Rachel Perlow

Whazat?

(Why were you waiting for me to post, Rosie? There were other people there and you made it back online before me.) Anyway, it was a very delicious lunch. The steaks were cooked perfectly and the rolls were nice and crisp. Lou, care to post a recipe for that spaghetti squash side-dish? Only thing Kim didn't mention was the melon sorbet concluding our meal. Afterwards, Kim and I had fun shopping at the restaurant supply store a couple miles east of the An American Grill. Joseph Beran & Son 3000 State Route 10 West Morris Plains, NJ 07950 201-267-9111

First I've heard of Jason planning on getting that Global knife. Metal handle? No bolster? This one definitely needs a test drive before purchase. Also, no matter how dull my Henkles might be (gotta get my chef's knife sharpened), they are still amazingly sharp compared to my mother's Cutco knives. Blech.

Hand grating adds nothing to the latkes except the occasional bits of skin and blood. And bragging/martyrdom rights.

OK, I've made a few batches of latkes this weekend and come to some conclusions: Coarsely grated is preferable to finely grated, but best of all is some of each. Adding caramelized onions is a great addition, but hardly mandatory if you don't have the time. Contrary to popular belief, they don't have to be eaten immediately after frying. In fact, they are better reheated. Immediately after frying, the insides tend to feel undercooked, and they suck up a lot of oil. If they are made ahead and stored between layers of paper toweling, there is more time for the oil to be absorbed by the toweling, the insides have a better texture and the outsides re-crisp just fine. With some input from my Jason, my mom and aunt, here is my current recipe. I use the shredder attachment to my KitchenAid mixer, so the instructions are phrased accordingly. If you are using a regular food processor, you will probably need to empty it a few times. Make Ahead Potato Latkes 3 large Onions* 1 (5 lb) bag of Potatoes - Russet or Yukon Gold 2 Eggs, beaten 1 cup Matzo Meal 1/2 tsp freshly ground Black Pepper 1 1/2 tsp Salt Peanut Oil - at least 1 cup for frying Quarter lengthwise and slice 2 of the onions. Add a small amount of oil to a large skillet (preferably cast iron) and slowly brown them, stirring occasionally. When they are well browned put aside to cool. *If you don't plan to caramelize the onions, just use the one raw onion (i.e. don't add three raw onions to the batter). Meanwhile prepare the latke batter. Trim and quarter the potatoes. It is not necessary to peel them, just remove the eyes and any bad spots. Grate the potatoes into a large colander inside an even larger bowl. Grate 3/4 of the potatoes coarsely, then grate the remaining onion. Grate one more potato to get the rest of the onion out of the blades. Remove the coarse grater attachment, scrape off the bits of potato into the batter. Attach fine grater and grate the remaining potatoes into the batter. Press and squeeze the potatoes to remove as much moisture as possible. You may have to pour off the liquid into a separate bowl a few times. However, allow the starch to settle to the bottom before pouring off the liquid. Add any starch from the second bowl back to the batter too. Put the potato/onion mixture, the settled potato starch and the caramelized onions into the bowl of your mixer (I prefer to use the dough hook to mix it up), add the eggs and mix. Sprinkle on the matzo meal, salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Heat your cast iron skillet and add about 1/2 cup of peanut oil. When the oil is hot, scoop the batter by large heaping tablespoons, about 3 should fit in the pan at a time. When it becomes necessary to add more oil, do it while the pan is empty and allow it to become hot before adding more batter. As you will re-heat them later, you are going for nice even browning here, not perfectly cooking the pancakes through, so move them around and flip when they are a medium brown. Drain on a cooling rack over a sheet pan and then move to a paper lined sheet tray. Place them in single layers, with more toweling between the layers. You can even put another tray (I use a cutting board) on the top (lined with more toweling) to press out some of the oil. These suckers absorb a lot of oil. When they have cooled, wrap in foil by the amount you plan to reheat at a time. Refrigerate or freeze. When ready to serve, reheat them at 350 F for 10-15 minutes in a single layer on a sheet pan. Serve with sour cream, apple sauce, or the condiment of your choice. This recipe makes at least 30 large latkes, plus a few eaten by the cook. If you prefer them smaller, it'll make a lot more.

Reminder, the time is 12:30. Here is the current RSVP list after reviewing the cancellations and confirmations above: Rosie Kim WB LReda - Lou dbrociner - David 1toughcustomer Dana ngatti - Nick chopjwu12 - David suzilightening Rachel Sandy - Rachel's guest Any changes before I make the (very simple) nametags?

I'm planning on serving the latkes Jason and I just made with Suvir's Apple-Cranberry Chutney to our best friends, who happen to be Asian.

Making way too much food? Not keeping a careful eye on the broiler? Forgetting the pot-filler is filling a pot and having the water overflow onto the stove? (When your mother is there, the only person who thought the pot-filler was a stupid thing to install in the kitchen. First time that ever happened too. )

BTW - everyone loved the chutney, my friend even asked for the recipe!

As I put together the chutney this morning, I wrote down exactly what I used. Since Suvir didn't specify amounts, I estimated what looked appropriate. The procedure I used is pretty much what Suvir said to do. How does this sound Suvir? The results taste pretty close to what you served at Diwan. Suvir's Apple-Cranberry Chutney 1 Tbs. Vegetable Oil 1 Tbs. minced Ginger 1 tsp. minced Red Chile (seeded & deveined)* 1/2 tsp Fennel seed pinch Asafoetida** 4 cups diced Granny Smith Apple (~3 apples) 1/2 cup dried Cranberries 1/4 cup Water 1/8 tsp Salt 1 Tbs. Sugar 1/2 Tbs. Balsamic Vinegar pinch dried ground Cayenne Pepper Heat a 2 quart saucepan, add oil and fry the ginger, chile, fennel and asafoetida. When some of the fennel seeds look toasty (1-2 minutes), add apple, stir to coat with spices. Add cranberries, water, salt, sugar and vinegar, stir, cover for about three minutes, then remove cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pan is dry and the apples are about ready to fall apart. Check for seasoning and add cayenne pepper to taste. * I forgot you said to leave it whole, I minced mine, oh well. ** It certainly has a unique smell which becomes savory as it is fried.

OK - here's our menu, Hors D'oevres Crudite with Spinach Dip Assorted fried and steamed dumplings with two dipping sauces Pretzels & Popcorn (inspired by No. 1) Appetizer Minestrone Soup - I made it yesterday - homemade chicken stock with diced carrots, celery, zucchini, butternut squash, escarole, tomatoes and orzo pasta - came out really good. The Main Event Turkey - Roasted on the Weber Grill, click to see their TurkeyCast - with bacon strips (on top of a kosher turkey (used to save the brining, not for kashruth)) Gravy - made with drippings, but not giblets Cranberry Sauce Tasting (see that thread, we're going to answer the question - Doctor it up, homemade, or just the canned and nothing but the canned?) Apple-Cranberry Chutney Sidekicks Bread Dressing - Basic boxed stuffing mix, with lots of sauteed onions, celery & mushrooms Mashed Red Potatoes - I boil the garlic cloves with the potatos - butter & whole milk Sweet Potato Casserole - the pineapple bits & marshmellow variety Roasted Cauliflower and Carrots with Tahini Sauce - got to show my mom how the roasted cauliflower is supposed to come out, I've told her about it but she said it didn't come out the way I described. Sauteed Gailon (Chinese Broccoli) with Garlic - something green is a requirement Roasted Butternut Squash - just a few pieces left after making the soup Cornbread Desserts Apple & Pecan Pie - brought by our friends Vanilla Frozen Yogurt Grilled Pineapple with Cinnamon

Kinara is BYOB and has a bar. I think that happens when the restaurant location used to be a restaurant with a liquor license. The license doesn't always get sold to the next business.

I think that would be King's Noodles.

Frankly, I don't know if "Dumpling" is the name of the restaurant. The English part of their business card just says "Korean Restaurant" (well, that and the address), the rest is in Korean. Even though Korean dumplings (a.k.a. mandoo, imagine very flavorful kreplach, if you are so inclined) are their specialty, they have a full menu, and the barbecue grills at the tables. Tonight, however, we concentrated on the mandoo. Wow. Really. Wow! They have mandoo available in several varieties and preparations. We sampled two different soups, plain fried beef mandoo, and stir-fried beef mandoo with vegetables. All were delicious. The soups were meals in themselves. Jason and Jon shared a soup called Large Kimchee Dumpling Soup (or something like that). At first we thought it would be an extra large soup, but it was the same size as my Beef Dumpling Soup with Rice Cake. What was large about it was the size of the mandoo - they were about twice the size as all the others. They enjoyed their soup and I'll let them tell you about it - since I don't care for kimchee in general, I didn't care for the soup. My soup however, was fabulous. Just the thing to hit the spot, since I'm incubating a cold. But to backtrack. Our meal started, as it usually does in Korean restaurants, with a variety of pan chan. It was a better than average assortment, which improved in our minds as the empty bowls were replaced with lightening speed by the friendly (and mostly bi-lingual) staff. At other places, we've had to catch a server's attention and ask for extras, not so here. They also didn't seem shocked that we knew about the cuisine and didn't ask a lot of questions. A quick look around the restaurant confirmed our suspicions that they get lots of non-Korean patrons (but plenty of Korean ones too). The demographic seems to follow that of the neighboring Han Ah Reum supermarket. While the pan-fried mandoo were nearly perfect, it was the stir-fired mandoo with vegetables that was our unanimous favorite. Zucchini, carrots, snow peas and other julienned vegetables accompanied by fried mandoo were stir-fried together with a mildly-hot Korean bean paste sauce. It was a revelation about the way a humble dumpling can be elevated. Not only do we plan to return to sample other kinds of dumplings, but the barbecue as well. The other tables surrounding us were having a grand time, and they seem to have a few kinds of BBQ that we haven't experienced at other Korean restaurants. We look forward to our return. Korean Dumpling & BBQ Restaurant Han Ah Reum Shopping Center 321 Broad Avenue Ridgefield, NJ 07657 201-941-7711

I usually enjoy the cooking, especially when I'm making something I want to make and am not pressured (uh oh, I'm hosting Thanksgiving). However, I hate the cleaning up part. I just started a new topic over in General about when to use the dishwasher.

I find that anything made with Bisquick has that distinctive Bisquick flavor. This may not be a bad thing for some people, a good one for others.

Kraft has Pudding Pop recipes right on the Jello brand website. To do a full search (I can't seem to link the results of my search properly), go to www.jello.com, click Recipes/Recipe Search, check Cookies/Candies/Other Desserts, then check Frozen Pops followed by Get Recipes. This yields 12 recipes. However, all of them seem to be variations on the "make the pudding, put into molds, insert stick, freeze" theme. Even the ones with Creamy in the title, are just that way because you add Cool Whip, not because of agitation during freezing. Since you have tested this technique, and realize that freezing them by this method has a tendancy to produce ice crystals and not the creamy texture you desire, I think it is still up to you to work out the Pudding Pop of your dreams.Perhaps once you do, you could get them to add your "Perfect Pudding Pops" to their online recipe files?

What, you couldn't take a minute to post they had reopened before going out to dinner? Maybe someone else could have gone there tonight too???

The dinner was held at a restaurant. Restaurants typically do not give out all their recipes. However, we have managed to coax a few recipes out of Suvir, they are located in various places on the India forum.

I would think he's not there anymore. The thing that bothers me about the fries description is the only word that is french is the avec. If you're going to throw in some French why stop with just one of the conjunctions? Shouldn't the and be et? And you can't spell out mayonnaise? I think Asimov is peeved at the owners for shutting down Matt's creative cuisine in favor of high-end cafeteria food, and still not doing anything new to draw in the customers. I know I am. Before, Bid was a destination for which it was worth going out of your way. Which many people happily did once they heard about Matt's menu. Now it isn't. And from what I know about the neighborhood, it doesn't sound like there's enough clientele for it to be supported without the creativity.

Oh, thanks Nina, I hadn't ask where to find them because there are several Indian stores in towns near me, I'm sure I can get what I need there. I was just looking up asafoetida because I was ignorant of this spice. Fortunately, there was an answer available via a quick search right here on eGullet. Click: Asafoetida

The chutney we had a Diwan was definitely not mushy, soft, but not mushy. I assume that batch had not been canned? If you cook it until it is nearly mushy, wouldn't the hot water bath for canning reduce it to applesauce?

Oh, I have done canning. In fact, I just opened a jar of strawberry jam I made in 2001 (we picked the strawberries ourselves too). I just was only planning to make a few cupfuls as a Thanksgiving day condiment. (BTW - what kind of apples do you recommend for the recipe?) For canning, what do you do to it to counteract the low-acidity of the fruit? Does it have to be refrigerated? Shorter storage length?

I doubt I'll be making it very soon, but when you do make it out to the house I will definitely take you up on the cooking lesson offer. I deep fry occasionally, usually using a wok as the cooking vessel. Some things I have down pat - I make great corn (and zucchini and apple) fritters, a technique which would translate well into various chaat. But mostly straight veggie preparation is harder for me for some reason. Those following our remodel will realize that I probably do have adequate ventilation at this point, so the lesson would be welcome.

Subservient? I hope not. Thanks for the recipe, I'll have to look up some of those ingredients, but I'm sure I'll manage something similar, if not near as good, as the one we were served the other night. I don't plan on making such a whole lot that I'd have to can it, but thanks for the indication that it can be done anyway.