MiguelCardoso

Many thanks, Eduardo and Bux! I shall report back when I've returned.

Thanks a million, Rogelio - those should keep us busy and happy, I think. Also, thanks for the vserna heads-up! P.S. I've already had lamprey this year - last Thursday, in fact. There's a little place called A Tasca do João, two minutes walk from where I live in Lisbon, which serves little else during the season. Everybody gets really edgy around the New Year, knowing the "lampreia" is about to arrive from the Minho. I'm curious about the ways they prepare it in Galicia, though. Here, it's mostly always in the form of "arroz de lampreia" or bordelais-style.

Like many old-fashioned Portuguese foodies, I spend a week or two in Galicia every autumn or winter, generally in the lavish but agreeably cheap La Toya Hotel, with daily excursions to nearby O Grove for scallop-munching and shrimp-swallowing purposes. This year, due to professional obstacles, I can only make it mid-February - which is a tad late for this traditional break. So I'd like to stay somewhere different and taste what's new and exciting in Galicia (although I'd still like access to the traditional, fresh winter seafood which is irresistible there). I'll be staying for two weeks. Do any members have suggestions of restaurants I should definitely visit? Or, logistically speaking, of where I should be based, in order to maxiimize our gastronomic pleasure? We have a car and are willing to move about. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Twice this week I've made guacamole according to this recipe - no lime juice and no tomatoes but truly delicious. As I'm an ignoramus regarding Mexican cuisine (albeit an adoring and curious one), I have an almost ethical problem I'd love to know the solution to: unfortunately I tend to love most freshly-made guacamoles I try, whether genuinely Mexican or downright dubious. With or without garlic; with or without tomato; with or without lime juice; whether the avocado is fully ripe or half-ripe; Hass or another variety; with different kinds of peppers (even Portuguese dried "piri piri" powder or Tabasco, at a pinch, though only in an emergency); even with a tiny drop of olive oil... As long as it's got good avocados, really fresh coriander (though some purists even shun this); firm, new onions (or, shockingly, shallots) and, until this latest recipe, tomatoes (whether ripe and summery or tangily autumnal) and, above all, the best "fleur du sel" or natural sea salt crystals, I'm happy. I draw the line at mayonnaise and hate all the industrial versions I've had the misfortune to taste - but that's about it. Well, I'm tired of being such a slut. I would dearly love to know whether there is a basic "canvas" for guacamole (a Mexican friend of mine says it's just the avocado pulp, salt and a squirt of lime juice) and what the acceptable "palette" of addable ingredients is. Is there a real Mexican guacamole? Is there a real Tex-Mex version? You know, like the original Genovese basil, pinenut, garlic and olive oil pesto, which continues to be made properly in the same way, despite all the pseudo-versions that have since used its name. Any help would be much appreciated.

The professional Cognac Website is superb and should answer all a beginner's questions. Prepare for a life-long love affair!

In my experience ,the Robuchon purée is very easy to reheat, without extra butter, cream or milk, as long as it's done very, very slowly. As the Portuguese say: the purée must never suspect it's being reheated. You must do it subrrepticiously - without it finding out. It's sneaky, undercover work. Just work the mass slowly around the saucepan, on the lowest of heats. Keep in mind that it's as delicious cold, tepid, warm or hot. Temperature is a great distraction. Good things taste well at any temperature. Still, there's nothing like just-made purée, boiled for less than one thinks (15 minutes at most?) with fresh, dry-soil garlic. Perhaps the most important factor is simmering freshly plucked (purple-skinned, waxy) potatoes with their skins on, before peeling them by hand and mashing them by hand with a rice-masher. Add the best freshly-churned butter, white pepper, "fleur du sel"; and the thinnest "single cream" and you're away. It's even better when you mix it with "bacalhau" (salt cod, duly soaked for 36 hours and very briefly "mijoté" or simmered), as in the Portuguese "bacalhau com natas".

Torakris has started a fascinating thread over on the Japan forum, with lots of interesting comments and some great photographs as well. Among other things, it reminds us of the succulent deliciousness of the outer fish (skin, mmmm!) and the inner-inner fish (deep-fried fish bones, mmmm!) Speaking of which, there seems to be a fashion now in Europe for serving fish on a bed of its decorative scales or even, like Alain Passard at Arpege, line-caught Dover sole fried with its scales (please go to page 2 of the Autumn/Winter menu). Well worth checking out - a newbie's apologies to Bux if this creates some sort of unwelcome circle jerk. But the Japanese are the masters, after all! :)

According to reliable old fishbase it is called "lota do rio" or "donzela" in Portuguese, "lota" in Spanish. No, I've never heard of it either, but now I'm interested. There's also a seawater version, called "Bolota" in Portuguese. Just write "lota" in the search box and be overwhelmed!

Superb, torakris - many thanks! The thread is full of wonderful things too. Just thought I'd leave a note here to encourage others to go investigate. Up till today, I had one lousy New Year's bento photograph from About.com, so your generous reporting was much appreciated. :)

I had two of the best meals of my life in the Bruderholz Restaurant. The late Hans Stucki, one of Switzerland's greatest chefs, would sit down and discuss the 8-course meal before it began, to find out what I liked best. He popped by after every course and was happy to bring seconds when I loved something. Both lunches took over 4 hours. It's expensive but worth every penny. Though I couldn't convince him to add a little powdered Valium, locally produced by Roche, to one of his sauces - for that authentic Basel experience. Or perhaps he did because I left thoroughly mellowed out! I haven't returned since his long-time assistant Mr.Wicky took over but all reports indicate that the quality is the same. It's located in a nice big house, with a big garden, in the residential district. Unmissable, I'd say.

vmilor: I've been needing the gentlest push to finally visit Turkey and you've given it to me - thanks! I will e-mail you, if I may, as soon as I've made my travel arrangements, so I can know what's in season. I've also culled a valuable route from your many experiences in Italy and Spain. Needless to say, I'd be more than glad to e-mail you my suggestions for a seafood hunt in Portugal. Just to show what one learns on eGullet I had no idea that the Italians made tuna bottarga! I know... a simple googling opened up a whole new universe. I've loved Bottarga di Muggine, the grey mullet variety, for ages - but had no idea that the tuna variety also existed, despite having been twice to Sicily... May I share a prejudice with you? Here in Portugal, grey mullet (which we call "taínha") is considered an unspeakable fish. It's very rare you find it for sale (only in the very poorest areas at very, very low prices - about a dollar per kilo) because it is so maligned. Grey mullet is a fish that thrives on waste, oil, mud and other unmentionables when found near big cities. Fishermen know that, if you move out a little farther off coast, you'll find clean grey mullet - but the prejudice remains. It's a case of hatred, almost. It's one of the many cases of piscine stupidity you find in Portugal, brought about by over-abundance, perhaps. I'll never forget, when I was about 12 and my brother Paulo 11, we saw grey mullet for sale in a cheap supermarket (for 5 cents a kilo!) and, thinking that one or two zeros had mistakenly been subtracted from the price, invested in them, hoping that we might fool the cook and pocket the difference. We were bawled out by her and, later, by my father, who went into all the disgusting details of the poor taínha's life-style. Now I'm glad I since overcame the national prejudice and was able to enjoy grey mullet bottarga. Otherwise, I would have now leapt straight for the tuna variety and missed a great treat. Has anyone here ever tried both? What are the differences? P.S. I often have peppery, bright-red cod's roe generously speckled over thin strips of cuttlefish (like linguini) in my favourite sushi house here. I wonder if there's any Mediterranean equivalent?

Btw, many thanks for the vmilor reference. I'm new to eGullet and am now enjoying his contributions immensely.

Pedro: speaking of things one would like to know (but, in my case, the ignorance is real) I've never understood the American and Canadian meanings and nuances that attach to the word "seafood". I have many American cookbooks (some very specialized, focussing on shellfish foraging on various American coastal areas) and yet I'm still at sea, as it were, about the generality of that word. As most cooks and food writers, you say "seafood and fish". But sometimes "seafood" refers to all fish and shellfish and sometimes only to shellfish. I can't tell you how often, in the U.S., I've visited a "seafood" restaurant, only to find they serve fish only - not even oysters. Can you - or another kind soul - explain what, exactly, "seafood" includes and excludes? In Portugal and Spain, "frutos do mar" (fruits of the sea, for any non-Spanish speakers) tends to mean the same as "mariscos" (crustaceans, goose barnacles, bivalve and univalve molluscs) and this, I think, is the source of confusion, at least for us Portuguese. Many thanks beforehand for any help in this matter.

Thanks for the information, vserna. I'll definitely look out for the grey mullet roe - I love the Italian bottarga. We used to have good mojama in the Algarve ("moxama") but nowadays it's practically impossible to find, so we buy the excellent Andalusian version in the good old Corte Inglés. Another sadly declining tradition, as the old expert smokers have died off, is the superb smoked swordfish ("espadarte fumado") which we can only get frozen now and isn't as fatty, translucent and light. My Ukrainian reference, btw, was not due to any travel experience. We have a high number of recent Ukrainian immigrants (all much-loved and amazingly speaking superb Portuguese) and they have their own supermarkets where lovely home-smoked fish (mackerel, lemon sole, herring, anchovies) and canned products (cod livers, smoked anchovies, salmon eggs) are cheaply available. In Portuguese markets, fish sellers will often try to sell their monkfish without the liver, unless you're well-known or make a scene, keeping them for favoured customers. You can't make a decent "caldeirada" (fish stew) without them. I'm really curious about Kabuki - my favourite sushi house here in Lisbon (Aya 2, presided over by master Yoshitake) serves it very, very lightly boiled and shocked, with an even-lighter-than-usual ponzu.

Spanish, Portuguese, French and Japanese cooks (not to mention Ukrainian canners) have always valued certain fish organs (livers/ tomallies; sperm sacs; coral/eggs etc.) as being particularly delicious, whether fresh or carefully preserved. Either that or they'll insist on eating the whole fish, specially if it's fried or boiled up in a stew, including the crispy or gelatinous skin. Fish cheeks are specially prized - they're undoubtedly the best part. The tragedy, of course, is that, with most fish processing around the world, these delicacies are generally discarded (whether on board or when landed) or turned into fish meal. I recently came across an American study which is looking into the nutritional goodness inside a cod (though more sensitive readers might be put off by the stark photographs of its innards) and was reminded of an article Joan Merlot published in June 2003 about the growing number of Madrid restaurants which are honouring fish's organ meats (in Spanish). In Portugal, apart from red mullet, monkfish, cod and sardine livers, as well as the much-loved "ovas" of hake, grouper and "mero", there has always been an unfortunate tendency to discard viscera, unless the fish is particularly tiny (horse mackerel, sardines) or delicious (Dover sole, turbot). Cuttlefish are eaten with their ink and innards but, stupidly, squid are too often cleaned and only the outer flesh eaten - though the ink and viscera are just as delicious. With shellfish, everything is eaten (specially the delicious shrimp and gamba "brains" and every single drop and chunk, bar the lungs, of langoustines, spiny lobsters, spider crabs, etc - although often (lamentably) mixed up in the shell with bread crumbs, malagueta chiles, beer and mustard). I was wondering what, outside sushi houses, are the best restaurants in Spain today for tasting fish livers and other innards? And which are the best canned products and where can you procure them? (I only know of El Corte Inglés's Gourmet sections and Delicatessen). Also, outside Spain and Portugal (specially in Northern and Eastern Europe, not to mention the whole Far East, of which I'm ignorant) what dishes and canned products (caviar apart!) should I look out for?

Boy, am I glad you made that clear, vserna - may I add a similar disgust on the part of your Portuguese neighbour? As usual, the French have (quite rightly, though with ever less justification) assumed their place at the centre of the culinary universe and more-than-slightly disregarded their Iberian and Italian comrades. I wonder whether Spain has the same passion for luscious, gelatinous veal-hoof ("mão de vitela") we do? Served with chick-peas ("garbanzo"/"grão")? Unfortunately, this is not in the dictionary, although I know the French (and even the English, i.e. St.John's in London) enjoy it just as much as we do.

Culibase is a handy online tool for looking up ingredients and culinary terms in French, English, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch. What good single-language online food dictionaries do members recommend?

Dear Jeffrey, Of course I was kidding! I appreciate your honesty above all else and the fact that, unlike so many others, you won't bluff your way through something you haven't thoroughly investigated - that is truly encouraging. About the seafood: It changes quite a bit as you travel up the coast. The Algarve is the poorest as its waters are a bit too warm - but you get the best "ameijoas" (Venus clams?) and "navalhas" or "lingueirões"(razor clams?) there. The "gambas" (prawns) are fine but their quality and size have decreased. The cuttlefish and the various forms of tuna are very good. Further up, around Vila Nova de Milfontes (Southwest Alentejo) you get delicious southern "percebes" (goose-neck barnacles); "búzios" (conch); the best squid and a variety of fish not caught elsewhere. Setúbal, nearing Lisbon, has the best red mullet and langoustines. The area round Lisbon (Cascais) is where the best "robalo"( sea bass); "linguado"( Dover sole) and "sargos" (a creamy bream) are to be found. "Navalheiras" (small crabs) are delicious and plentiful. A rare treat are tiny slipper lobsters and wild lobsters. Up towards the North, Peniche (which some reckon has the best fish market) has the best spider crabs, spiny lobsters, sardines and "carapaus" (horse mackerel). In the cold waters near Oporto, the best, plumpest shrimp is to be found - this has always been the most expensive shellfish. Although a few luxury restaurantes up and down the coast have a decent selection, demand is so high that you have to go local (and know people) if you want the real thing - live, wild shellfish boiled in sea water while you wait. It's complex, believe me. Even for ridiculous prices, the best restaurants cannot obtain the freshly hand-caught shellfish and fish which is greedily consumed "in situ" the moment people set eyes on it. Second-best are traditional "marisqueiras" - the best of which are in Oporto, Lisbon and Setúbal. But they deal in volume so lobsters, langoustines, crabs etc will be kept alive in tanks, which affects their flavour severely. If I had to choose somewhere as base I'd probably choose Oporto - nearby Matosinhos is the shellfish and fish mecca. Please e-mail me if you ever decide to come and I'll draw up a map and provide you with letters of introduction so you can bypass the many barriers. All the very best and thanks again for your kindness - I'm sorry my little joke didn't translate well!

Dear Jeffrey, Have I been unlucky with my questions or what? I inquired about Portuguese cuisine - you tell me you've never heard of the country and intend living your whole life without finding out, God be willing. So, pushing my luck and abusing eGullet's and your hospitality, I reassemble, rethink and come back at ya with a simple request for your preferences regarding fried eggs. Your response? Yes, you've heard rumours about them and trust they do exist but, to be frank, you can't be bothered. Perhaps someday - don't call us; we'll call you. With the sweetest words, you echo Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Fried Eggs?" and invite me, a mere amateur, to provide my own answer. Better luck next time, I hope. Just let me say (and I'm sure I'm not the only one) how enchanted and enlightened I've been by your full, candid, honest and wise answers to other members' questions. The great thing about these Q&As is that, when the guest is as sincere and knowledgeable (and what the English call "game") as you are and the questions are as interesting as these were (with fascinating addenda to boot), I'm entirely satisfied by proxy, as it were. So I'll let you off for now, Dr.Steingarten - but don't let it happen again! P.S. No, kidding aside, thank you ever so much! :)

It's very sporting of you to stay a little longer. Thank you kindly. My question is: what's your favourite way to fry an egg? We'll assume the egg is freshly laid, of course. Do you use olive oil, butter, bacon fat, lard, beef dripping; duck or goose fat or a good vegetable oil? Even a good margarine, made from decent vegetable oils? I know margarine has been having a bad press lately - but some are better than others. In Portugal, for instance, all-peanut "Vaqueiro" makes for a very acceptable fried egg. Do you, as many Mediterraneans do, mix fats: olive oil and lard; butter and bacon fat; peanut and olive oil? Do you separate the yolk from the white, so the white is crispy and golden but the yolk (added afterwards) self-contained and, when pierced, runny? Do you cover the frying pan for a few seconds? Do you use a spoon to scoop up the fat and pour over the whites, to crisp them up? In Portugal and Spain fried eggs, with nothing else (though we do add bacon and smoked ham for fun), are one of our basic pleasures. I'm curious. In a culture which is so agreeably sensitive to eggs ("over easy"; "sunny side up", etc.) I'd like to know how you choose to fry your eggs. And, now that we're at it, what you accompany them with: hot oven-heated rolls; toast; fried bread; fried or grilled tomatoes; streaky bacon; chouriço... Please let us know!

WOW, torakris! Just WOW! That's absolutely astonishing - what a clickety-click pleasure you've provided us with. Thanks a million!

Seja muito bem-vindo, meu caro Doutor Steingarten! I'm a Portuguese writer who recently started writing a weekly food column for the Diário de Notícias here in Lisbon and, as a great admirer of your writing and attitude (your two latest books were wolfed down in two greedy, too-short sittings, something that only happened previously with Elizabeth David), I was wondering what you found interesting about Portuguese cooking and indigenous ingredients. You so often surprise me (for instance, I have never been able to enjoy a home-made pizza after I read about your heroic search for a hot-enough oven), I wouldn't put it past you to mention something I'd never heard of, or some take on a well-known dish or ingredient which had never occurred to us local food writers. So - what would you write about this week if you were here instead of me? Many thanks and all the very best to you, kind sir!

Oops, I forgot to add the link to your highly enlightening and entertaining cocktail seminar which is a must for all infusionistas. Since I'm here again, I'll add that I'm going to take the experimental road with those cherries I'll be receiving in a couple of hours. One, I'll do the Russian way, with crushed cherry pits (36, no less, say the very creditable Vodkaphiles!). The second, just with the pulp. And a third I'll make with a combination of cherry pulp and a few crushed pits. I know that sour cherries would have been better, but I can't get my hands on any right now. One of the most popular drinks in Portugal is "ginjinha" (a little like the Danish Cherry Heering), which are sour cherries steeped in "bagaço" (grappa). I'll report back on the results. I should add an update on my several dozen infusions: in no case have I seen any advantage in removing the fruit/seeds/pods/whatever. The flavour just keeps growing and, with the citrus fruits, the very delicate mustiness which results is a feature, rather than a bug. Cheers!

I think it's a wonderful idea, beans! It's too late this year but perhaps next year we can organize an I-Swap whereby members can ship out their better infusions to each other. I understand that there are a few restrictions in the U.S. to sending booze in the post but perhaps a small, cologne-size bottle would be OK? Tomorrow morning I'll be getting the very last strawberries of the year; freshly plucked raspberries and some new Chilean cherries. The Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture issues a very complete weekly report of all the crops and imports, with very reliable details on condition, scarcity, price and sales - so it's a cinch to order correctly, as my local greengrocer goes every evening to the big professional MARL Lisbon market. Here's the URL just out of curiosity: http://www.min-agricultura.pt/oportal/extc..._03/MENU_03.HTM. You just choose the latest week from the drop-down menu. Fascinating stuff! Do you have a similar service in the States and Canada? All the very best, beans - thanks again for your kindness and enthusiasm! :)

Thanks, beans! I'm a great fan of your cocktail seminars - I specially like the insight into your current experiments. This is just an update on my recent infusions. I'm very happy with my coffee bean (São Tomé Arábica) vodka - this has to be the most rewarding and instantly gratifying of all, for us beginners. I like Black Russians and White Russians but, lacking a sweet tooth, my hope is that I can dispense with the liqueurs. I've ordered freshly roasted cocoa beans too - for the Alexander family. It'll be my first gin infusion for the gin Alexander - a bit of a waste and what we Portuguese call "raining on the wet", but we'll see. An enormous failure (though I should have known) was with whole "malagueta" peppers. I was bowled over by their red and green cuteness so (stupidly!) decided to leave in the stalks. The result, after four days: stalky vodka. Horrible! My wife extracted them from the bottle one by one - they float beautifully to the top, like lambs to the slaughter - and I removed the stalks, hoping the firepower from the open chiles will overcome the grassy, unpleasant taste. A great French chef, Antoine Westermann, once told me that the most difficult thing in cooking was saving or rehabilitating something gone wrong. So much so he narrowed it down to two people - only one of which he'd met. So my fingers aren't crossed. I've also infused - macerated would be more accurate - Granny Smith apples (only the peel in one; peel and pulp in another; only pulp in the third); late quince and a particular Portuguese apple ("bravo esmolfe") which has the most intoxicating perfume and the sweetest, most romantic taste. I was disappointed to find they all oxidized (though I'm using 80 proof rye Wyborowa) but, after three days, the aroma and taste are tantalizing. I'm also doubting that fruit should be freshly plucked. What's so bad about ripened? I have a freshly plucked, gorgeous Cornice pear infused (peel and pulp) but I'm giving their brothers and sisters a few days more, to see what a little ripeness does. Hope others here are still hanging in there! :)