It is delicious--has become the one to beat. Just about exactly twice what my default good-quality (but not cultured) unsalted costs, from Alta-Dena, a Southern California dairy. But Lurpak's low-moisture density and rich cultured flavor is worth far more than twice the price, to me. I have bought Plugra in the past, at Trader Joe's, but freshness was a problem, or rather lack of freshness. One never knows on the consumer end exactly where the breakdown in handling occurred, does one. Would be willing to give it another try, if my Lurpak connection begins to fail. Isn't Plugra is sold under another name as well? Some regions may know it under another label. Priscilla

Wow that was great! Worthy information combined with good writing. Looking forward to the next installment. Priscilla

Jinmyo, your method is obviously perfection, and, instanteous-like, was adopted by me as my method, too. By your leave, that is. But please everybody don't hate me if I sometimes use Emmenthal. Priscilla

Well, now this is the thing: Croque Monsieurs I have had in France have, to a sandwich, NOT had bechamel! (Made 'em last night here at home, avec, however--so see sometimes the Southern California ones DO, turns out. Had the dread roast chicken on, rather than ham, too.) No less French an authority than Monsieur Jacques Pepin indicates chicken for his Madame. I recently saw a recipe from Nancy Silverton of Campanile and La Brea Bakery where she makes a full-on Mornay sauce which is then broiled, which sounds good, doesn't it? And I think I remember some Patricia Wells citation somewheres in one of her books about a variation with a slice of tomato, which had its own name, too. Will research. Priscilla

Does anyone else make these at home? They're a staple in my house, and the deconstructed ingredients would form the basis of any Essentials list I might assemble. But ah, what ARE the ingredients. Bread, yes. Cheese, yes. Butter, yes. Ham or chicken, yes. But after that, the deluge. Bechamel? Mustard? And WHAT ABOUT Madame, is it chicken (instead of ham) or an egg (in addition to ham) that makes it Madame not Monsieur? And then, technique. Broiled, open-faced? Oven-toasted, closed? Dip the sandwich, as is occasionally suggested, in egg batter, getting close to what I know as a Monte Cristo (which has ham AND chicken, as well as cheese, inside). I don't always make them the same way, certainly partly because Croque Monsieur is a late-night lifesaver and often subject to stock on hand. Your thoughts, Hobson? Priscilla

I like large-scale flatware with decent table knives. My set is Christofle stainless steel, which I acquired modularly over time, after using a typical cheap disgusting pressed eight-thousand-piece service. It occurs to me I don't know if it is still being made--I've had it for something over 10 years--when looking to replace the odd wayward tablespoon I have patronized this company, Replacements, Ltd., and been very satisfied. I was interested to see the other silverware replacement houses; I do like to survey the available, if possible. I also look for silverplate dessert spoons in thrift stores, no particular pattern, but must appeal and meet size-quality-heft criteria. Priscilla

Wow B Edulis, (difficult to keep myself from typing Bedulis), that is a brilliant concept, tiling with plates. I have seen broken dishware incorporated into broken-tile mosaic construction, and wondered if plates so used broke of natural causes. But I guess even if they were broken apurpose they are better off than they would be languishing in a thrift store. In use I never fret much when something breaks. There are so many beautiful dishes in the world I think of it as making room for something else. Priscilla

I know most people prefer white, and that it's the choice too of most restaurants, and I don't hate it, either. But I will put in that quality and design are what's important to me, and there are white dishes and white dishes. But my own very disparate collection, American, mostly, but I do not reject English or French, assembled over years and indeed, assembling as we speak, is typified by pink. Just recently added a couple of pieces of Harkerware with the most beautiful speckled pink interior and semi-matte grey outside. (No Fiesta, Stellabella--HLC's pink is too rose for me.) Course then, there's the Villeroy and Boch green and black marble chargers, big as a steering wheel, and the green French stoneware, and a bit of Heathware, waiting to be pressed into service. Never EVER paper napkins, worldwithoutendamen. Priscilla