markk

Are you by any chance referring to the pre-mixed Campari and Soda that comes in small bottles and usually sold in a 6- or 8-pack. I have always thought that those had a bitterness (which I prefer) that could never be accomplished by adding soda to Campari from the bottle. I realize that this has nothing to do with the new vs. old debate, but I'm curious nonetheless. I'm also a little intrigued. At the moment I can't drink because of some medication I'm on for a while, so I can't indulge in a comparison, but while I love Campari, I've always found it to be a tad too sweet, and have always added things to it (a bit of extra bitters, or a splash of brandy, or both) to try to cut the sweetness. Especially having enjoyed what comes pre-mixed in the little bottles.

Two come to my mind, though only one's a neurosis; the other's an oddity. I too had a friend (who used to eat my cooking regularly) who would cry if the foods on his plate touched or "co-mingled". Sadly for him, my idea of a meal is a main course with many complementary sides, served on what I call dinner plates though others call serving platters, and by design, things co-mingle. One particularly successful night I served a pork roast with 5 sides, and his wife exclaimed "wow - not only does each side go with the roast, they go with each other no matter what combination you take!" He wept. The second one is my partner, who when I met him ate like a picky child. No fish, no shellfish, no organ meats, nothing you touch with your hands, etc. With time, all that changed. Now his favorite foods, aside from as much foie gras as he can get, are things like duck thighs (i.e. confit) and braised or confit thighs of pigeon, pheasant, etc. Yet when we go to the Thanksgiving meal, he still takes only white meat turkey. It boggles the mind. Of course, it means I don't have to fight him for the legs or share one, but I find it mind boggling.

To you it might taste the same. To another person, they both might well taste terribly under-salted, and to a third person they may taste horribly over-salted. I think that's why the phrase "to taste" is so often used with salt. Sorry, but I think that's what your answers really reduce to.

Slightly off-topic, but next time you're having foie gras, you might want to treat yourself to a totally dry Gewurztraminer, from Alsace, which is what they pair with foie gras there. And a wonderful combination it is!

For cheap and down and dirty, but mostly delicious, I would recommend: Stick & Bowl 31 Kensington High Street, London, W8 5NP

Here's mine: I went into a very upscale Jersey diner some years ago, the kind that tries to pretend it's a restaurant, and I think I was fooled by the decor, and the fact that they had a blackboard with daily specials, one of which was "blackfish", something I hadn't heard of at the time. So I asked my waitress what it was. She excused herself and went to ask an older waitress (who looked the part of a Jersey diner waitress), and I could see our young lady nodding, and ticking off the answers on her fingers so that she'd remember them all as she came back to our table, which she did with a look of concentration so intense on her face that I thought smoke would come out of her ears. And as she arrived at the table, using her fingers to count off all the answers, she said: "It's a white fish; it's very mild; and it's in the fillet family."

The method that's given in the D'Artagnan game cookbook is no fail: Heat a heavy skillet until medium hot, over medium-high heat. Score the duck breasta, and put them skin side down for 8 minutes, checking to avoid burning. Flip the breasts over, lower the heat to medium, and cook for 4 more minutes. Then let them rest in a warm place for at least 10 minutes. (if you pre-heat a toaster oven and turn it off, it'll be fine) Oven cooking is simply not necessary. These times are for a "magret", which is the breast of a Moulard duck, which is quite large. If you're using a smaller breast, cut the cooking time by a few minutes. I cook them all the time using these timings, and this is what they look like, consistently:

Well, I've told these stories before, but I'll tell them again here. There's a small local restaurant that I really like. The owner and staff are really friendly, and it's their habit to greet and shake the hands of every customer who enters. Then, with the hand that just shook somebody's hand off the street, they go to the pass, pick up your plate of food, and serve it to you. I can't think of a more unsanitary thing to do. Another one: I was on line at a hot-dog wagon, and in front of me was a kid bouncing a basketball in the gutter, where there was all the filth and stagnant water that you'd expect flowing on its way to a sewer grate. When he made it to the front of the line, he took one hand, reached into his pocket, and paid the hot dog vendor, who took the money, made change, and then went right on to pick the next persons buns out of the bag with that same hand - no gloves, no tissue. I got off the line. I think there's a lot of unsanitary food handling around. Of course, we can't see the baker with a cold, just as we can't know who was in an elevator before us with the flu who had sneezed on his hands and then pressed a button. But common sense tells me to wash my hands after I touch something like an elevator button or doorknob that lots of other people have touched - especially in cold and flu season. I don't go living in an environment so sanitized that I'm not exposed to any germs, but I also don't go actively looking for trouble. I don't eat food from bins that other people have rummaged through. But if I use a scoop or tongs that a lot of people have touched to reach food items that are otherwise safe, I do remember to wash my hands before eating, or touching them to my face.

The owners of a fabulous French bistro in Montclair, NJ, relocated to Ithaca two years ago and opened a restaurant there, though I can't remember the name of the new place. The place in Jersey was called Epernay, and their names are Marc and Courtnay Papera. You should be able to track the place down from that information, and it would be a must-go. Edited to add: And it was very simple to track down! It's Dijon Bistro and you're guaranteed a great meal. Tell them Markk from eGullet sent you!

He'd probably take it as a "sign" that the chef isn't Italian, and wouldn't eat there. The same goes for me. But I vote for "horrified" of your two choices.

On behalf of some friends who are starting their trip in Tuscany and then spending a few days in Umbria, I'd love specifics if you're offering. Thanks. (The Umbria part was my suggestion, but I haven't been back there in a good 30 years, so my recommendations would be pretty out of date.)

I think that you just have to close your eyes, and picture yourself eating the main dish, and ask yourself, or ask your "mind's tastebuds" what you taste going with that dish. You've got to have some idea of what you think you'd want to eat with it, no?

I cook a lot of fish, and basically once you're familiar with the rule of not overcooking it, and once you get a handle on what can be grilled (tuna, swordfish, etc.), and what fish take better to baking or broiling (flaky white fish) - as a general rule - it's basically a matter of using your imagination for flavor combinations. My fish photos may hopefully give you some ideas. Aside from learning pretty quickly what fish take to what methods, you also develop a sense of how strongly the fish itself is flavored, and you get a sense of what goes with what. But fish is pretty easy to come to terms with. Hope this helps.

Cabbage takes very badly to being microwaved!

I wasn't going to get involved here, but I feel I have to. Notwithstanding that your arguments about the "system" may be correct, I would agree wholeheartedly with those who have told you that since you know how the system works, and don't tip anyway, you're not making any kind of useful statement that works to change the system - you're giving rationalizations that make you feel better about saving yourself some money; and whether or not the system is right, if you know how it works in this country (as opposed to a foreigner who just may not know, somehow), you're committing a fraud when you dine in a restaurant here and don't tip, and you're penalizing the server needlessly. And I'm sure that you realize all of that. So you get-off on stiffing the server, and your trips to America cost you a little less. It's not something to be proud of.

Has anybody been? I have a friend coming to town who's dying for us to go here, and I guess I can't imagine why? Anybody with any experiences to report? Thanks.

So, FG, you're thinking of a White Castle as a "hamburger", and not as an entity all unto its own? Is this not the same as saying that you abandoned the special fondness you once had for the liver and onions at your favorite diner because you discovered sautéed foie gras at a starred establishment? I live right near the JCWM, though I've never been - and learned by pulling an all-nighter and researching it on eG, that the burgers there are not as good as those in the northern outpost. But they don't really look to me to be White Castle competitors, but rather something I'd contemplate when I was in the mood for a "hamburger".

For your garlic rubbed toasts: In one pan, sautee some thinly sliced (washed) leeks in butter and let them cook slowly covered. In another pan, crisp some cubed (or slivered) bacon and add it to the leeks. Then turn up the heat, add a cup of heavy cream, and after it has thickened, crumble in some goat cheese, stir through, and top the garlicky toasts.

Calves liver is a lot easier to deal with and a better place to start. It has a very definite taste and texture - many, me included, find it delicious - but you just might be somebody who doesn't like its taste. I can certainly see calling it livery (to me, delicious, but to many, a bad thing) though I don't know what you mean by "dirty". Look for some that is very pale in color, and for slices that look like they don't have a lot of membrane running through them. My local supermarket, not even one of the very upscale ones, has beautiful calves liver. If you get a nice slice of it, check the edges for a membrane that might curl up during cooking, and just score through it in a few places, or peel it off. There's no need to soak it. Now for a "cheat" recipe that uses a few things I normally don't use, but that are great for calves liver - some pure onion powder, and a bit of pure garlic powder. Season the liver lightly with the above, and with some salt and pepper, and dip it in some flour. Heat a skillet to a good heat, and then melt some butter in it. When the butter's ready for sauteeing, put the liver in on a fairly medium-high heat so that the surface crisps, and in about a minute, then turn it for another minute or so. When the second side's crisp, deglaze the pan with some dry white wine (at least 1/2 cup) and let it bubble down. Then, serve the liver in its gravy. This should give you a good idea of what it's supposed to taste like. Of course, you might not like liver. Have you ever had it out, or have you considered ordering it at a trusted restaurant to see if you like it? There are even a lot of diners that do it justice, as long as they're serving "calves" liver.

I cook a lot of duck breast (photos here), and I think that sweet sauces with them are repulsive. I like them with a bit of the pan juices (i.e. mostly duck fat) poured over them, and a light sprinkling of salt. I find they come out perfectly when cooked as suggested by D'Artagnan: Score the fat side but don't cut through the skin, and preheat a heavy skillet over medium high heat; put the duck in skin side down, and cook for approximately 8 minutes, flip the breasts, lower the heat to medium, and cook for approximately 4 more minutes. No oven finishing is necessary. But, resting them someplace that's around 110-120 degrees for at least 15 minutes is absolutely essential! I think what you did wrong was to go back and cook them some more. The times above are for the breast of a Moulard duck, which is quite large. For the breast of a smaller duck (muscovy, pekin), you'll need to reduce those times by a few minutes, and you'll learn this by trial and error. As you'll see if you look at my photos, I like my duck breast rare. It definitely toughens if you cook it past that point, and I find that while it's always cooked beautifully rare in France, it's almost invariably overcooked (to "medium-rare, which it does not tolerate) in the US. It does occasionally happen that you get a tough one. But overcooking is usually the culprit. And please remember that when you crisp the outside and cook it by searing it in hot duck fat, a lot of additional cooking-through will happen during the resting period, which, if I didn't stress this enough, is essential.

I was just about to post that same comment (and probably if I look back upthread, I already have) - but the McD sausage, egg & cheese McMuffin is one of my great guilty pleasures too! Thank God I'm never around any McDonald's at the hours they serve it !!!!!!! edited to say: and I was right; I said it in post #2 !!

I think it's very telling that the ones they're assembling have been ordered "without onions", because after 41 years of being addicted to them, that's finally how I learned to order them - so that I can eat them and live to tell about them without the normal, expected digestive side-effects. I came up with this idea after seeing the can that the onions come to them in - they're pre-chopped, and packed in a watery chemical solution, which you can see at the beginning of the video when they "pour" the onions and water onto the grill. I hypothesized that it might be the chemical solution that makes the onions indigestible. So now I order them without the onions, though thankfully the flavor is steamed into the meat. But without onion I can eat a dozen of them with no after-effects, and frequently do. I'm not convince that you really need the adobo and Worcestershire sauce, by the way, to replicate the real flavor. If you love them so much, you might enjoy reading the book "Selling 'em By the Sack" which is the history of White Castle.

Not too long ago, for reasons of space, I threw out 25 years of Gourmet magazine. I tried to donate them to a library, but they weren't interested, and as you can probably imagine, it's a lot of space. And I live in a colossally large apartment. Now I throw each issue of a magazine out when the next one comes. I am a pack-rat and would love to save them, but I know it's impossible. Sometimes a magazine will devote a whole issue to a city that I love to visit, and then I'll save that issue. Other than that, out they go. Books are another matter. Food books have taken over my house, because I cannot bring myself to throw a book out.

I would flour it and then sautee it in the butter to a nice crispy golden, and then do exactly what Jackal says. This isn't one I cooked, but it's how I like it to look: It doesn't have any bones - rather, the piece of meat that you see lies atop a piece of cartilage, and theres another piece of meat (fillet, for lack of a better word) on the underside of the cartilage. But I don't find it that easy to do myself- I've mutilated quite a few trying. But you can always cook them on the bone. You just won't be able to crisp both sides of each "fillet", just the two outside faces.

I did TOO !!