Rachel Perlow

So, did you make the cheesecake? How did it turn out?

Well it shouldn't have the same name at least. If you name it the same, they will think it is supposed to be the same. Add another word to the title. If you made "Black Forest Cake" last month and you are making a different version this month, add the name of the cookbook author to the title or something to make it different, i.e. "Rose Levy Berenbaum's Black Forest Cake."

When it's cold and rainy I love Asian noodle soups. Here are some of my favorites: Saigon Republic, Vietnamese, Englewood - Combo Beef Pho, Spicy Lemongrass with Coconut Milk and Chicken, Hu Tieu, Roast Duck Soup - click for menu Binh Duong, Vietnamese, Bloomfield also has excellent Pho, actually they have an even longer list of soups Wondee's, Thai, Hackensack - Tom Kha Gal (chicken, mushrooms, coconut milk, no noodles), Tom Yum Goon (shrimp, spicy, no noodles), they also have a variety of noodle soups. Asahi, Japanese, Fort Lee - Nabayaki-Udon, and a variety of other Japanese noodle soups. Penang, Malaysian, East Hanover - Clay Pot Noodle Soup (a variety of seafood in an eggy broth with thick noodles) China 46 (Ridgefield) or Silver Pond (Fort Lee) for Chinese noodle soups. On the other hand, if you want Monster Matzo Ball Soup -- go to Harold's Deli in Parsippany.

Use fresh broccoli. Only blanch it briefly, like for 60-90 seconds. You want to remove it directly to ice water to stop the cooking. After it has cooled in the ice water, strain it, then spin it in a salad spinner to remove excess water. Store in an airtight container until you are ready to dress/marinate it. You can really only store cooked broccoli for a day or two, and don't marinate it more than 1 day in advance or it will get all funky, in my experience. edit: oh yeah, salt the water.

I'm sure it has to do with having less fat and more protein than the original recipe.

eGullet's very own Glenn, has recently decided to open a small restaurant, with grilled cheese being the specialty, and he asked eGullet to help him name it. The result was one of the best restaurant names ever: Melt.

You should lay them out carefully, so that they are in a single layer. If they are sharp enough to puncture the bag, you may not want to wait to seal them when frozen. Or double bag them: put the frozen ravioli in a freezer type bag, then seal that inside a vac bag. However, more than breaking the bag, I worry that sealing them with too strong a vacuum may break the raviolis. If they are relatively firm after refrigeration, but not snapping hard, then I would vac them then. If you have a model with a manual seal button, you can stop the vacuum a little early so as to not completely crush the product you are sealing (I use that with bread, for example).

Oh good, someone tried the coffee cake. More description please?

We didn't return to the Italian place very often because the cigarette smell was really bad in the dining room, they need to have better ventilation from the bar.

This is just a note to let you all know that Harper Collins has made five copies of Eating My Words available as prizes for a book giveaway. If you haven't gotten your question in to Mimi yet, be sure to do so today!

Was it brown and peanutty? That's Nuoc Leo. I make a quick version with peanut butter, hoisin, sriracha and fish sauce. But restaurants should make it from scratch -- most recipes have a huge list of ingredients. The thin vinaigrette type sauce is Nuoc Cham, made mostly with lime juice and fish sauce (nuoc mam), among other ingredients, made less intense by diluting with water. If it was red and very hot, but a little sweet, that was Sriracha. None of the above? Please describe further.

There has been several comments before the change about how it had suffered from Johnny not being hands on anymore. We just haven't been there in months.

I've been a guest there twice, and while the food and service is good, I don't care for the long and narrow layout of the upstairs banquet room.

Mimi, do you have a revised list of the ten most over-rated restaurants since the last time you wrote that article?

Ditto. I don't like that East West store. I can barely stand to go in there because the whole store smells. I will permit the buying of packaged snacks, but I generally don't eat the store baked goods like empanadas & stuff they have out front stored at room temperature that Jason sometimes buys. Scary. For sushi quality, I'll agree about Mitsuwa in Edgewater. Their fish is pristine. I like the fish counters at Han Ah Reum (and I've been to the Ridgefield, Little Ferry and Englewood locations), almost everything is out so you can smell the fish and serve yourself, and it is all kept on ice. I've never made sushi from any of their fish though, you'll have to go and judge for yourself.

I miss Finks. :sniff: (where I would have sent you)

Oops, I forgot docsconz was away (he was supposed to pick the winners), so I did it. Here they are: vbmontana trillium iain maremosso ludja Please send me your mailing addresses. Congratulations!

This PR announcement just in:

As long as we're talking Liberty, the Liberty Science Center hosts parties. That would make an interesting location for a Bar Mitzvah.

Jason brought the long plum tart with a puff pastry shell (not pictured, but the individual plum tarts are in the upper left of the fruit tart picture, above) for dessert tonight. That got polished off with lots of oohs and ahhs, while the mandelbrod and halvah just sat there looking embarassed to be on the same table.

I'm sure someone will provide some more technical details soon, but basically, sugar is hygroscopic, or it absorbs water. The result of halving it would be to make your cookies drier, therefore less moist, which a chewy cookie would have to be. Next time you halve the sugar in a recipe, be sure to halve the flour, eggs, butter and other ingredients as well. But seriously, I wonder if using honey (or corn syrup) in place of some sugar will allow you to reduce the total amount of sugar, since it adds moisture as well?

Have you ever ground up the pistachios and included them in the gelato?

Do people ever make Pizza at home in Italy? Do you have any advice for those of us making it at home in the US or elsewhere on how to make it as good an Italian pizzaria, or assuming that is impossible, at least sort of close?

I just realized that that post was kind of OT for this thread, as it is all about the pastries. However, they were really good, so I'll bet his cakes (some of which are listed above) are just as fab. You should probably call to discuss what kind of cakes he does, or stop by. He's open until 5 during the week, 6 PM on Fri & Sat.

Actually, if I order a whole fish, I would be quite annoyed if it were filleted in the kitchen. Therefore, I agree with tommy that if you want it deboned, you should (have to) ask. I like to work out all the bits myself, that's why I order whole fish. However, I do appreciate it when they remember to give you a bone plate or bowl without asking.