ludja

Thanks for the link Tracy K. and welcome!

Paul Bertoll's new book may be worth checking out: Cooking by Hand He's an Italian chef in the SF Bay area (restaurant: Oliveto) that specializes in making home cured pork and meat products. According to review in Amazon there's a chapter called "The Whole Hog".

Black Pepper-Sugard Pecans with a Bourbon Manhattan... mmm, is it noon yet?

Well, as a huge fan of "Homicide: Life on the Streets" you may want to check out Jimmy's Reataurant. (The detectives ate here quite a bit). It's right in Fell's Point, so convenient if you're checking out bars there. I remember great atmosphere, basic diner but I can't recall details on the food regarding their selection, etc--maybe some locals could weigh in... Jimmy's Restaurant & others If you're up to bracing yourself next day with ice cold beer and raw oysters, check out the Cross Street Market in Federal Hill. Full of food stalls, bakeries and in the back a great raw oyster bar--cheap prices, eclectic crowd. This was one of my absolute favorite memories of my trips to Baltimore. Cross St Market

Good idea on the cocktails, Ramos Gin Fizz anyone? edited: forgot to re-read the original post and suggested Angel Food Cake and consommes... That said, I've seen some interesting variations on the basic recipe also. One I've made is: Angel Food Cake spiced with chinese five spice powder (and vanilla and almond) and served with orange creme anglaise (from Tom Douglas in "Home Food". Emily Luchetti has an interesting recipe in one of her books for an espresso-chocolate chip angel food cake served w/a d. chocolate sauce...

Thanks for the link dls; they have some reallly nice recipes and other informative links! The idea given above re: the piquillo peppers stuffed with a tuna filling and served at room temp or slightly warm sounds very good. I also really like good canned tuna with white beans, lemony vinagrette, red onions over greens or not. I've also been on a slight quince kick (made my own paste before Christmas) so I like the idea of serving that with cheese (Manchego?). Was browsing through some recent shows of the Splendid Table (Lynne Rossetta Kasper, Public Radio) on the web and one of her guests had a recipe for an interesting saffron-infused oil. Maybe this could be an interesting addition to one of the tapas Also, I don't have the recipe on hand, but I remember an interesting almond ice recipe given in a Bon Appetit article on tapas. Almond ice cream and orange granita? Another idea for dessert... edited to add a few extra ideas.

Bravo!! I admit I tried a bunch of googling and looking at my cheese books to no avail. Good sleuthing.

Funny you should ask, just came across some recipes for kale that specifically mentioned a preference for using cavolo nero. It came up in the Zuni Cookbook (by Judy Rodgers) thread. She has a recipe for boiled cavolo nero. The spicings are pretty simple: diced yellow onion, EVOO, red pepper flakes, garlic (opt). Then she has a few other simple recipes that use boiled kale--on garlic rubbed peasant bread toast, same with a fried or poached egg on top or a soup... I've just started cooking out of this book. I really love the recipes included; you may want to check it out!

Thanks for telling us about the squid stew. After reading your post I glanced at the recipe and saw what you meant about reserving the ink sacs, etc. I should learn how to do that sometime! but I might try it first w/o the ink and using cleaned squid... Glad you started this thread; it will be fun to check out people's comments and I think it will spur me to start cooking through the book more. Besides the pots de creme, I've made the "Onion Soup with Tomato & a Poached Egg". It was quick, easy and hit the spot.

good list... I mean, of evil foods... Reading through most of everyone elses I couldn't find anything I had *forgotton*, but to all four of your items, a hearty AMEN. (I really love MSG ok, maybe not)

I think you're right. I really used to enjoy it in the mid-late 80's when it was in the smaller place across the street. I went back two-three years ago (in the 'new' place) and was disappointed with parts of my meal; inconsistent is a good word... but, as I mentioned above, the veggie side dishes were still good in terms of execution and what they offered.

I guess you're not a big fan of salsa fresca Carolyn! ...unless you got rid of everything but the lime

In terms of base ingredients rather than 'bad' preparations it was hard for me to come with much stuff, but: black jelly beans margarine calves brains

More casual fare from Chapel Hill: best ham biscuits and cinnamon rolls: Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen bbq: Allen and Sons shrimp and grits: Crook's Corner best cocktail: The Sazerac at Crook's Corner southern vegetable sides (but NOT bbq; sweet and not nice pork; order the chicken and dumplings instead): Mama Dip's pecan waffle: Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe

Mon petit chouchou or for e-gulleteers: my little roasted cauliflower

excellent; I need to remember these!

Reading all I've posted... have to admit I've only been fortunate to eat some very good CFS (and bad, hint don't ever give in to late night muchies and order a CFS at a Denny's). That is, I've never cooked one myself. Don't know if it should be a different topic, but does anyone know what cut of beef is good to use as a starting point? Fifi or anyone else?

Well, I'm logged on so I'll go out on a limb, not being an expert. I believe it's usually made with a cheaper cut, like cube steak that would not be very tender cooked as a tradtional steak. Instead, you pound it thin and cook very quickly. Also, as Holly Moore mentioned, it's a vehicle for the wonderful gravy...

Again, not being an expert (i.e. from Texas ) I do think this is a dish that when done poorly is especially horrible. There is always a slight risk when ordering in a new place--especially the farther the way you are from Texas. To be honest though, I've seen good versions of this dish all over the west, Nevada, Wyoming, New Mexico and I suspect in CA too--although I haven't found any in the Bay Area. Some travesties include stringy gristly meat, overcooked and dried out, greasy bread crumb coating, horrible milk or cream gravy that can taste like flour, wallpaper paste, soapy, you name it with no hint of pan drippings. Also horrible is a cold over cooked cutlet with extra thick tasteless gravy. But when cooked well---it's just a wonderful breaded cutlet (and yes, pounded thin just like wiener schnitzel, scalloppini, etc). The gravy is different than other sauces as described below but again, is excellent when made with the pan drippings and good ingredients. from click "Now we get to one of the most important components of this meal -- the gravy. I would consider the gravy as a side dish because it's that significant. You could almost consider it a food group in itself. Of course, when we are talking about gravy, we are talking about cream gravy. The fact that this goes against all the traditions and rules of classic European cuisine is part of what makes it so special. The French would laugh, until they tasted it! It's a rebellious combination that works very well, and part of the reason why the dish is infamous on certain levels. A thick sauce made from pan drippings and a bastardized combination of a volute and béchamel sauce, studded with a ton of black pepper. It's rich, it's creamy and oh so good! The main ingredient that makes this gravy special is the pan drippings. They are all too often forgotten in restaurant versions of this dish. For this meal, we will get it right." What's not to like? edited: for at least a few typos

I thought it meant something more along the lines of the person being very 'hard', 'unfeeling' coming from 'cold-hearted' or 'cold-blooded'... edited to say: comment from a born and bred yankee who only lived in the south for awhile so I could be all wrong!

An interesting idea is a recipe for pineapple-vanilla infused tequila or rum credited to Mark Miller (Coyote Cafe) and adapted by W. Park Kerr in "Burning Desires". It's delicious. You chop up fresh pineapple and add to tequila or rum with light brown sugar or piloncillo (mexican raw sugar) and vanilla bean. Shake and let sit for at least 2 weeks. Rough proportions are 1 large pineapple, 1 liter bottle of tequila or rum, 2.5 oz pioncillo or 1/3 cup light brown sugar and 1 vanilla bean. This recipe uses fresh beans, maybe one could compensate by using more beans and/or for a longer time. The sieved liqueur makes excellent margaritas and you can use the pineapple as a topping melted with butter and additional brown sugar. Yumm!

Can't claim it's the best--but twice I have had excellent chicken-fried steak at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Santa Fe. Tender beef with just the right amount of chewiness, crispy outside and excellent cream gravy---tasting of cream! Served with mashed potatoes and collard greeens. Great relaxed atmosphere at this place also; out on the patio.

Now this has really got me going. Since cabbage in German is "kohl", then their previous Chancellor's surname was "Cabbage.!" So what could I do but google his first name "Helmut", and consequently found out that it meant "courageous." Imagine, for all those years, I didn't know that the name of the German Chancellor was "Courageous Cabbage."

Curious why didn't you like it. Was it the ingredients, the recipes, or the type of food? Else?

Once as a little kid I kept begging my father to taste his martini. He kept saying I wouldn't like it, but I kept asking. My face screwed up terribly in a 'yuck' expression when I tasted it but of course I said "I like it". I didn't have my next martini for a couple of decades but enjoyed it considerably more then...