hwilson41

Brooks; I'll just add my "me too" two cents. Thanks for taking this on, and during such a special time. I grew up "next door" (Texas), and love Louisiana cuisine. Please include recipes or preparation tips when you can. Really looking forward to this blog. THW

Jim; I'm a novice on wine compared to you or Katie, and because of that, I rely heavily on what I read, mostly in the Washington Post Food Section. I don't always agree with evaluations there or elsewhere, and when I don't, I try to take notice of what I think are the differences between what I think and what the reviewer thinks. So much for my non-qualifications. Now, you say that "quality cannot be quantified". If we're talking about cardinal quantification, I couldn't agree more. But what about ordinal quantification (just order ranking) within a well defined group? In this weeks Post wine column, Ben Giliberti was reviewing high dollar Cabs fron Napa, most in the $100 range, give or take a few bucks, and said the following: "Worthy 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley ($24; Best Buy) No the price is not a misprint. [goes on to describe Worthy as not quite Axios 2001 level, but close].... Had I been served this wine blind, I'd have pegged it at no less than $60." So here we have presumably a pretty damn good Cab at roughly a quarter the cost of most of the others in the review. This I would argue is a type or ordinal rank, maybe along the lines of "not superb, but pretty damned good". And frankly that sort of ranking makes sense to me. I'd buy and drink a $24 Cab in a flash, but it takes a pretty special occasion to separate me from $100 for one bottle of wine. Would you also argue that that sort of ranking is impossible within a well defined group as well? THW Edited for stupid spelling mistake.

I'll second that suggestion. Chicken breast (to me) is grossly over rated, and the dark meat has more moisture (from fat) and way more flavor. And just ignore the cries of outrage from the dry white meat lovers . THW

Brittany; Are you using any ingredients (other than the rice) that would absorb moisture? When I make it, I usually include some hot cajun sausage, and find that I need more liquid (I use homemade chicken stock) than the standard 2:1 ratio. Somewhere around 2.5:1 seems to work pretty well. And like Dana and others said, don't give up. Just fiddle with it a little til you get it right. I've even used brown rice, and that works well too. THW

It's been years since I lived in Fort Worth, but I grew up there, and the standard for BBQ to which all others were compared was Angelo's, down on White Settlement (that's a street name). Anybody around there can tell you where it is, and the Q there is superb, or was the last time I ate it (about 5 years ago). THW

"Tarheel Truffles" does have a nice ring to it . THW

Emily; Great news on finding a butcher. I'm in Fairfax, and would love to be able to order specialty items like that. If you don't mind telling, how far away did you have to go to find a cooperative butcher? I've found one or two down in southern Maryland, but nothing closer. Thanks. THW Edited to correct spulling.

That is probably the single most important facet to me. I read lists of ingredients, and not being a chemist, I haven't the faintest damned idea what many of them are. When I make my own Saucisse de Toulouse (for example), I know exactly what went into it. If it tastes good, we know who gets the credit. And if it tastes bad, we know who to blame. And we also know it isn't the biphenyl-hydro-what-in-the-hell-is-this-crap that made it taste funny . THW

Toasted; You will not be disappointed with the goat cheese. I tried some of mine on a plain roll (storebought, alas) with Montrachet and it is outstanding. I think it would have been even better with a stronger flavored chevre. And if I'd had some real sourdough instead, would doubtless have been even better yet. THW

Onion confit finally done. Here's a brief rundown. Started with Fifi's recipe, except used 2 C homemade beef stock reduced down to 1/2 C (instead of demi glace), plus added 3 Tbsp Amontillado Sherry (and finally 3 Tbsp Ruby Port - see below). Did the 10 minute, then the 30 minute sautes, popped into a preheated 200F oven about 9:30 Friday night. Here are a few pics and comments. Onions after 10 minutes. This is approximately a 6 qt LC; probably should have used a smaller pot. Onions after 15 hours. Still a lot of liquid, caramelizing not nearly complete, and taste so-so. Onions after 18 hours, including a 45 minute stove top simmer to finally reduce liquid. Added 3 Tbsp Ruby Port before the 45 minute simmering. The finished product on a boiled and buttered potato (skin on). The plating leaves much to be desired (mine usually does ), but very tasty. Lemon and dill salmon on the side. After the fact, my suspicion is that the Amontillado Sherry is too dry for the confit. At 15 hours, still a lot of liquid, and taste sort of sickly sweet, although improving every hour. At 18 hours, I I decided to blow off the 200F oven and simmer uncovered on stove top. Also added 3 Tbsp good Ruby Port. Simmered for about 45 minutes, until most liquid evaporated. Taste very much improved, by the Port I assume. The confit was delicious on the potato. This confit takes quite a bit of time, but very little active attention. Next try, I'll skip the Sherry and use Ruby Port from the beginning. Thanks to Woodburner, Fifi, and all the others for all the great work on this. My taste buds send their best regards to all of you . THW

Thanks, Fifi. I'm a little unsure since this is the first time out, but what I did was boil the 2 C of beef stock down to 1/2 C first. I'm using a 7 qt (I think) LC, and at first, the six onions filled it up pretty well. After doing the 10 minute and then the 30 minute cooking, with stuff stirred in per your recipe, the mass had reduced down to where I could have used the 4.5 qt instead. Anyway, I popped them covered into a 200 degree oven about 9:30 last night. This morning at 8:00 am, they were considerably darker, but still a lot of liquid. And the taste was sort of sickly sweet. If I didn't know better, I'd call this a screw up - of which I've had many - but based on others' results, I'm assuming the taste will improve as the onions caramelize more thoroughly. Will report back when the deed is finally done with a few pics also. Thanks again. THW

OK, a question for all you pros who are ahead of me on this. I'm going to make my first onion confit this weekend using essentially Fifi's recipe (the beef demi glace version). I have no demi glace and don't want to buy store bought, but I have quite a bit of good, homemade beef stock. As a substitute for the 1/2 C demi glace, I'm thinking of starting with 2 C of beef stock and reducing it down to approximately 1/2 C before adding it to the confit. Should I add any other seasonings? For the rest, I'm following Fifi's recipe, using Amontillado for the Sherry. Any other pointers? Thanks. THW

Tryska; I'm certainly no botanical expert, but the blackberry bushes on the Outer Banks are very thorny, and convoluted, like wild greenbriar, except even worse. Not sure what the ones with upright stalks would be, but I don't think they are blackberries. THW

Tryska; Amen to all, and especially the wild blackberries. Every year we go to the Outer Banks with friends, and my wife and I graze the wild blackberries along the roadsides. Absolutely delicious, and from appearances, few of the other folks know about them. Probably I should just keep my mouth shut . They are sooo good on homemade ice cream . THW

K; What a super blog. In an earlier career, I was a statistician of sorts, among other things, and one of the things that's so delightful about eGullet is that you can't predict shit from past knowledge . "Oh, that's OK. I read the last food blog, and I'm sure this one will be pretty much the same." NOT! Thanks for an absolutely delightful and totally unexpected blog. THW

Fifi; This topic is great, and onion confit is on my weekend list of things to do (along with taxes ). Two questions. What kind of Sherry? I usually use Amontillado for cooking (She Crab Soup and suchlike), but not sure where we're trying to go here since I haven't started yet. Is the demi glace you refer to a true demi glace (which I don't have) or just reduced beef (or chicken) stock (which I do have)? Thanks. THW

Marlene; I've been lurking as this unfolded. Super job, and thanks for the details. And what a lovely home. Some of the prettiest granite counters I've ever seen. Thanks again for a job very, very well done. THW

I will never, ever (again), run out of homemade chicken stock. Once you get used to it, the stuff from the cubes (or cans) is sooo dreadful, and so damned salty! THW P.S. Boy, I wish this were really true. Wanna guess what I'm doing today ? Hell, maybe it will be true.

Donk; What area of the country are you in? If you're into Southern cooking, there are a million things you can do with cayennes. Check out (among others) Bill Neal in Bill Neal's Southern Cooking. Cubanels also have a nice mild flavor, but add a nice touch to chili and such dishes. THW

? I like chewy, bloody and seared! Huh? "...puts the flavour back into the meat." How odd. Where had that flavour gone that it needed to be retreived? I'm with Carlovski and others. Make mine charred on the outside, nice and rare inside. Otherwise, we might as well go back to the old chuck wagon days when all meat was cooked well done (or beyond). THW

Fifi; I believe we can also add okra to that list, can we not ? THW

Pim; I'm a little late to the party (darn "day job" ), but what a superb blog. Makes me feel a little like a third world type when I compare my "usual" menu to what you presented, but splendid nonetheless. Thanks for all the work and the excellent photos. THW

YES!! THW

Mudpuppie; The end grain hard maple (same thing as sugar maple) makes a great cutting board, but there are easier ways to go, particularly if you're relatively new to woodworking. Try to find quarter sawn or rift sawn hard maple. It that's available, you should have a minimum number of glue joints, easily done on a jointer, and because of the way the wood is sawn, there won't be any tendency for the wood to cup or curl when it gets wet. Hope this helps. THW

Once you've disposed of the "main" part, the bone makes a dynamite substitute for smoked hocks in a white bean soup. If you're interested, PM me and I'll send you a recipe for something pretty close to Senate bean soup that they used to serve in the the dining room at the Richmond Fed. I've never tasted the Senate version, but those who have had both say the Richmond version is better. YMMV. THW