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The W-S sale ended on 8/17, and their site has no entry for Cuisipro. The best price on Amazon today is $69.99. See Amazon

Chantal - The Food and Wine site is accesible only to subscribers or to newsstand buyers with a special code printed in the magazine. Any chance you can post the adobo-making instructions?

Don't forget the old favorites: Old Bay Seasoning Lawrey’s Seasoned Salt Mrs. Dash salt-free seasonings Spike Seasoned Salt cubed broth (never alone – only to toss in to punch up something else) Tabasco (or perhaps Prudhomme’s hot sauce or, if you can find it, Tapatio) Worcestershire sauce Also: Chinese Shanxi vinegar (like balsamic but a fraction of the price) 5 Spice Powder

In London, I loved malt vinegar on chips. Great stuff. When I came home, all I could find was Heinz, which had no flavor at all. Which brands are the real thing?

Dean & Deluca has "chilled, never frozen, never soaked" chickens that I assume are Smart Chickens. At any rate, they're very good. No neck or giblets, though.

Ultra-cheap vodka is said to become high-class stuff when put through a Brita water filter several times. See this link.

I, too, feel guilty about throwing away carrot tops, but I've tried with no success to prepare even good organic ones several times. Nothing I've been able to do gets out the bitterness and mouth-puckering tannins. They would make a nice garnish, but even the LA Times recipe uses only tiny flecks. Anything more would bring out that horrible taste.

One way to get a "rack effect" is to make a platform out of the wingtips, neck and roasting-type veggies (celery, onion), with maybe an extra back you got from the butcher. Also, wet-roasting melts the subcutaneous fat out of a duck (and is even better for a goose). Simply pour off the liquid (to skim off the fat and make gravy) and roast the burd at high heat for the last 30 minutes to crisp the skin, turning a few times.

I improvised pretty much the same recipe, without the garlic, for dinner last night. Pure heaven, even though it was paid for with a half hour of purgatory beforehand, deveining the shrimp. Just white wine wine, olive oil and Old Bay. Don't peel the shrimp after deveining, since the shells add lots of flavor. Anyway, the shells are easier to get off (though messy) after cooking.

Regulations, regulations everywhere. I represented a pharmacy that almost lost its license because an inspector found an unopened can of Coke that a non-pharmacist employee had stashed in the insulin fridge.

In 1998, the NY Times had a butter tasting and picked Echiré as the best, saying it had a strong, sweet, nutty aroma and flavor. They rated Plugra second. I tried some Echiré from Zabar's and thought it was excellent but not worth the very high price. I like Plugra and President, but recently I've been using Beurremont 83%, which has excellent taste and texture. Zabar's sells in 1-pound blocks. Corby Kummer had an article in the June 1998 issue of The Atlantic, "Better Butter," which won a 1999 Beard Foundation award. I cut it out but can't find it, and I'm not going to pay to access The Atlantic's archives. He waxed eloquent about a particular European cultured butter that is occasionally imported in 1/4 pound blocks moulded with a flower on top. I think I found some at Zabar's a few years ago, and it was wonderful, but they've never had it since. If anyone has the article, I'd love a copy.

In response to Snowangel's request, I've added my Super-High-Test Hummus to RecipeGullet rather than putting it here. It's unusual, with a 1:1:1 ratio of chick peas, lemon juice and tahini, but it's pretty much what was in a genuine Turkish cookbook, and I've never had guests leave even a morsel of it behind.

Super-High-Test Hummus This is a real humdinger from an old Middle Eastern cookbook. The almost 1:1:1 proportions of chick peas, lemon juice and tahini are unusual, and a few timid ones will object, but the rest will eat every morsel. 2 10-1/2 oz. cans chick peas 1 large (20 oz.) can or bottle of sesame tahini 2 cups (really!) fresh lemon juice plus zests from the shells 1 large head garlic kosher salt freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons each hot and mild paprika plus more for garnish 1 tablespoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon (at least) cayenne pepper 1/4 bunch flat parsley 1/2 bunch cilantro 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon ground cumin for garnish 2 tablespoons green, herbaceous EVOO for garnish a small handful of medium black and green cured Kalamata olives (the kind with the slit cut in the side) for garnish pita wedges for serving - lightly toasted is nice but not mandatory - nearly any soft flatbread will do 1. Open the cans of chick peas, putting the liquid from one can in the bowl of a food processor with the sharp blade. Reserve the liquid from the other can. 2. Separate the garlic into cloves, lightly crush each clove with the flat of a chef's knife or the side of a cleaver and slip off the skins. Put the cloves in the food processor and puree for about 30 seconds. 3. Cut off the top 2-3" of the parsley and cilantro, put in a plastic bag and regrigerate for garnish. Lightly chop the remainder, including the stems. Put them in the food processor and puree for about 10 seconds. 4. Add the chick peas to the food processor and puree until smooth, adding lemon juice as necessary to keep a nice motion of the mixture up the outer side of the bowl, over and down the "vortex." 5. Add about 1/3 of the can or jar of the tahini. (It helps to store the bottle or can upside down to re-mix the oil and paste.) Add half the remaining lemon juice, the lemon zest, a couple of good pinches of salt, pepper, cayenne and the paprikas. Puree, adding lemon juice to produce the vortex. Continue with the 1/3, and then the final 1/3 of the tahini, adding lemon juice and, if necessary, the remaining chick pea liquid. 6. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, process for 15 seconds. Add more until the texture is smoother and you can taste the oil slightly. Taste for salt and add more as necessary. 7. Refrigerate overnight to develop the flavors. 8. To serve, sprinkle the top with streaks of sweet paprika and cumin, make a well in the center and pour in the EVOO, sprinkle the olives around the edges, chop the saved parsely and cilantro and sprinkle over, and serve with pita wedges. Keywords: Beans, Hors d'oeuvre, Easy, Dip, Middle Eastern ( RG1328 )

Super-High-Test Hummus This is a real humdinger from an old Middle Eastern cookbook. The almost 1:1:1 proportions of chick peas, lemon juice and tahini are unusual, and a few timid ones will object, but the rest will eat every morsel. 2 10-1/2 oz. cans chick peas 1 large (20 oz.) can or bottle of sesame tahini 2 cups (really!) fresh lemon juice plus zests from the shells 1 large head garlic kosher salt freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons each hot and mild paprika plus more for garnish 1 tablespoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon (at least) cayenne pepper 1/4 bunch flat parsley 1/2 bunch cilantro 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon ground cumin for garnish 2 tablespoons green, herbaceous EVOO for garnish a small handful of medium black and green cured Kalamata olives (the kind with the slit cut in the side) for garnish pita wedges for serving - lightly toasted is nice but not mandatory - nearly any soft flatbread will do 1. Open the cans of chick peas, putting the liquid from one can in the bowl of a food processor with the sharp blade. Reserve the liquid from the other can. 2. Separate the garlic into cloves, lightly crush each clove with the flat of a chef's knife or the side of a cleaver and slip off the skins. Put the cloves in the food processor and puree for about 30 seconds. 3. Cut off the top 2-3" of the parsley and cilantro, put in a plastic bag and regrigerate for garnish. Lightly chop the remainder, including the stems. Put them in the food processor and puree for about 10 seconds. 4. Add the chick peas to the food processor and puree until smooth, adding lemon juice as necessary to keep a nice motion of the mixture up the outer side of the bowl, over and down the "vortex." 5. Add about 1/3 of the can or jar of the tahini. (It helps to store the bottle or can upside down to re-mix the oil and paste.) Add half the remaining lemon juice, the lemon zest, a couple of good pinches of salt, pepper, cayenne and the paprikas. Puree, adding lemon juice to produce the vortex. Continue with the 1/3, and then the final 1/3 of the tahini, adding lemon juice and, if necessary, the remaining chick pea liquid. 6. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, process for 15 seconds. Add more until the texture is smoother and you can taste the oil slightly. Taste for salt and add more as necessary. 7. Refrigerate overnight to develop the flavors. 8. To serve, sprinkle the top with streaks of sweet paprika and cumin, make a well in the center and pour in the EVOO, sprinkle the olives around the edges, chop the saved parsely and cilantro and sprinkle over, and serve with pita wedges. Keywords: Beans, Hors d'oeuvre, Easy, Dip, Middle Eastern ( RG1328 )

The Miracle Whip makes it truly '50s. The ultimate would be to make it in a microwave and put Cool Whip and a green maraschino cherry on top (to match the spinach).

I think the "butter fondue" is done with beurre monté. My source is a very good article from the LA Times, article link., which is now in their for-pay archives. (I saved the article, but I got spanked for posting something similar -- too many words -- so I'll have to keep it to myself. The trick is to keep meats warm in a bath of beurre monté, to use it for poaching and to drizzle it over meats and vegetables.) Thomas Keller apparently invented the idea of poaching lobster in beurre monté. See recipe.

takomabaker - What did your chef emulsify the oil with? Does olive oil + basil emulsify with itself and thicken up? Or is there perhaps a bit of water, as in a beurre monté?

The cooking style depends on the amount of marbling. "The other white meat" has almost no fat and needs special care to avoid drying out. The best cooking method I've found came from the NY Times several years back: - Take pork chops or cut the meat into chop-thickness pieces (3/4" or so). - Pan fry 4 minutes on each side. - Remove from heat, cover tightly and let sit for 12 minutes. - An instant read thermometer should show 150 degrees.

A small kielbasy (to fit in an 11" frying pan) from Kurowycky's heavenly butcher shop on NYC's Lower East Side, 2 lb. of their excellent sauerkraut, a VERY big onion sliced in half and stuck with several cloves, a big carrot, some juniper berries and a bit of left-over drippings, simmered for an hour in about a pint of beer. Poor man's choucrout, and very satisfying, with plenty of leftovers.

I love the basil-infused olive oil from Olivier & Cie. in the NYC Grand Central Market, but their prices are beyond outrageous. I've tried infusing LOTS of fresh basil (crused and uncrushed, with and without stems) in good quality EVOO, but I never get the same intensity. Does anyone know the secret?

Bridge has (or used to) its own 12¼ x 19 super heavy corrugated cast iron grill that fits over two burners. They're having a moving sale this week. Bridge Griddles According to a NY Times article rating stovetop griddles a few years back, Peerless makes a 24" x 36" griddle that fits over 4 burners on its stoves. This may be it: Peerless Griddle Top though I suspect it would take 4 industrial-strength burners to heat it.

I've never had any luck re-emulsifying broken mayo with a blender or food processor. The sign of broken mayo is a clearish liquid with tiny white droplets in it, a bit like curdled milk. The way to avoid breaking is to go really slow at the beginning. Add a single drop of oil, beating constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon, and make sure it gets absorbed. Then one more drop, then maybe 2 drops. Eventually you can go a teaspoon at a time, but I've broken the emulsion far too often when I tried the "steady stream" method. The process also works for hollandaise (egg yolk and melted butter). I found my sister-in-law in tears after beating a broken hollandaise by hand for over half an hour. I rescued her fancy asparagus dish by starting with a fresh yolk. A great combination even if she didn't clarify the butter first.

Sliced thin (a food processor comes in handy here), and, in my mother's style, mixed with sour cream, chopped scallions and Lawrey's Seasoned Salt. My variation: make the dressing with labnee or drained yogurt, add chopped chives and dill plus freshly ground black pepper and Spike Seasoned Salt. Half labnee and half sour cream or half yogurt and half sour cream is also good and practically indistinguishable from all SC. A tablespoon of mayo is also nice.

There was a good article on country ham in the NY Times a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, you have to pay to see it now. They said that most country hams, and presumably the bacon, are available on the web at Smithfield Hams, at Another source and at (800) 926-8448. Naturally, the very best, from Darden's Country Store in Smithfield, Va., are available only by going there.

So let's see some pictures.