rgruby

Nikolau's. There's a restaurant supply place on King around Sherbourne that I can't for the life of me remember the name of. I also buy a fair amount of stuff at Fortune on Spadina just north of Baldwin - Kensington (ie west) side. Fortune is more geared to home shoppers, but you can find pretty much anything you'd need there as a home cook, and I find the prices are often as good or better than the restaurant supply joints.

Yup, there is. It's here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=43712 D'oh! If I'd had the title correct - Decoding, not Deconstructing - I would have found it. Sorry 'bout that. But while we're here, does anybody know when it will be aired? For the record, we've merged the last three posts into the original thread

I just found this link: http://zeropointzero.com/ferran.html containing clips of Anthony Bourdain's documentary on El Bulli. Has this come out yet? If not, does anybody know when, where? Sorry to all if this has made the rounds already. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Actually, I can't, because I don't think I've actually had a Moroccan meal in Paris. (I might have the last time around, but I think it was probably Senagalese). My Moroccan meals were in Vannes and Toulouse this time round and Aix on a previous trip. As for moderately priced dining options in Paris that are not Moroccan, I could recommend a few things. There's a thread in the France board called something like "Can't miss places in Paris" that was helpful to me in planning our trip. There's always the Chinatowns of Belleville and near Place D'Italie. Now that I'm on this Moroccan kick I wish I'd asked the same question in the France board. But getting a bit off topic of Moroccan in New York! Best of luck with your search and have a great time in Paris.

I've added a few more: The Curry Secret by Kris Dhillon Flavor by Rocco DiSpirito (Don't snigger, it's really quite good) Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rogers Cooking by Hand by Paul Bertolli Taste, a new way to cook by Sybil Kapoor Salsas that Sing by Rick Bayless La Scienza in Cucina Vols 1 & 2 by Pellegrino Artusi (in Italian) La Mia Cucina Toscana by Pino Luongo 1 other Italian book I can't recall the title of New Food of Life by Najmieh Batmanglij Oh my, have I really acquired 11 (!?) cookbooks since I last posted here? I'm going to go back and check, but unless you here otherwise, 11 more. I'm editing this to add the Joy of Pickling. So make that 12 more.

Cafe Mogador? Not sure - don't think so. If memory serves, and it may not, it was towards 1st or 2nd, and fairly close to Houston. Not as far up as St. Marks I don't think. Hmm. Cafe Mogador doesn't sound familiar.

Just curious. For what it's worth, I live in the North-East (or South-Central Canada) and I don't really consider myself particularly dogmatic to cooking seasonally, but if foods don't travel well, or just are so substandard to the local, seasonal fare when available (tomatoes and corn on the cob to name two), then I minimize my use of them, substitute canned or frozen, etc. And, I try to buy and use produce that is available only seasonally. So, how seasonal are you in your cooking habits? (I'm referring more to using or not using products that are available in the markets rather than say methods of cookery like grilling more in the summer and making stews in the winter (although I certainly follow that pattern)). What do you not use out of season, even if it is available? And, with improved shipping methods etc., do you see yourself cooking "seasonally" less and less as more products in good conditionreach our markets? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

A recent trip to France, and a few Moroccan meals there has again piqued my interest in the food of Morocco. Can anyone out there tell me how the Moroccan places in NYC compare with those in France and, well, Morocco? I know we're talking gross generalizations here, but ... Also, the last time I was in NYC (2003) I ate at a small, homey Moroccan place in the East Village. However, I don't really know what the Moroccan resto "scene" is like in New York and environs. A quick search of this board reveals surprisingly little discussion. So I have a few questions - how many restaurants (roughly) serve true /authentic Moroccan cuisine (I guess as opposed to Moroccan inspired, or having a tajine thrown in amongst other non-Moroccan menu items)? Do the restaurants vary widely in price - i.e. is there a fine dining Moroccan place, something that may be aiming for a couple NYT stars, for example. Are there any places specializing in the cuisine of a particular region, or do they tend to be pan-Moroccan? Does anyone know where the largest Moroccan community (and presumably the one with the most/ most varied restaurant community) in the US is? I've posted this here because I've eaten Moroccan food in New York, it has the most vibrant restaurant scene, and I'm guessing may have the largest Moroccan population as well, but that's pure speculation on my part. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

A couple of follow up questions. Are the menu & prices at MB in Lasarte the same for lunch & dinner? I'm guessing reservations would be required for dinner - are they necessary (more than say a day in advance) for lunch as well? Thanks again

Hi, Will be in San Sebastian in a couple of weeks, but without a car. Is MB's namesake resto in Lasarte at all reachable by public transit, or within a reasonable cab ride even? Or, on a slightly related topic, would one of his associated restos - at the Kuursal or the museum (I think) in Bilbao - give a similar experience food wise to MB? and that I could actually get to without a taxi bill that rivals what I'll be paying for a meal. Thanks, rgruby

Hi all, Does anyone have any suggestions (well, recipes really) for a nice chilled melon soup? Any preferred melons, or varieties that aren't so good to use? Thanks, Geoff Ruby

I just tried some as a marinade for shrimp. 1 part tamarind concentrate, 1 part orange marmalade, 1 part olive oil, S&P. Coated the shrimp with the marinade, let sit for 20 minutes or so in the fridge and put them on a rosemary skewer and grilled them. It was quite good, but definitely needs the pungency of the rosemary. the recipe is from, er, Rocco DiSpirito's cookbook "Flavor". He suggests serving them over arugula. I think tamarind is one of my favorite "flavor boosters". It is booth sour and sweet at the same time and has a bit of an earthy quality to it as well. So, yeah, definitely can be used instead of lemon or other citrus juices to add some sour, especially if you need a bit of sweet as well, but its got its own flavor - similar to a date or prune, but more sour. Somewhere on egullet I started a thread as a bit of an ode to Tamarindo - just one of the many tamarind candies produced in Mexico. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

I believe both of those brews are long gone now. My memory of them is that they were both quite flavourful - darker and caramelly, and with actual ale flavours. I find most of the gruesome twosome's products virtually indistinguishable. Could anyone here taste Ex and determine if it is an ale as advertised? (As a side note - does anyone know if they actually use an ale yeast for the beers they call ales. They all taste like lagers to me, but maybe its because I have to drink 'em pretty much ice cold to choke them down.) I've recently discovered that Molson's Stock Ale is actually drinkable - I actually think it might be an ale, and has a caramel flavour that seems like it may actually be from grains as opposed to caramelized sugar. I'm not really sure that the Canadian majors are much if any, better than their American counterparts. Both countries have fine micros. But I'd give the edge to the Americans for this reason - most of the Canadian microbrews (and their breweries) are fairly conservative - a lager, a pale ale maybe, maybe a wheat beer. But they tend to be fairly middle of the road - which isn't to say they aren't excellent or well crafted - but I am trying to say most of our brewers aren't making anything with their own style. I'm thinking of the highly hopped beers of the Pacific Northwest, for example. Mill St brewery has just released a quite hoppy pale ale, but at the moment its only available from the LCBO, which is not convenient to me at all. Unibroue is a possible exception to my argument, and I don't know the BC scene that well, but I don't see a range of fruit beers like New Glarus does, and I'm hard pressed to think of a micro thats even doing an IPA here in Ontario. How many make a brown ale? Black Oak's is good, but I think Brooklyn's is better. Does anyone else make one in Ontario? Porters? Few and far between. Lots of lagers - but again, Creemore makes a damn fine one, so why try to slice the rest of the micro lager pie even finer by introducing yet another international style lager (even if it is far superior to the major brands) when there is still a whole range of beer styles barely represented on our shelves? I think about all the beer available in Rochester, a city about a tenth the size of Toronto, and I realize, beer-wise, we don't have it very good here at all. And, I heard C'est What is closing (a pub featuring virtually only Ontario and Quebec micros on tap). Is this true? If so, put a stake through its heart. We're done. It's over. OK - I'm editing this to say that I've now found out that only the live music room is being closed. It's not over. Long live C'est What. Cheers, RGRuby

For some reason, long necked bottles foam over more easily than the stubbies did. For that reason alone, I say, bring back the stubbies! Cheers!

Mill St. Brewery in Toronto is bottling their non-organic beers in stubbies. (The tankhouse ale is excellent by the way). Only available in the liquor stores, not bees stores. And, I'm pretty sure they are not distributing much if anything outside of the GTA. Brick is also bottling some of their brews in stubbies. They had a big fight with the beer store to be able to do this - I'm not sure if it has been settled yet, but I think they're still selling some brews in stubbys. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

I think both statements are correct. Porters seemed to have developed in and around London in the early 1700s. In Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels, he notes that both stouts and porters have undergone changes in character and strength over the years. Changes in technology have changed the grain bill and tax changes and other factors have influenced alcoholic strength. But inasmuch as stouts - or at least the dry Irish type - seem to have derived as a version of porter, if you will, that was begun as an attempt to get away from the taxman, they both have a similar ancestry. The Protz article also mentions that as Porter Stouts (a brewery's strongest porter) began to drop in alcohol (due in part to a change in tax laws that taxed alcoholic strength) the difference between the strongest brew and those of lesser strength diminished, and the term porter in respect of these beers gradually dropped from usage. This suggests to me that beers that use roast unmalted barley (i.e Irish stouts) and those that do not (i.e. modern porters) may have existed at the same time and been known as stout. Some view porters then as merely a lower alcohol stout - and historically this does seem to be the distinguishing factor. There may also be beers labelled porters that also contain roast unmalted barley - although this goes against the homebrewers association guidelines. So, in short - porter and stout have the same lineage, and porter was there first - so contemporary stout is descended from porter.

Just a little more about porter. In the 1700s there seemed to be a competition among the brewers to see who could build the biggest storage vats - the largest one capable of holding 860,000 US gallons. Contrast this with the largest aging tank at the Coors brewery in Golden Colo which is just under 49,000 gallons. And there was a porter flood! A vat at the Meux brewery ruptured in Oct, 1814, immediately killing 8 people. Another dozen died due to the injuries from the flood or by being crushed by the crowds surging in for a free drink. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Ok, what follows - in much abbreviated form - is from an article by Roger Protz in the Jan 2002 issue of Zymurgy magazine. Porter likely acquired its name in the early 1700s due to its popularity with the street market porters in London at that time. It was known by brewers as three threads, or entire butt. The legend that brewer Ralph Harwood of Shoreditch invented porter in 1722 is probably false - but he did manage to brew a beer similar to the three threads beer that was popular at the time. (Three threads was a blend of beers from three different kegs - essentially a beer made with brown malt (which was cheaper because it was kilned over wood - which wasn't taxed - rather than coal, which was), pale, and stale - a sour, lactic beer which was popular at the time.) Harwoods beer was served from only one cask, or butt, and he dubbed his brew "entire butt". These brews were almost certainly brown rather than black. Guiness started brewing in 1759, and by the 1800s was producing two strengths of porter, the stronger version known as Extra Porter Stout. To avoid paying taxes, Guinness started using unmalted - and untaxed - roasted barley. And stout - or at least the dry Irish variety, started to branch off from the porters of the time to become a distinct style. One of which I enjoyed perhaps one too many last night. Cheers!

I'm in Toronto. Black Oak makes a seasonal porter on tap in a few places in the winter. Forgot about it as I didn't manage to try any this year. Due to our arcane liquor laws (and probably several other factors as well) we don't get much international, even US stuff, and almost nothing from the UK that isn't Guiness or Interbrew owned. I believe there are still restrictions on importing from other provinces - so even Unibroue is not widely available (although that seems to be changing). Of the major breweries, I recall Labatt's making a "Velvet Cream Porter" that disappeared from Ontario about 20 years ago. I believe it carried on in Quebec for a bit longer, but I could be wrong. I don't think any of the micros bottle a true porter, but Mill Street, a new Toronto brewery, is making (and bottling) a coffee porter that I have yet to try. I'll try and look up a bit more stuff on porter in a couple days - there's some interesting history behind its creation and production (was it a porter or stout flood that killed quite a few people? I'll see if I can find out)

They're related. Stouts used to be called stout porters. Although that story has detractors (do you want to get into the entire butt?? - the story of porter and stout is not entirely clear or without controversy!). There was a real good story about this in one of the beer mags maybe two or three years back. I'll try and dig it up in the next day or tow or three. For me, a stout has a distinct roast - almost burnt - if not taste, then aroma. It has a bit of that kind of "sharpness" to it. Bitter. From the barley, not necessarily the hops. To me porter can have a more rounded flavour with some caramel notes. It is still kind of "roasty" but doesn't have that sharp bitter that I might want in a stout. However, I live in a land where stout means Guiness (Beamish and Murphy's are seen occassionally) and porter is all but unknown (I think Fuller's Porter is on tap at exactly one bar in a city of five million. Really). I can also probably pull up the style guidelines on stout and porter - if no-one beats me to it. But the next couple of days are gonna be nasty, so patience please. Cheers!

Guinness Pilsner Urquell Negra Modelo Anything by Fullers or Youngs Would Anchor Steam or Sierra Nevada Pale fit in as macros? In any event there are lots of largeish sized breweries making great beer. How big is Ayinger? Cheers, G Ruby

Thanks Simon! Hmmm. They definitely failed to bring us one of the courses - the porgy. Not really sure what to say about that. I'm more bemused than anything, really. But tips the scales over to doubtful to return on my part.

Simon, I'd appreciate it if you would post it. Thanks.

Here in Toronto, I can find some Lucas powders which sound similar. I put them on popcorn occasionally. No-one lse in the whole egullet family like Pulparindo? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Despite my feelings about this dinner, I don't want to write off Avalon. I'm not going to write off Avalon. (My wife does not share this opinion). It was one dinner that didn't grab me. At a restaurant consistently thought of by virtually everyone in the food cognoscenti here as one of the best, I'm hoping this was simply a menu that failed to excite me. Was the "demystified version" of the menu the line by line bill (for example "kingfish escabeche) - or was it something more detailed?