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Mudpuppie

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Posts posted by Mudpuppie

    SOS

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I made a mushroom stock last night that had about half a bottle of red wine. This is standard practice for me and it usually turns out really well.

    Disaster struck, though.

    Either I simmered it too long or the wine just wasn’t very good. (I’m poor this month. The latter is a possibility.) The resulting stock is unpleasantly sour.

    Any suggestions on how to make it a little richer tasting, less sour? I’m afraid that if I dilute it too much and reduce, it won’t taste like anything at all.

    Many thanks.

    restaurant etiquitte

    in Restaurant Life

    Posted

    The glass of wine was the apology. Did you drink it? Then you accepted it.

    [...]

    Within my employing restaurant, the velvet glove apology doesn't happen because the guest 99.9999999999% of the time wants a comp, a gift certificate or full refund. If a sympathetic apology was the only thing offered that's when the decibels tend increase on the upset party's side with the usual question of "Aren't you going to take something off of this bill??????? No! I want a full refund!!!!!"

    I'm only halfway through this thread (which I made the mistake of turning my back on), so apologies if someone else has already said this. But....

    Does accepting the only apology/retribution offered (in Mushroom's case, a measly glass of wine in return for a history of customer loyalty) necessarily mean that you endorse and accept the apology? Should you leave it untouched just to show that you're unhappy, or take it for what it is -- a free glass of wine? If someone offers you a $100 gift certificate but you feel you deserve more, should you tear the certificate up or use it?

    My feeling is that it's okay to accept and utilize what you're offered. If you're unhappy with it and in an assertive mood, deal with it right then. If you need time to collect your thoughts, deal with it later, but be honest about what you've already been offered.

    I would have drunk the wine, remained pissed throughout the meal, and written a letter when I got home. Just like Mushroom did. I don't think drinking the wine was in any way unethical. And I don't think he waived his right to an apology.

    I never go into these situations wanting to get free stuff out if it. I'm sure people do, but most reasonable people don't. If I complain, it means I worked up the guts to complain, and I want to be respected and taken seriously.

    (And am I the only one who takes a special glee from immediately identifying Exotic Mushroom's unnamed restaurant?)

    Italian outlets/stores in California

    in California: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    There's also GB Ratto's in downtown Oakland.

    There are a couple of good ones in San Diego's Little Italy. I think one of them is called Mona Lisa. Either that or it's next to Mona Lisa.

    I also know I've been to others and will try to compile a list. I've been on a five-year hunt for an Italian brand of canned soup that I used to get in Boston but can't find anymore. I've been in every Italian market I've ever passed.

    Still can't find that soup. Used to be made by Parmalat. I'm wondering if they've sold it off.

    Cooking Dried Beans

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I always thought that the prohibition against salting beans had to do with toughening the skin of the beans rather than the actual flesh. Anyone else heard this, or am I making it up?

    Yep, I've heard that. Same for acid.

    I've also heard that it toughens the beans themselves.

    Can't trust anybody anymore.

    The "Culinary Axis of Evil"

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted · Edited by Mudpuppie (log)

    oh me oh my, poor mudpuppie and carolyn tillie: cilantro! my beloved cilantro, is your nemesis! I can never dazzle either of you with a plate of something wonderful, and by the way, buried in cilantro.

    Before I die, I will somehow manage to convince the world that cilantro hatred be not a sign of poor taste, nor compromised will-power, nor an unpleasant personality, nor suspicious personal integrity. It causes in me, purely and simply, a very icky physical, visceral, biological reaction. It makes my spine twist and my stomach lurch. It ruins my meal.

    I have experienced that accidentally on more than eight occasions. Why would I want to do it eight times on purpose?!

    One thing cilantro lovers don't understand -- this is not something that can be overcome. It's not like learning to like oysters (something I never did, but something I probably could have done had I put my mind to it).

    Learning to like cilantro would, for me, be as futile as trying to grow a second nose.

    But I'm glad you like it.

    (Now please convince people to stop sneaking it in to dishes I order in restaurants.)

    but how could anyone dislike a vegetable? (okay, maybe i'm not a big fan of the parsnip or brussels sprout.......).......

    Ah, it's a good thing I'm at work. Otherwise I'd get started on the evils of eggplant and the virtues of brussels sprouts!

    Oil oil oil oil

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Oy! I feel your pain.

    Simple Green is a good degreaser. There's a citrus-based one in a squirt bottle that works well too.

    I agree with Fifi that Dawn would cut the grease, but rinsing it might lead to a neverending battle against suds.

    Hungry like a wolf

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Here is one I never have understood... Southern origin, I think.

    "Why, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth." Seems like if that were the case, "her" mouth is cold. But I think it means overbearing sweetness. Huh? :blink:

    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! :raz:

    Bingo.

    Also means stuck-up, which is in a sense another way to say "cold."

    ArggggH! Worms in My Goulash

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Count me among those who have found critters in the paprika -- both imported good stuff and cheaper grocery store stuff. They weren't harmless little weevils, either. They were worms. Blech.

    Not my worst experience with bugs, though. When I was in junior high, I was in a rush one morning to get ready for school. Grabbed a granola bar to eat while getting ready. Took a bite and it tasted funny. Looked down at the bar and it was crawling with weevils. Spit the first bite out.

    Ugh. Weevils are not a taste treat.

    Superbowl Food

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I'm really embarassed to even ask this since I had legitimate plans to do better things (which have since fallen through), but....

    Was it just me, or did Justin Timberlake rip off an important part of Janet Jackson's dress?

    As for food, I'm having black bean soup and lots o' beer.

    Love those Texas Gardens

    in Texas: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    Most of the seed catalogs have some variety of haricot verts. One of the major catalogs -- I'm sorry, but I'm blanking right now; might be Park's -- has one of its test gardens in Texas. Pick a catalog that's close to home and you can be reasonably certain that their products will work where you are.

    Superbowl Food

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Just got back from the grocery store, which was a friggin' mad house.

    Here's the empty shelf report:

    They were sold out of canned kidney and pinto beans, although there were still a few dozen cans of black beans.

    The tortilla chip racks had been picked clean.

    Potato chips were pretty sparse too, although they didn't seem to be as popular as tortilla chips.

    There was a traffic snag on the salsa aisle, so I don't have a good report. (Frito Lay Bean Dip seemed not to be very popular, I'm happy to report. There was lots of it where the chips should have been.)

    The sugary baked good supplies were almost depleted -- ding dongs, cinnamon buns, various Little Debbie products. This was a big surprise to me.

    There remained plenty of high-end, imported, and/or microbrewed beer, but there were no chilled 12-packs of domestic stuff. If one were looking for that sort of thing, it would have to be purchased warm. Five- to ten-dollar bottles of wine, both colors, were very popular. (This is California, after all.)

    Canned artichoke hearts were nowhere to be found. Frozen ones were still available. Canned artichoke bottoms remained on the shelves in impressive numbers.

    Avocadoes were on sale for $.69 and the mound had been whittled down to a small pile.

    The endcap of $8-Bacardi was largely untouched.

    Didn't check the meat stocks.

    Those huddled masses, they (or we) stick together.

    Love those Texas Gardens

    in Texas: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    Aren't pea shoots great? I swooned when I first tasted them. Not that peas themselves aren't great, but it's pretty cool to experience a so-familiar flavor in a completely unexpected texture. It would be like biting into a cucumber that tasted like a banana or something.

    Anyhow, I'm a little curious about how easy they'll be to grow. I was just going to grow regular sugar snaps and snip their little arms off, but then I came across the seeds for the shoots. Am assuming that it's a variety that has tender leaves and not-so-high pod yields. The biggest problem I've ever had with peas, though, has been mildew (in other words, stuff that affects the leaves), so harvesting the leaves will be interesting.

    I've seen the Kitazawa seeds in TX, I think. I think Breed & Co in Austin has them, and other upscale garden stores probably do too. (If you're unfamiliar, they specialize in asian veggies.) The package says

    SNOW PEA SHOOTS

    tobyo, dau miu

    USUI

    Their website is here. Sort of bare bones. Can't really tell if they do mail order or not.

    Anywho, as for okra, I have some seeds from my dad's garden. They've never done very well here, though. We certainly have the heat. I think it's probably, uh, overwatering that kills them. I have them on drip irrigation, which they probably don't like.

    God, I miss okra.

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