hathor

Slow Food puts out a book that describes all the cuts, it's helpful because American and Italian butchers cut up their beef totally different. My guess on the salt thing is that you want a fairly big roast, otherwise you are going to end up with salted beef jerkey! I have to ask....are fresh fava beans in the market yet? I woke up fantasizing about fresh fava beans and a leg of lamb. Maybe we should swap? You pop over to the States for roast beef, and I'll come to LeMarche for some fava and lamb...

Beautiful Mitch! But, I have a question: you put your proofed loaf on parchment? Does the parchment go into oven as well? I use a lot of semolina and make sure everything is 'slidey'.

Hey Kelly! Come stai? Typically it means grilled. At least in our neck of the Umbrian woods.

Nuh-uh. No pix. No can rule. As a side note: what does everybody have against kneading?? It's the best part. You get to play with the dough, work out your frustrations and your upper body? So, like, what's the problem???

I don't know the difference between any of those gins, but I'm happy to listen to their babble...don't let those other guys scare you off! I can't even muddle properly. As far as the search for the perfect negroni: sometimes the search is as much fun as the prize. Only sometimes.

Thanks. I'm following Bertinet's instructions and he has the starter refreshed every few days which results in a whole lot of starter. Anyone else? I'm trolling....

Adrenaline is a drug and you are angsting about withdrawal. It's normal. Either cheese and olives will make you happy or they won't. You have to just wait and see.

Ceviche. Then you are free to use your heat source for the meat.

Diego, a week is a very short amount of time. Go to where your heart is.... I'm going to make an assumption...Diego might be a Spanish name. Go to Spain....set a very small itinerary. One city/ two at the most and just eat and observe. If it was me, I'd spend a week in San Sebastian. This is an eye opening tour for you, an amuse bouche if you will.

Sorry....seems I've been asleep at the Umbrian wheel. My apologies. Jeff, when you have more of an itinerary, when you know what towns you are heading to in Umbria, please let me know. Our favorite restaurant in Orvieto is I Sette Consoli. Be sure to sit in the magical garden. Plan on a stop in Perugia if you can....it's just a lovely, small city. And of course, if you are heading further north, there is always ....Montone....

Congrats Dougw! Sourdough is just a thing of beauty. Here's a question: what's the ratio of new flour/ water that you are adding to feed the sour dough starter? I'm reluctant to start up again because I had way more starter on hand than I could ever use....it's such a responsibility. I took to calling my starter "Audrey"....it would start singing "Feed Me!" whenever I walked by......

Just as an option, there are a number of reasonably priced hotels right in the town of Fiumicino and we've had great fish meals and pizza in various restaurants. If you have an early flight it might make life a little easier. We've always had good rooms and service at Euro House Hotel. You can check out venere.com for good info about hotels in La Maremma.

Back in the day, I lived in a house full of hippies in a suburban neighborhood, we were the talk and the scandal of the street. Naturally, our pre-teen newspaper boy was fascinated and liked to hang out at our place, that is until the day when he opened the kitchen door and the suds from the overflowing dishwasher lapped at his feet. He backed away slowly and we never saw him again. ← My solution was always to sprinkle salt on the foam. In fact, I kept a big round shaker full of salt next to the sink for various tasks, including dousing suds that used to come up through the disposal when an old dishwasher discharged through the drain. It also works on suds erupting from the washing machine! ← Now that is a good thing to know! Thanks!

Back in the day, I lived in a house full of hippies in a suburban neighborhood, we were the talk and the scandal of the street. Naturally, our pre-teen newspaper boy was fascinated and liked to hang out at our place, that is until the day when he opened the kitchen door and the suds from the overflowing dishwasher lapped at his feet. He backed away slowly and we never saw him again.

In the interest of the common good....take the class and let us know!

Speaking personally...I wouldn't be either horrified or annoyed, but I would definitely take that as a hint that the speaker is a foreigner or not very knowledgeable about Italian wines (or both). So I agree with markk that if I saw it on a menu, in both cases I would be slightly put off...(OK, thus betraying my insufferable chauvinism and unjustified mistrust of foreigners at the stove in Italian restaurants, for which the only cure is clearly a meal in a certain place in Umbria...). In the game of feminine wines, what about a delicious dessert wine produced (among other places) in the Lipari islands? That is a tough call, as I have heard it sometimes referred to with 'il' though in my opinion it is definitely a 'la'. Man ← Huh? Did I hear something??? And I'd sell what's left of my soul for a small bicchierie of Pantelleria......

Food and wine are everywhere. Go to the library and /or buy a few guide books and see what catches your fancy. Tuscany has some lovely islands to explore. I'm partial to Umbria. But, it's your fantasy....you'll find good food and wine. No worries there.

Pontormo, the panna is usually the stuff in the box that doesn't need refrigeration, and the fresh stuff is in the refrigerated section. Pasteurized sea urchin just seems....wrong.....

sometimes a degree of richness based on bechamel does co-exist in the otherwise sleekly tomato-evoo-basil leaf Neapolitan palate. a leftover of the French chefs who cooked for the aristocrats during the days when naples was part of the kingdom of....whichever kingdom it was part of...... ← That makes sense. The aristocracy showed up long before tomatoes.

Katie, that sounds wonderful! Pomegranate, ginger and lime....a match made in heaven. I wasn't sure where to post this, but we had a great time at Chick's last week, and it was fun to visit with you! I've even been able to duplicate that marvelous Avatrix that you made for me. I tracked down some St. Germain and now I'm afraid that we need to track down some more! I've been thinking about your chile/chocolate experiments and I'm going to try an infusion of simple syrup and adobe chile and see what happens. You're a dangerous inspiration!

We were taken to Osteria for dinner last week, and I confess that for a good part of the year, I live in a rock and don't know what's going on in the outside world. I DID know that it is a Marc Vetri restaurant and for me, that was an accomplishment. So think of me as a clean slate, no expectations. The pizza was the best pizza I've eaten in the U.S. Hands down. A perfect crust. We shared the sweetbread and hen of the woods mushroom pie. We seriously debated going back the next day to have the same thing for lunch. I've been having pizza withdrawal, and this completely satisfied me. The wood roasted octopus that is pictured upthread was also completely delicious, perfect smoky flavor. Fritto misto.....not so good. The batter to anchovy or vegetable ratio was off, far too much batter. And the roast pig special with the crackling was outstanding. The wines are crazy expensive! We started with a Campania white that I buy in Italy, at the COOP for about 8 euros, I believe it was $48 at Osteria. I'm just shocked at the wine prices in East Coast restaurants these days, they must have jumped 30 0r 40% in the past 9 months. I haven't been off the East Coast this trip so I can't speak for the rest of the US. Overall it was one of the best, classic osteria style Italian meals that I've had in the States. P.S. The service was well intentioned, but not completely on the mark, which is also the hallmark of an osteria.

My cat gets so depressed when we have vegetarian meals. Bless his little carnivore heart.

So, if I'm reading this correctly, I need to go to NJ for a good Indian buffet, hamburgers, hot dogs and a very large Asian food mall/court?

Does Sweeney Todd qualify? mmmm.....meat pies.......

Are you sure it's Basmati rice? That's a different variety of rice than the Aborio, which has a distinct chalky center and the ability to continue absorbing liquid for as long as you feel like adding it. Basmati will stop absorbing when it has been cooked, and will not yield the creaminess that is associated with risotto. So, if he's using basmati.....you're on your own on this one! Let us know how you make out.