mamster

In my area, at least, country-style ribs aren't ribs at all; they're rib-shaped cuts from the shoulder. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Hey, Blue Heron, I made the Trader Joe's greens tonight with some of my southern-style cornbread, and they were great. I'm not sure I'm ever going to like turnip greens much, but I like all of the others. Thanks for the tip--I'll definitely buy these again.

Screw the Dualit. I want one of these: http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-Sm...._SK_KT2

I know that, Peter--I've had a couple myself!--but for a Microsoft joke, I would sacrifice the ethnic integrity of anyone's grandmother. Edit: I've had a couple of JEWISH GRANDMOTHERS, not facelifts. In case you were wondering. (Edited by mamster at 6:58 pm on Jan. 27, 2002)

Jason--I publish all my recipes under a license I developed which says that you may modify and redistribute the recipe as you like, but each time you do, you have to send me a cookie. And not a persistent cookie, because I intend to eat it. Peter, you raise a good point. I think a lot of accusations of recipe distortion do stem from unwritten assumptions about technique, ingredients, whatever. In Michele Anna Jordan's book Salt and Pepper she relates how a woman came up to her and said something like, "I made your soup recipe, and it was terrible!" "How much salt did you use?" the author replied. "Oh, I never use salt." Most recipe misapplications aren't this outrageous, of course, but I can think of a few times I've totally screwed up a recipe and had to stifle the urge to blame the recipe. Of course, there are intentional distortions and there are recipes that just suck, but when in doubt, I point the chopstick at myself. Jason, if your grandmother gets a pacemaker and a facelift, will Microsoft force her to reinstall her casserole?

I see a couple of ways to look at this from the armchair-psychologist-ethicist perspective. 1. By analogy to free software: Recipes are a noncompetitive good. If I have a recipe, I can give you the recipe without losing it myself. Therefore, to the extent that recipes increase human utility, I have an obligation to give you the recipe. The real recipe. 2. Giving out recipes is a way to enhance your status. I'm trying to imagine a situation in which I'd rather be known as a person who gives out falsified recipes than a person who is known as a source of recipes that faithfully recreate the food I've made for you, and I'm not thinking of one. Maybe if I were some kind of backwoods master cook like Adam on Northern Exposure, and my reputation hinged on being an obfuscating badass who happened to be able to deliver the goods. There, that clears everything up, doesn't it?

I'll definitely try that cauliflower recipe. I thought I hated cauliflower, but then I had some in Paris that sauteed until soft and slightly browned, and it was just divine (I think there was a lot of butter involved, too).

Oh, and it was a cream sauce for the fettucine.

How about a separate board for long biology and chemistry rants? I smell a hit in the making.

Here is your friendly neighborhood biology student's take on flesh-eating bacteria, antibacterial soaps, and the like. The evidence that too much hygiene leads to an underdeveloped immune system seems pretty good. On the other hand, we're talking about a serious tradeoff here, akin to the question of whether or not to immunize. Say we reduced the average hygiene level just a bit for every child. The result would be that the vast majority would grow up more resistant to germs, and a small minority wouldn't grow up at all, because they'd be dead. In the case of vaccinations, the chance of being killed or injured by the vaccine is so low, and the benefit to you and others so high, that there's really no reasonable choice other than to vaccinate. However, that's not so clear in the case of scattershot pathogen exposure, for a couple of reasons. First of all, how could you set a standard for how much hygiene is too much? Second, and more important, there is much more effective way to increase the virulence of a pathogen than by dosing it with an antibacterial solution, and that is to make it easier to transmit. Stick with me here for a minute. Diseases that leap most easily from host to host evolve to be more deadly. That's why waterborne diseases are among the world's nastiest: they don't need to keep their host alive, because they can get a new host almost immediately. Remember that bacteria and viruses do almost all of their reproduction inside a host; I doubt that zapping a few with antibacterial soap is going to make much of a difference in their evolutionary trajectory. As for overuse of antibiotics (this is coming next, right?), I see a similar tradeoff there. Overuse of antibiotics is almost certain to produce drug-resistant bacteria. However, if the antibiotic use drastically reduces the horizontal transmission of the bugs (which it does), then the resistant germs may end up being the least virulent ones--not killer bugs at all. Drug resistance and virulence are very different properties. So, I leave you with no good recommendations here, just the message that biology is complicated, loaded with annoying tradeoffs, and it's going to take serious research to sort these things out. Meanwhile, I will continue to be inconsistent by using the antibacterial soap at home, then going to Thailand and eating everything in sight.

Yeah, I like frozen green beans in my Thai curries--fresh green beans are usually tough as nails unless they're from the farmer's market, and even then you have to bite into one. And I like frozen fruit in my smoothies. In the summer we whir up bananas, frozen strawberries, and OJ concentrate in the blender quite often.

I just brought home another quart bottle of the Whole Foods olive oil today, and for the second bottle in a row, the cap broke as I was opening it. The threads get stripped enough that you have to yank on it while opening it or grind your hand against it while closing. I'm going to complain to them; has anyone else had this problem?

"The Wise mamster" sounds like something your eastern European grandmother would call you, and you wouldn't be sure it was a compliment. My kitchen has crappy linoleum floors, so I just sweep it with a regular broom. But the rest of the apartment has wood floors, and we use the Swiffer all the time. Actually, usually Laurie does it while I say, "Oh yeah, I was going to do that." I use one cleaning spray or another on the countertops and stovetop, and they all seem to work about the same. Oh, and I have one of those mesh sink strainers. I think they're made in Japan. The thing has lasted two years and I sterilize it from time to time; I think it cost about Ů, if not less. Great item.

Sorry to accuse you of using frozen veggies! Personally, I don't mind frozen peas or corn in the right context. Tonight I made fettucine with roasted red peppers and belgian endive. It was great.

That does sound good--one problem with frozen veggies is that they tend to be a little soggy, but greens are supposed to be soggy. Do you substitute chicken broth for the vegetable broth? I find canned vegetable broth too sweet and am usually too lazy to make homemade stock. Here's another of my favorite vegetable recipes. I posted it once to the grubshack mailing list, but I don't think I've posted it here. Roasted chile paste, or "nam prik pow" in Thai, is a pungent and spicy ingredient that despite the name is nothing like the common Chinese and Indonesian chile-garlic sauce. It's very thick and has a layer of hot oil over the top. The best brand (and luckily also the most common, at least in these parts) is Pantainorasingh. It's in a squat round jar with "Pantai" on the yellow lid and the label says "Chilli paste with soya bean oil." It's available in several levels of heat; get "hot" if you can find it. GAI LAN WITH BACON If you're not one for bacon, try substituting some soaked and shredded shiitake mushrooms--I'm betting it'll be great. 1 lb gai lan (Chinese broccoli), trimmed and cut into 1" lengths Salt 2 slices supermarket bacon (I like Oscar Meyer), cut crosswise into 1/2" pieces 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 tbsp nam prik pow 1 tbsp fish sauce 1/2 cup water 1. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Toss in the gai lan, bring it back to a boil, and cook one minute. Drain, rinse with cold water, and dry. 2. While you are waiting for the water to boil, put the fish sauce and nam prik pow into a small bowl and stir to combine. 3. Heat a wok or skillet (you'll need a lid) over medium heat. When it is hot, add the bacon and cook until almost crisp. Remove the bacon and drain on paper towels. You should have about 1 tbsp of fat in the wok; if there's more, pour it off. If less, add a bit of peanut or vegetable oil. 4. Raise heat to medium-high. Add the garlic and stir-fry 20 seconds. 5. Add the gai lan and stir-fry 90 seconds. 6. Add the nam prik pow, fish sauce, and cooked bacon and stir-fry 30 seconds. 7. Add the water, cover, and let steam two minutes. Serve immediately with lots of jasmine rice and other stuff.

They sell the bar mops at both Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table. They're pretty cheap--I bought some the other day before we went to Le Pichet and I think it was 8 for ป or so. They're terry cloth, about 10x16, I guess. Not the same as the flour sack towels. (Edited by mamster at 3:24 pm on Jan. 19, 2002)

Oh, yes, I do like the green beans at Wild Ginger. In fact, that was my favorite thing about WG: the availability of vegetable sides. Last night, Laurie was at work. She's not a steak eater, so I made myself a strip steak and a big side of kale that would make the 1200 Bistro wet themselves. I find that it's basically impossible to overcook most supermarket kale, but easy to undercook it. I trim out the stalks and chop the kale coarsely. In a saucepan, saute some minced onion with salt, pepper, and curry powder. Add the kale (I can get 1/2 a bunch in my saucepan) and a little water. Cover and simmer on medium low, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. I had a little Grand Central bread and brushed the steak with a mixture of salt, pepper, and lime juice. Great dinner. I'll share some other recipes later.

I'm not going to say so at such length (ahem), but I like talkative waiters, too. I don't like all of them, but I don't like all people in general (who does?), and I would rather take my chances with a motor-mouthed waiter I might really enjoy than a dull, silent one. I especially like it when waiters gossip to me about other customers or the average customer and make me feel exemplary. It's like when a stand-up comic goes on about "society," and you're like, "Yeah, society! What a bunch of idiots!"

I have extremely strong preferences in sponges and paper towels. My preferred brands could triple their prices and I would still buy them. I hope they are not reading this. Sponges: SOS blue. They have a handy parallelogram shape that makes it easy to get into corners, and they're really thick and hold lots of soap. Towels: Bounty all the way. Once I bought a bunch of Brawny on sale, thinking I was buying Bounty. It was a sad day. Have you seen the Simpsons episode with the ultra-absorbent Burly paper towels? Bounty is better. I also have a couple dozen of those white bar mop towels. I use them for all sorts of things and hang one off my belt while cooking for wiping my hands.

I don't know if any of you read the Seattle Times review of 1200 Bistro. Laurie and I went along with Providence Cicero on one of her visits, and I liked the place better than I thought I would. I had the faux cassoulet, which was quite tasty; the veal chop was indeed perfect; the fillet of wild salmon was nicely done. However, both the veal and the cassoulet came (as the review notes, but not sternly enough) with grossly undercooked and underseasoned kale, and the fish is served in an unintentional soup (there should be a band called Unintentional Soup) of bland potatoes and artichoke hearts. Vegetables are my favorite thing to eat. There are few things more essential to my well-being than yellow onions. I'd eat bell peppers (even the maligned green ones) every day. Broccoli is my favorite flower. I get excited about turnips. I will try any obscure vegetable and probably love it; I routinely buy weird-looking things at Uwajimaya and do my best to bend them to my will. And I never went through a vegetable-hating phase when I was a kid. I know vegetables are harder to cook right than meat, but 1200 Bistro totally dropped the ball. I'm willing to forgive overcooked meat if there's a great vegetable side, and I'm always elated to find a menu that has an array of vegetable sides a la carte. I believe all of the Tom Douglas places do it, as does Cassis. So, to get to the point (finally), who else is doing great vegetables in town? Anyone can cook a steak; who can serve me a well thought-out roasted vegetable combo or greens or something like that? Or if you have some great vegetable sides that you make at home and want to share, have at it. Oh, I thought of another--the greens at La Medusa in Columbia City are great.

So, while we're on this subject, is it okay to say "waiter" for both men and women who wait on tables? I hate the term "server," unless we're talking about dishing out web pages, but I don't think either my newspaper's house style or my own allow distinguishing between "waiter" and "waitress." Though, come to think of it, I do like the sound of the term "waitress" and would just go ahead and use that exclusively if I thought I could get away with it.

Ah, the delectable Saucy Nibbler. Place 1, 2, or more 3-oz pkg. cream cheese, one atop the other, in a serving dish. Pour on 2 or 3 tablesp. bottled steak sauce (Andy, feel free to substitute HP). Let guests spread their own assorted crisp crackers. On the same page: Ham-Grape Pickups. Can I please not describe this one? This is really one of the most entertaining books I own. You can randomly open it and come up with a howler, such as page 392 in the vegetables chapter: THE INSTANT POTATO FAMILY For some reason I can't remember covering that in my botany course. Must have been sick that day.

The protective glove sounds like a good idea--I agree that the pusher is silly, but I am just positive I'm going to cut myself slicing things with bare hands.

I have whole cookbooks of such recipes, especially a 60s-era Good Housekeeping cookbook which includes a recipe for "saucy nibbler".

I'll have to try the born-again dim sum at Honey Court. And Jeffjl, welcome to the Pacific Northwest board! Glad to have you. If anyone's looking for a good dim sum cookbook, I highly recommend Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's The Dim Sum Dumpling Book, which also serves as a handy reference for the Cantonese names of your favorite pieces--although you'll always end up seeing something at dim sum that isn't in the book. Her potsticker recipe has made me many friends, including one person who kept scarfing them down while assuring everyone that he didn't really eat pork. Unfortunately, it's out of print.