hathor

One center big bone, and then some tricky little feathery ones that you really had to watch out for. It would be much better to use it in stock, debone, and then add the fish meat back to any brodetto that you have going on. I love red mullet, and I'll put up with the bones, but I'm not sure I'm going near this guy again! edit to add p.s. What am I supposed to do with the stainless steel....enrobe my hands in it?? That might work....

Ciao! I had no idea you were a ragazzo...you seem very experienced! and I'll leave it at that. I know nothing about Australian food, so what are classic Australian dishes? What's the equivalent of an American hot dog or hamburger? Classic Australian ingredients, other than marmite, which is just plain 'blecky'. Thanks for blogging!

See. I'm still cooking regional! My fishmonger talked me into trying scorfano today (rock fish or scorpion fish. Or an ugly person...hey, that's just what the dictionary said.) It was one UGLY fish...and strong smelling. Puzzo! My fish guy told me to roast it or make a sauce, but not to grill it. So when I came home I looked it up in my Le Marche cookbook, and they had a nice sounding recipe: roast it with a sauce made of lemon juice, lemon peel, little bit of garlic and parsley. The sauce was good, I mixed in some orange juice with it to mellow the lemon, but I can't say that I love the fish. It's a very 'particular' flavor. I think it would be better as part of a mix. Also, if anyone has any great ideas how to get the stink off of my hands...please call me, write me, anything....help!

Sorry, my e-mail notification is ...quirky...to say the least! Thanks for the replies. Maybe baking it would get rid of that grit feeling, I'm just not sure. I might find some hungry chickens. I popped them with a little oil in the pan, and I took the lid off because, well I wanted to what was going on more than I minded making a mess. We're talking pinhead size popcorn, and the problem that I had was the high percentage of unpopped grains. OK, OK, maybe that's because I didn't keep the lid on. RanchoGordo, I can see where it would be an interesting component, as a 7 grain something or other, and that may be it's place, a supporting role instead of a featured part. I think one of the most important things to keep in mind, is to be sure the bag that you are storing the amaranth in doesn't have a hole in it! What a mess I made! (Almost as bad as the time I dropped a 25 pound box of malted milk balls.)

You purchased guanciale imported from Italy legally in the United States? I was told by a neighborhood grocer that they only sell domestic pancetta because importing the Italian product is illegal. I am not sure why, exactly, since we get Chilean sea bass, lamb from New Zealand... ← That might explain why the pancetta in the US is usually that round stuff; and it could go part of the way to explain why Whole Foods had a problem with Italian prosciutto. Then again...it may not mean anything.

Heresy? Cacio e pepe with guanciale is pretty much "pasta alla gricia" or "l'amatriciana in bianco" and is my fave of the Gang of Four (cacio e pepe, carbonara, matriciana, and gricia). ← Gang of four! Yesterday was carbonara con piselli, so I'm still looking to be a heretic!

i am! just haven't been posting much about them, or in general... ← Anche Io...but I've been feeling very "Siciliano" these days! Must be the weather. The markets are full of fagiolini right now.

Italians don't really believe in ice. They just don't get it. But, it's been hot as hell, and all the negroni's we've recently consumed have been with rocks. (My husband has been single handedly converting the entire piazza into negroni drinkers. Hey, it's a small piazza.)

Hey Swiss Chef! You've been on my mind....I've been wondering how you were doing and how the project was coming along! I know, the Lofra's look good. I have a thing about knobs, or let's say I've developed a thing about knobs since I've had my Bluestar, and the Lofra knobs feel good...and they are cheaper than the ILVE stoves. We're gonna have to bite the bullet soon and make a decision...... I wish there was a showroom that had the stoves actually hooked up to a gas line and you could play with them. Wouldn't that be nice? By the way....good price on that stove! Ciao! Judith

That's an almond in the photo, to give you some idea of scale. It's an itsy bitsy grain/ceral. I've popped it (thanks to Andrew Fenton's wacky suggestion!). You wind up with microscopic popcorn. It's cute, but uh, limited. I cooked some up today, and it just doesn't do it for me. Has a kind of grassy after taste that I don't care for, and as it sits during the meal, it gets a strange crunch...like grit. So, I'm asking: what do people do with amaranth? Other than twist it up to take weird photos.

And maybe you can find out where they source their limes !! ← No kidding!! I bet they bring them from Mexico.

I'm sure you are right...I've just never seen them around in the summer. Maybe smaller yields leads to less porcini-madness? Have you had any rain?? We just have oppressive mugginess....

I just saw a sign up....there will be a Mexican festival in Citta di Castello next weekend! Whadyaknow! If we make it there....I'll be happy to give the full report. I feel a margarita craving comin' on!

I must still have the Sopranos on my mind. I read that sentence 3 times before I figured out that you meant a cell phone!!

I couldn't help myself. All this talk about carbonara and cacio&pepe, and I had all the ingredients...so yesterday's lunch was cacio & pepe with bucatini pasta. I know guanciale is heresy in the dish, but sometimes heresy can be so damn delicious.

ACCCKK! All they know about is Zanussi Professional stuff....

And what if you woke up one morning, and the restaurant fairy had visited you, and suddenly, POOF, you had your wish granted. Would you wake up with sweaty palms? Would you ever sleep again? One must be very, very careful about what they wish for. Teaser: I have sweaty palms right now.

I went to all of my usual historical sources, to try and find the source of the name carbonara, and came up empty. Which is odd, because usually they are pretty chatty about the origins of a dish. Cucinara's recipe called for equal parts parmigiana and pecorino...very diplomatic of them, don't you think? I use guanciale as the upscale pancetta. But, a good pancetta is nothing to sneeze at! In NYC, you might be able to source it at DiPaolo's on Grand St.

The time has come to bite the bullet. I have to buy a new stove. I have a 5 burner, with only 3 burners working, and they work at two levels: scorch and off. To light the stove, I have to uncover all the bottom panels, stick my head deep inside the oven with a lit match and pray a lot. Fortunately it's summertime, so I don't need the oven all that much. So, I'm looking for a little guidance. At the home chef level, I've found Lofra and ILVE brands. I've been told that ILVE is the 'superiore' brand. Anyone have any experience with either of these? And what's the correlation between WATTS and BTU's? I know how to think in BTU's, but gas WATTS?? I just want my Bluestar that I have back in NY!!

Or, are you saying... well if that's what someone likes, it's okay... and it started in Senagalila? Just curious. You can't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been. ← Yes, I'm saying there is room for everyone's idea of what is good. And I think that ricci/choco combo started at Uliassi. And I totally agree with your comment about knowing history before you forge 'new ground'. Just because you CAN combine something, doesn't mean that you SHOULD. On the other hand, if chefs don't reach, then they get branded as boring, so it's a tough dance. I think what's going on in Spain now is very interesting, in that tradition is respected, while pushing the envelope.

I love my Edge Pro. It has a learning curve but it's really pretty intuitive once you start doing it on a regular basis. I use the tape method for my 'pretty' knives. Anyone sharpened a serrated knife with the Edge Pro? I know it says that you can, but I haven't worked up the courage.

To each his own Fortedei. Actually I think that whole chocolate/ricci thing started in Sengallia....

Last summer, for one week, they had limes from Mexico. That's it. I live in the 'boonies, what can I say? Maybe I'll look around at an ice cream maker. I've always done it by hand, which is fun, but time consuming.

I'm out in the countryside in Umbria, and there isn't much at all in the way of "foreign" ingredients, let alone restaurants. Two years ago I couldn't even buy ginger, but that has changed. Now I would consider selling my soul for a stash of limes. There is a "Chinese" restaurant, one town over, in Citta di Castello, but I've never heard anything good said about it. Citta does have a good "hallal" (spelling?) butcher and you can buy some exotic spices there, but that's about it. Except for some high end restaurants, at the trattoria level, Umbrian menus are all very, very similar. Even fish is considered exotic, or a specialty, and we are only 1 1/2 hours from the Adriatic. I suppose you could say that Italian taste is conservative, but it's more a case of truly believing that they are already eating the best food on earth, so why taste something else?

Good lord!! What fun!! What food!! I would have given anything to see you wander thru your first European market, especially in Palermo. Those 8,000 corpses still visit my dreams! We stayed at a lovely little hotel, right near the big prison. Seems that because so many mafioso were imprisoned a lot of very good restaurants opened up near there. The families either brought food to their loved ones, or had to have a meal after visiting someone. Makes sense. Can't wait to hear about Napoli!