ludja

I think I will try the steaming method you described in order to see if I can minimize the occurrence of bubbles. I only have to figure out to how to rig a large enough steaming setup. I have some bamboo steamers and I also have some racks that could be set in some of my deeper pots. I really like the idea of using lime zest as a flavoring.

Will you be able to transport food from your car to the picnic spot? If so you could do something like this: poached salmon with a dill mousseline sauce green bean vinagrette salad orzo dressed with lemon, olive oil and oil-cured black olives. fresh cherries with a soft triple creme cheese (this is a particularly good combination) dense almond cake (lots of good suggestions on the egullet thread) pink french champagne to drink alongside.

Interesting that your Dad is in the photo and was involved in this very field. This link is also for the British Pig Association mentioned above.

Sorry for the flurry of posts, but I find this a very interesting topic. I found this site from Heritage Foods which is described as a sales and marketing arm for Slow Food in the USA. They sell "heritage pork" in the same way that they've recently been selling heritage turkeys at Thanksgiving. There is a good description for the characteristics of the pork resulting from the different breeds of pig. You can order pork from this site as well. Prices are pretty steep.

Lots of interesting information on this website for the British Pork Association (BPA): click One tidbit I ran across is that they claim that Britain has the largest diversity in heritage pig stocks in the EU. For people in Great Britain, there is also a section that allows you to search for purveyors of what they call "pedigree pork".

Here is a thread on Le Bristol. Sounds like a wonderful experience; looking forward to your other reports.

Here's some information on different heritage breeds in the US and some of their distinguishing characteristics.: Local Harvest Heritage Hogs They list these breeds, some of which have already been mentioned above: The Berkshire: The Tamworth: The Red Wattle The Duroc: The Gloucester Old Spot: a.k.a. The Iron Age Pig The Yorkshire: The Large Black They list some of these as being in danger of extinction. At the same time, they mention that the way to encourage the raising and preservation of these pigs is to buy them for eating. When I was gently haggling over the price of pork fat with my German butcher he explained that good pork fat is a 'premium' product for him to get a hold of. He needs it for making his sausages and the fact that pigs are generally leaner now does make his procurement of lard more difficult. He mentioned that for him, there is starting to be more pigs breeds available to him that are less lean, which he of course welcomes. Does anyone know what the situation is in Europe re: pig breads? Do they also have a preponderance of new, leaner pigs now or do they have more of the older breeds?

Somehow this seem like a very British-inspired, maybe even Victorian era recipe: Rose Geranium Scented Pound Cake To incorporate actual flowers, you could serve the scented pound cake with a creme anglaise and candied rose petals. A classic Escoffier dessert with rose: fresh pineapple sherbet/sorbet with champagne zabayon and candied rose petals. I also associate violets with Victorian nosegays as this article also discusses: violet uses. I wonder if people used to make violet custards similar to the accompanying recipe in the article. I hope you can link to your article once it's out; it would be interesting to see it. edited to add: Googling a bit I did run across some tea sandwiches with nasturtiam blossoms and cucumber. Perhaps these are British in origin.

Glad the celebratory lunch went well during a busy week and that you found a suitable tablecloth in time. Thanks for the photos; the cake looks and sounds great; I like the idea of strawberry and oranges together. It seems like his parents also enjoyed the food; wonderful.

Thanks for sharing your time tested recipe with all the details, aznsailorboi! I think I will try your recipe the next time I make a flan. I haven't made one in awhile. An interesting version I did try used pomegranate juice and recipe promised a beautiful mauve color. The flavor was very good but the color really ended up as a rather unattractive brown color... Not sure if there would be any way to correct his. The recipe is from a small cookbook called "Classic Southwestern Cooking" by Dille and Belsinger. The ingredients for the custard part of the flan are: 3 extra large eggs, 3 extra large yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 cups half and half, 1 1/4 cups unsweetened pomegranate juice and some pomegranate seeds for garnish. The juice is added in at the end of the custard making, before sieving. Another varient given is to sub pineapple juice and to cut back the sugar by 2-3 Tbs.

The SF Chronicle has an article on tortas this week. tortas The article describes two different meat fillings. For posterities sake, here are some of the details. Marinated grilled flank steak (Marinade = lime juice, adobo sauce from canned chipotle chiles, garlic, salt and pepper) Looking forward to your photo, nickarte! The procedure will be the same for posting a photo whether the msg is a "post" or "reply". As mentioned, there are detailed instructions in the tech support area. Chiloirio filling (Basically start cooking cut up pork shoulder as you would for carnitas. While the meat is simmering, soften cleanred and dried ancho chile pieces in very hot water for ~ half and hour. In a blender, puree softened anchos, garlic, chipotle chile, cumin, oregano, salt, vinegar and some water to a smooth puree. Blend this with the finished carnitas and cook a bit more. Some ideas for other 'fixings' on the torta: refried black beans bolillos, or crusty French or Italian rolls, or 3-inch sourdough dinner rolls, split, with some of the center pulled out sliced red oinion rinsed in cold water or marinated in cider vinegar, sugar, salt and a little balsamic vinegar) thinly sliced queso fresco or Monterey Jack cheese shredded romaine ripe avocados, mashed with salt and lemon juice sliced pickled jalapenos

Do consider starting a thread of its own. I don't know anything about cassava cake and would enjoy hearing everyone's comments about their experiences and versions.

Wonderful reminiscences, Probono. Did you ever run into Truman Capote or any other luminaries at her restaurant? From a few different stories I've read, it seems like quite a few well-known people frequented the restaurant.

Thanks, can't wait to hear the rest, kai-m.

The NYTimes reported today on a recent tribute dinner for Edna Lewis sponsored by Scott Peacock and the Atlanta History center.click HERE is the menu for the memorial dinner for Edna Lewis on Sunday at the Tullie Smith Farm, at the Atlanta History Center. Edna Lewis Tribute Dinner Cheese Straws Benne Seed Wafers With Shrimp Paste Pimento Cheese and Celery Buttermilk Biscuits Stuffed With Smithfield Ham, Sweet Butter Strawberry Preserves Southern Pan-Fried Chicken Deviled Eggs Asparagus Dressed With Cucumber and Spring Herbs Heirloom Tomato and Field Pea Salad With Garlic Mayonnaise Sunday Night Cake Miss Lewis's Coconut Layer Cake Cat's Tongue Cookies Fresh Strawberries Blackberry Cobbler With Fresh Churned Vanilla Ice Cream Old-Fashioned Tea Cakes So many of her recipes are based on great summer ingredients; time to start cooking...

Can't remember if I recounted this on a similar type of thread... Dining at a restaurant in Florence I got really excited when the bowl of pasta came and it looked like it was strozzopretti (strangled priests); a shape I had only seen in cookbooks. I couldn't remember the Italian name and was enthusiastically pointing to my plate and also making strangling motions around my throat to the waiter... Both he and my friend thought I was going nuts and of course the waiter had no idea what I was getting at b/c my Italian is extremely limited. I think this was a case of food nerdiness overtaking me in a very public and embarrassing way.

Thanks for the caramel recipe and the mini-tutorial on your mini-tarts...

Hey, twenty million australians can't be wrong! The reason it probably sounds odd to me is that I haven't been to Australia and I'm biased by the pronunciation of "syrah" as alanamoana pointed out. Thanks for the lesson, I hope I do get to visit Australia sometime.

Here's an earlier thread with some discussion on frais des bois and other flavorful strawberry cultivars. click

Great photos so far; thanks for sharing! Was the mexican place in the Ferry Buidling? If so, I guess it would be Tracy des Jardins' newish Mexican restaurant, Mijita. (One of her other restaurants is Jardiniere, a high end place a few block west of the opera house.) I'm glad you had a nice meal at Piperade. Coupled with Carolyn Tille's recent good experience I guess that means all is still well there. I haven't been there recently. Kokkari doesn't get mentioned much on the boards here, but I've had good, comforting meals there.

They all turned out pretty good, but if I had to pick a favorite it would probably be the chocolate-caramel tart. I love the combination of fudgy ganache, chewy caramel, and crispy sweet tart dough. ← Yeah, these really caught my eye as well. I jotted down the idea and need to try it sometime soon. Did you use your favorite caramel from Sherry Yard by any chance? (They all look really beautiful; I just was particularly intrigued by the flavors in the chocolate tart.)

From wikipedia on the pronunciation of “nuculur” click I'm not sure how people in Australia pronounce it, but for some reason it grates with me when people pronounce "shiraz" with the "a" as the "a" in cat rather than "ah". My Webster's Collegiate Dictionary from 1980 lists both pronunciations of culinary, although the pronunciation I prefer, cull-in-nary, is listed first. edited for typo!

Thanks for all the good information, Russ. Looking forward to hearing more about your upcoming book as well. Does it focus on produce? I admit, I was kind of surprised that no one else had mentioned buying them in season as I've always looked at them as a very seasonal fruit.

It would be cool to hear some more details from that recipe, Apico... Many of the recipes I found online (even in German) are similar to the type of recipe I gave above, i.e. cooked in sauerkraut rather than roasted to a "crackling" state. Here is a link with some more description of the dish and some photos as well: click I wonder how they get that nice sauce? I saw some dish descriptions (from restaurants) that mention a dark beer sauce. That sounds pretty interesting. Maybe there is enough browning in the roasting pan to deglaze and go from there. Per the link I gave, potato dumplings sound like they would go great with this. Less work, but also good, would be buttered, parslied potatoes. Red cabbage or sauerkraut could round out the rest of the plate.

Can you remind more what this dish is like? It's roasted, no? I've heard of it many times and I think I had it once, but it was a long time ago. I glanced at Mimi Sheraton's "The German Cookbook" and she has a recipe using pig knuckles called, "Schweinknoechel mit Sauerkraut" or "pig knuckles with sauerkraut". You saute some onions in butter, then add sauerkraut and caraway seeds. Saute a little more, then add cleaned knuckles pushing them down into the kraut. Then just add dry white wine to come up to the top of kraut and simmer slowly for 3-4 hours. The meat should be tender when pierced. She mentions that towards the end you can also add in potatoes or dumplings to also cook along in the pot.