jgm

For certain kinds of things, www.food411.com is great. Credit should be given to andiesenji, who suggested it a few weeks ago.

Our city has a couple of Vietnamese restaurants, and I'd like to get to know the cuisine better. Let's start with the beverages offered at the newest restaurant I've tried. Here's the list: coffee with condensed milk coffee/mocha/tapioca thai tea tapioca thai tea young coconut juice soy bean milk penny worth drink soda, milk and egg nog salted plum salted plum soda salted lemonade salted lemonade soda fresh lychee fresh longans dry longans chinese healthy drink OK, can somebody fill me in on what to expect from these drinks? Also, any added information such as history, whether they're a common beverage or a special occasion beverage, etc., would really be appreciated. Which should I try first? I usually get pho when I go there, but I plan to expand my horizons --after another post! Thanks very much. I'm excited about my new adventure!!!

I have neither large nor small hands... which I guess explains why I use my santoku and chef's knives about equally. If something needs to be sliced really thin, the santoku is my choice. But if there's "heavy" work to be done, such as chopping chocolate off a block, I'll definitely reach for my chef's knife.

And the reason you reach for them every time, is because they're not "cling-free", right? My favorite pot to lick is the one in which I make lemon curd. Oh, man! Lemon pie filling is a close second, and chocolate pie filling brings up a nice third. After that, any old frosting or cake or cookie batter will do.

I don't know if we're talking about two different things... but we essentially braise our beef, sometimes even in a crockpot. The secret with this method, is long and slow. Obviously, by this method, you're not going to get the rare beef Winesonoma loves. If it's rare you want, a long slow braise won't produce it. But we throw a roast in a pot (in summer a slow cooker to keep down heat in the kitchen) along with about 1/2 to 1 cup of water, a few herbs, and the usual salt and pepper. Our beef usually braises for 6 to 8 hours, and at that length of time, is always tender.

What I like is having a general excuse to overeat, period. Especially since it allows me to delude myself into thinking it's only temporary. Specifically, I love: eggnog fudge iced sugar cookies, unless they're just really bad (but 1 or 2 will do for the entire season) peanut brittle divinity, if it's ever available, and I haven't seen it in years; I might just make my own this year pralines, but I usually am not content until I've eaten the entire batch gingerbread, either in cookie or cake form Godiva hot chocolate peppermint ice cream pie, pie and more pie

1. Cereal boxes - circa 1957 kitchen doesn't have cabinets they will fit in. 2. Stuff my husband has been desperately looking for, but he never learns not to put stuff up there because he won't remember that he did and then he'll turn the house upside down looking for it. 3. Dust

You may want to consider different materials for each type of cookware. I am very happy with our stainless steel saute and frying pans, but when it's time to buy more --if ever-- I would be open to considering other materials. And we have a 5 1/2 quart Le Creuset pot that I love more than ... well, let's not go there! I would strongly recommend Le Creuset for braising.

Our Christmas dinner is often a repeat of our Thanksgiving dinner, right down to the pumpkin pie. Often a ton of candies and cookies is also around, but everybody is sick of them well before Christmas day. Some years my mother has also done a ham. The word "also" is key here; the family expects a turkey, and if they don't get one, much sulking can be anticipated. I know people who make Cornish hens, also, as a slight departure from the same old thing. And I agree with Megan --the Christmas meal is often comprised of ethnic foods. Which explains why we eat turkey; we have no idea when our family came over from wherever. My parents are from Missouri, and often our meals may have a Southern touch. Otherwise: meat and potatoes.

Personally, I would love to try your borscht, but I'm known for eating things that others won't. If you brought it to the potluck at our office, I'd certainly give it a try (and almost certainly would like it), but you and I would be eating it alone. I have to agree that something a little less adventurous would probably go over better. My hat's off to you for thinking of the vegetarians. I'm sure they will appreciate it. If you still want to bring the borscht, do at least check with the vegetarians to see if they like beets. Just because they're vegetarian, doesn't mean they aren't picky eaters!

*bump*ing this thread up, in hopes it'll get going again. It deserves to, especially this time of year! My most recent use of leftovers came from a Rachael Ray show. It was her post-Thanksgiving leftovers show, and I loved both the turkey-soup-over-dressing idea (which I have yet to try) and her vegetable chunk salad idea. She took leftover crudites, chopped them into roughly 3/4" x 3/4" chunks, and added a dressing of red wine vinegar, EVOO, Italian seasoning, sugar, and salt & pepper. My husband and I both loved it, and I see it as a way to not allow various fresh vegetable leftovers to not go to waste, and also an easy salad to take to work for lunch. What are you doing with leftovers these days?

Last week and this, I've made salad with chunks of carrot, celery, red pepper, cauliflower, cucumber, grape tomatoes... and whatever else, and tossed with a dressing of red wine vinegar, olive oil, a tiny bit of sugar, Italian seasoning, and S&P. No greens of any kind, just chunks of various fresh vegetables. It's now a mainstay in my collection, as a way to use up fresh vegetables when I have small leftover quantities. Really good.* And beats the heck out of taking a ziploc bag of carrot and celery sticks to work! *Don't tell anybody, but it's a Rachael Ray recipe.

My gut instincts also tell me I won't like the product, but I label myself a "purist" because I don't like flavored anything... except for maybe certain teas. Maybe. I will, however, try it! I like both Coca Cola and coffee, and I'm bored.

If you feel so inclined, I would enjoy a discussion on the development of your menu. Did you start with a particular dish, and build from there?

I really don't have any grits stories, but I really love them. With butter and freshly ground black pepper. Even if I didn't love them so much, it would be a great excuse to eat butter.

A few years ago I whined until a friend gave me his family's Christmas cake recipe... and then I later lost it. By then, the friend had moved away. It was baked in a tube pan. It was a date cake, with lots of spice, and red and green maraschino cherries in it. If anyone has a recipe like this, please please please will you post it?

I'd like to ask particularly about the issue with the birthday cake/cupcakes on the cover. People really reacted to that! When I saw it, I perceived it as something a little different for Gourmet, but I didn't have a negative reaction. I know you must have read much more mail than you had room to print. Those who had such strong negative reactions -- why do you think they hated it so much? Would you do it again?

Good point! Maybe that buttercream frosting in Week 6 could be chocolate?

I think it looks really good. I hope you will have an opportunity to urge them to do whatever prep they can, ahead of time. It's not so bad, coming home after work and fixing a meal, if some of the work --chopping, seasoning meat, measuring herbs and spices-- was done beforehand. Many people think they don't have time to cook. But they do, if they do a little planning ahead. And prepping ahead also means less cleanup. One thing you could also point out, is that the more you make the things you are learning to make, the easier they become. A few years ago, I considered stewing a chicken and making something from it, such as chicken & noodles, chicken pot pie, or chicken & dumplings, to be a major undertaking. But now, because I've done it so much, I could pretty much do it in my sleep. I also hope you'll tell them that having a dish flop on you, is not an excuse for getting down on yourself and deciding that you can't cook well. Like anything else, it takes practice. And with shows like Alton Brown's, they can learn things that will help them correct their own problems.

I like to use shelf liner beneath cake plates and pie pans when I'm transporting desserts. They don't slide around in the container. A riff on other suggestions -- I took my wood-handled silicone spatulas, and starting at the "other" end, made 1/2 inch markings with a Sharpie. The markings haven't dulled in many months of use, and I always have a way to measure how reductions are going. I like the powdered sugar idea for rolling out cookie dough. Similarly, I use cocoa to dust cake pans when the recipe calls for "grease and flour" --chocolate cake, that is. I made a bundt cake a few weeks ago, and made sure to get a rich coating of dutched cocoa throughout the pan. The cake came out with a rich, dark brown sheen it's never had before. And if I'm freezing something in a ziploc bag, and want to squeeze as much air out of it as possible, I lower it into a bowl of water; the water does the squeezing for me, much more efficiently than I can do it myself. I just have to be sure not to get any water into the bag. My herbs and spices originally were bought on employee discount when I worked at Dean and Deluca, so they're in the tins the company sells. I often refill them by going to the local health food store and purchasing fresh products. When I do refill them, I use a Sharpie to mark the month and year on the bottom of the tin. It's always easy to tell how old the contents are, and I can cross out the old date the next time I refill.

I don't know that they're harmful, but it's disgusting to throw rice or pasta into water on the stove, and watch the larvae, etc., float to the top. Ugh.

Well, I'm still in Kansas*, and we still eat all kinds of stuff like this. In fact, one of our family's favorite holiday dishes is a salad that starts with orange jello, and has spiced grapes, pecans, pineapple, celery and other stuff, including a topping made of whipped cream and pineapple juice, and a sprinkling of cheese (I think it's Velveeta! ) on top. My sister and I fight over the leftovers. Blood was not drawn this year, but only because Mom intervened and portioned out the remainder of the salad herself. It's not made in a mold (it's made in a 9 x 13 pan), but the rectangular blocks cut from the pan and placed on the plate might as well be, since they hold their shape until devoured. Keep in mind that we don't eat this way all the time. But some of these old recipes, like skeletons in the closet, just won't go away. They're part of us, our memories, and our shared experiences. We are no more willing to discontinue their use, just because they're no longer fashionable, than we are to burn our old photo albums. They ain't classy, but they are comfortable. And our particular jello sin is really very good. But you can't take it everywhere. *No offense taken. I whine about being in Kansas all the time.

We keep a package of paper plates handy to substitute for cutting boards for small jobs and prep dishes, for dry ingredients and the like. They can often be reused at many points during the same recipe, and many brands are recyclable.

I don't see why not. Make sure it's wrapped well, and don't leave it over a week. That amount of time ought to kill anything that's along for the ride, but I wouldn't think the pasta would be damaged.

If you have (or can get) the equipment, and if she will allow, think about videotaping her as she demonstrates her cooking for you. It would be such a treasure!