B Edulis

Jean George has a recipe in his cookbook calling for a crust of Szechuan, when I went shopping for it I found "Dried Bunge Pricklyash." Which I was assured was the same. It looks the same. It was good!

Speaking of sand, I was once reconstituting some porcini in liquid and the recipe called for filtering the mixture and using just the liquid. It smelled marvelous, but when I looked at what was left in the filter, I saw a bunch of tiny maggots! This wasn't completely surprising, because when you're hunting porcini in the wild (boletus edulis), your primary competition is not other mushroom hunters but the same tiny maggots. They're less than the size of a pin head, and they start at the bottom and work their way up the stem to the cap. If you cut the stem horizontally, you can see small brown spots that mark their trails. Other hunters I know have varying standards of whether, or how many, they will tolerate. I will tolerate just a couple. So what did I do with the liquid? I was suitably grossed out, but with no alternative in the cupboard, I used it, and said nothing to my companions, figuring that the steaming liquid, plus the drying process, rendered the insects physically, if not esthetically harmless. What would you have done?

I was once told by an antique dealer FOAF that dealers buy and sell silver by weight and that it's the best way to get a set of silverware. But I can't help by suggesting where one might do this. I have a friend who's collecting a mixed set of silver, the common element being that every piece has to have an anthropomorphic face somewhere on it. It really populates the table! I can't wait to check out the sites y'all have suggested....

Robert, I would be delighted to join the tour! I've been a Wright fan for years but had no idea that he pioneered the rimless plate. How interesting. As I look at my copy of the old Hennessy catalogue I also notice how flat American Modern plates are, they only curve up in the outer 3/4 inch. The Zeisel T+C plates, by contrast, are almost bowls, I suppose the better to use for buffets in those 1947 Greenwich Village lofts that were evoked in the advertisements for the dishware. Also, regarding the idea of "reproductions": both Wright and Zeisel dishware were originally mass produced. Why can't they be produced just as they were originally? If they were, wouldn't they be the same dishes? As if they had been in continuous production? Another company (the Orange Chicken) reproduced a couple of Zeisel T+C pieces in limited colors: the smurf s+ps and the syrup jug, and they look identical to my eye. Also, Zeisel is still alive (in her 90s) and I've assumed that she approved these new productions (she attended the premiere the Orange Chicken). Doesn't that make them legit, if not the same quality? Stellabella -- my apologies -- I realize that I lied, lied, lied about serving food on patterned dishes -- When I had a country place, until a coupla years ago, we used souvineer and commemorative dishes to set the table (what has happened to my memory?). It looked great! There are some beautiful old Staffordshire designs as well as hooty mid-century and later designs. Nobody ever wanted to eat looking at Dick and Pat's faces, or Ike and Mamie's! I know that many of these later plates are not supposed to be used for eating, but we did anyway, none the worse for wear (us or the dishes). Since then, I've packed many of them away, but also used a bunch as tile when I tiled my bathroom. Regarding actually using old, collectible dishware -- I do! Even tho' T+C is mostly beyond my budget these days, what is a dish if it's not being used? I've decided that I actually like the small signs of wear that my T+C has been accumulating (and it does - it's very soft ceramic). It's that wabi-sabi thang -- the beauty of the imperfect. I think, with that particular line, crazing and little cracks add character...

I knew white would win! But this is fascinating. Robert, I agree with you that Russel Wright's glazes are wonderful, so are Zeisel's T+C, which are similarly subtle and nuanced. Both T+C and Wright's American Modern (I think that's the pattern) have recently been put back in production. I haven't seen the AM but the Metropolitan Museum version of T+C is appallingly bad -- the glazes are dense and opaque, and the all the defined edges -- so important to the biomorphic design -- have been rounded! I hope that the Wright dishware is better! It's a great idea to use a more decorative plate as the placeholder or charger at a formal meal. I'll bet the Spode game birds are lovely.... Do many of you mix patterns?

Wow, no! Sounds wonderful! Mark Bittman had a "Minimalist" recipe in the NY Times a couple of years ago that's become a favorite of mine. Basically, you grind dried porcini and pumpkinseeds into a powder, then use it to dredge salmon. Pan fry it up and it's incredibly good! Come to think of it, it's the oil/porcini combo, too, isn't it?

I've been making do with a mixed set of stainless steel flatware for all of my adult life. I've looked at other sets and just can't make a decision. What's the best material for everyday use? Stainless? Silver? Silver plate? What about the shapes? I've seen, and used, some very deviant forms, some of which work surprisingly well, ergonomically and some of which don't. And what is necessary in terms of specialized utensils? The Victorians had hundreds of specialized shapes, but I think that was about conspicuous consumption (excuse the pun....). Tiny seafood forks, natch! But what about, say, pie forks? Iced tea spoons? And serving utensils -- I got a superwide flipper kind of thing -- about 6" -- thinking it would help serve fish, but the thang is just crazy awkward to use. What do you find indispensible? Should flatware make a statement? Or be esthetically invisible?

I have a set of vintage Eva Zeisel Town and Country dishes that I love. One of the things about them that is great is that, like other casual dishware of the mid 20th century--Fiesta, Russel Wright's, etc.--the idea was to mix different solid colors in the same set. So I've got a mixture of forest green, apple green, pink, grey, and gunmetal. When I'm setting the table, I find myself reaching for the colors that work best with the colors of the food I'm serving. But, if you had to choose, what colors work best for the most foods? White china is, of course, classic, and really does accent everything. So lets just elevate that one to the Dishware Hall of Fame and discuss other possibilities.....My friend Ken feels that grey is bad for almost all food. Another friend thinks blue is deadly. I myself don't particularly like patterned dishes That's two strikes against the inexplicably popular Blue Willow. Perhaps it's about what looks good on the table without food (perish the thought!)...

Davy?!?! I'm a girl! (At least last time I looked....) Now that I know how to post pix, I can't stop. Here're two of the fabulous arugula flowers from Stan-Pat Farms -- aren't they gorgeous? The flowers and the buds are very tender and tasty. My cat Blanche likes to eat them, too.

I've never found (or looked for) verpas. Gary Lincoff in the Audubon guide suggests caution: "it can cause lack of muscular coordination in susceptible individuals if consumed in large quantities or over several days." David Aurora in Mushrooms Demystified sez the same. (Tommy, if you're listening, this is not a reason to do so!) I'd be wary about trying them, but if they smelled really good, I'd try a small amount at first. Suzilightning -- congratulations on finding the first of the year! I'm jealous! Here's a link to the New York Mycological Society. The group was founded 40 years ago by the musician John Cage. It's only $15 a year to be a member. It's too late to join in time for the morel walk, which is the first weekend of May, but there are lots of other great activities planned this season... And, as I mentioned before, if you'd like to join us for one of the other walks, message me, and I'll arrange it.....

Wait a minute -- I said "get out there" not "come with me!" Seriously, tho', I'm going on a morel foray with the New York Mycological Society at a secret location that only members know about. It's the only walk all year that is "members only." So you'll have to go find your own old apple orchards! They especially like soil with some lime -- they can sometimes be found in old graveyards as well. And they like dead ash trees. But, H and R, I'd be delighted if you'd join me for some other foray later in the season -- perhaps chanterelles in August or black trumpets or porcini? If it's a wet summer, there'll be blewits and other edibles, as well. Here's a snap of my pal, Pearl, a few of the morels from last spring, and a few "dryad's saddle" shelf mushrooms. We tempuraed the morels and made a stock from the dryad's saddle, in which we cooked skate. And, a teaser for late summer: below is a shot of some black trumpets we found in one afternoon in Bear Mountain, about five pounds! This was shot just before we took off our clothes and rolled in them

Just a heads up (or heads down, in this case) that morel season is almost here! I just can't wait to get out under those ancient apple trees and find a basketful. I've posted about mushroom hunting before in the cooking area but didn't get much interest. I'm really surprised because it's such a terrifically fun hobby and yields such bounty, but maybe here in the "Adventures" area folks are more, mmmmm, adventurous. Really, most mushroom hunters don't even talk about it, being a secretive bunch. But I am a fool, and a generous one . So I'm telling you -- get out there! If you can tell an orange from a grapefruit, you'll find true morels easy to identify once you get yourself an Audubon Guide. Or I'll come and check them out for you (for a small cut of the swag!).

Being Liza and Davy's next door neighbor, I can tell you it's there's purslane at the market already. But being a wild food fan, I can also say that it's more a matter of letting it grow than growing it. Last summer Stan-Pat Farms, our plain-Jane anchor farm at the Greenwich St. Farmart brought in some purslane. When I chatted about it with to Stan, a man of few words, he looked positively embarrassed to be selling a weed. It was only a dollar for a large bag, and it was delicious. Isn't portulac a succulent garden flower?

Elizabeth Schneider's Vegetables: from Amaranth to Zuchinni -- an encyclopedic and wonderfully readable compendium which I plan to have by my elbow all season, exploring strange new vegetables, going where no cook has gone before....

LML, Thank you for your kind offer - I'm very tempted. But I had thought that ambergris was collected floating on the surface of the sea (like fleur de sel?). If whales are killed to get it, I just can't indulge myself.... I'd still like to smell it one day tho'. Perhaps I'll meet a friendly oceanographer....

Wow, John, that article is fascinating -- to think that it's whale bile and squid beaks! I can't blame you, Lord Michael, for not eating it.... yuck... Yet it's still intriguing. Since it's banned from sale worldwide, I guess I'll never get to try it, unless I find one of those rare nuggets washed up on a beach. Maybe it's all for the best...

Wilfred's post in the media section about past gastronomes reminded me of a short quest of mine years back. Brillat-Savarin talked about hot chocolate with "a knob of ambergris the size of a bean" added that was tremendously restorative. Larousse defines ambergris as "an intestinal concretion of the sperm whale" that is found floating in the ocean and says that it smells pleasantly like musk, which, I believe I've read, some people can't smell at all. I know I'm setting myself up for heckling (Tommy!) but I'm nothing if not dogged in my searches... Has anyone out there ever tasted ambergris? In hot chocolate? I looked around at a variety of stores, including Angelica's in the East Village, which has a lot of obscure stuff, but I never found any.

Thanks, Jim!

I've made those subrich -- in fact, I made them in Florence, having taken that cookbook along on a visit. Then I found out that Willinger lived only a few blocks away from the apartment I was staying in -- the farmer's market she talks about throughout the book was where I had gotten the nettles for the subrich! I actually called her and said hi and told her how much I was enjoying the book and she was quite friendly, considering I had just called her out of the blue. Shared lots of insider stuff about the Florence food scene... Just had to share the story -- it ranks high in my pantheon of transcendent foodie moments. But the getting back to the main topic -- subrich were terrific, and are good dipped in a hot or sweet/sour sauce.

I've been making a delicious a Malaysian recipe for coconut pearl tapioca with bananas for years -- does that mean that Fleming stole her idea from them? The world is so small now that ideas can really travel quickly -- the metaphor of ideas as viruses seems appropriate. I guess my point is that if chefs should credit other chefs, they should also credit cultures of origin.....

For my fridge freezer I just bought a set of plastic organizer drawers at Target -- a stack of three, each drawer about 9 x 12 by 3" tall. (They had all kinds of organizers for closets and things, including stacking bins that might work well for a chest....) It's working great to organize a formerly chaotic place (why the heck are freezers one big hole?), I've got nuts and seeds in one drawer, dried fruit in another, grains in another. I'm thinking about getting a second. I only did it yesterday, tho, and I wonder whether the food needs air circulation -- but I've also heard that a freezer packed full of food is more energy effecient than one that's not, so perhaps it's not an issue.

My mother loved oyster plant -- they grew it on her family farm. She would dredge it in flower and saute it in butter -- give it the "oyster" treatment. It is delicately flavored, but I do like the chewy texture. In Vegetables from Amaranth to Zuchinni, Elizabeth Schneider has a recipe for salsify with mushrooms and cream that looks good, also rabbit with salsify and bay leaves. She's got a bunch of ideas from other chefs that look delicious, as well: croutons of salsify with foie gras, terrine of leek and salsify, and, from Curtis Eargle, "Oyster, oyster, oyster" -- salsify with oysters and oyster mushrooms.

Wall, eye say you should ask Alex of Blue Moon since he's now back at the Greenwich St. Farmer's Market on Saturdays. And get some good tuna from him, too (I like the albacore).

Just got my annual stock of GS cookies, mulling over which I like best. This year, I mistakenly got a low fat variety that I gave away -- I don't remember the name but they were powdered sugar covered balls. Trefoils used to be in the running because I liked the old-fashioned logo, even though shortbread without butter (they use shortning) is a travesty. But the old logo's gone now, replaced by a kind of kumbya silhouette approach. Bah! I'm on the fence about whether I like Thin Mints or Tagalongs better. Thin mints are delicious -- hard to beat dark chocolate. But Tagalongs have the chocolate and peanut butter. I think they've got the edge -- they're much better with coffee. (In fact, peanuts are great with coffee, why hasn't anyone exploited this?) Are there other varieties I should get next year?

I've got leftover shrimp and pea greens risotto in the fridge from last night that I'm going to make into patties and fry in butter for lunch (I've heard they do it that way in Italy). I imagine that you could fry anything in butter and it would be edible! Another tip I picked up in Italy is making balls of cooked greens, which they sell in markets. I cook greens by boiling a huge container of salted water, then doing the cold water bath. It's such a deal, I usually cook more greens than I can eat and squish and press the leftovers into a ball. They go into the fridge or freezer. I use them later on sandwiches or dressed in a vinegrette. What is pasticchio? (mentioned above)