chromedome

YES! Unfortunately, the rest of my household comprises three unequivocal NO votes. Yet another thing I have to send the family away to enjoy.

Damn. Guess I'll have to work on my boss about that bottle of '85 Dom she got for Christmas...

The explanation I am familiar with is that the word is derived from the Latin "Quatuor Tempora" (literally "four days"); sometimes referred to as the "Ember Days." These were times of fasting and abstinence set out in the Church calendar to mark the beginnings of the four seasons. During these days, red meat was forbidden, and therefore the Portuguese would have favoured fish dishes. See the Catholic Encyclopedia for more detail.

Re the Robyn/Pan exchange: I can't help thinking that the differences in individual palates tend to get lost in discussions such as this one. I recently spent five weeks in a class with twelve other people, studying "International Cuisine." Part of the process was that each day, everyone cooked representative dishes from a different culture: some assigned, some chosen. At the allotted time, each of us would present our dishes in turn to be tasted and critiqued by the others (and let me say, you'd be astonished how quickly you get full on one bite of each...). It quickly became evident that we had very different perceptions of each individual dish. In my case, for example, I am very sensitive to salt. Almost anything I've ever eaten in a restaurant has been too salty, by my lights. On the other hand, I love hot peppers and find them to stimulate, rather than deaden, my perception of the other flavours in a dish. I also tend to use fresh herbs and freshly-ground spices with a generous hand. Others in my class proved to have very different sensibilities. One, for example, was inordinately sensitive to cilantro and cinnamon. Either of these, in a quantity that the rest of us could barely detect, would have her making faces and looking for someplace to spit out her mouthful. "I don't mind cilantro," she would say, "but that's waaaayyy too much." Yet this same person was prone to using unusual quantities of garlic, which she perceived as quite mellow. In the same way that people decorate their homes in either pastels or bright colours; people tend to eat in either very big flavours, or very delicate flavours. I, as you'll have gathered, am a big-flavours person (and we decorate in bright colours, too). I can appreciate the subtleties of sushi as well as any of my sushi-loving friends...it just bores the hell out of me. Give me a nice spoonful of dhansak and a paratha, now, and I'm in heaven. I guess what I'm saying is, we're all different. To each his own, and vive la difference, and all that.

Many cultures have a tradition of placing foods in the communal oven, once the bread is finished, to cook all day as the oven slowly cools. In other areas, earthenware pots are buried in the coals of the day's fire to provide the following day's meal (or the coals of the morning's fire, for the evening meal). The crock pot is a modernized take on that concept. It consists of a heavy earthenware pot set into a thermostatically-controlled shell. Older models typically offered only "low" and "high" settings, but newer ones have additional features like a "keep warm" setting. Crock pots/slow cookers can be terribly convenient: load it up in the morning, and supper's ready when you get home. They are also suitable for braising tougher cuts, since most meats will be fork-tender after 3-4 hours. The longest I've ever had to let anything go to tenderize was 10 hours, in the case of some wild Canada Goose that I was given by an acquaintance. They are also quite energy-efficient, compared to stovetop cooking. Having said that, I don't use mine a whole lot...but I surely do appreciate having it in time of need.

When I got home from work tonight, my friend had already checked this thread and e-mailed me a response for you. The instructions on this link are for a 6hr-to-overnight version: Hamine recipe Have fun... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You're right, btw, about the eye-opening effects of a familiar dish done in an unfamiliar way. When I lived in Vancouver, I once stopped into a little Portugese "greasy spoon" for lunch. Seeing that their special of the day was salt cod and potatoes, that's what I ordered. I am from Atlantic Canada, the son of a Nova Scotian mother and a Newfoundland father. Back home, salt fish and potatoes is served typically with "scrunchins": salt pork diced small and rendered. The crunchy rendered pork is sprinkled over the fish and potatoes as a garnish, and then the melted fat is drizzled in greater or lesser degree (according to personal taste) over the whole dish. Raw onions are a frequent accompaniment, either fresh-sliced or macerated in vinegar for a while. At the Portugese restaurant, my salt fish came to me with a generous garnish of black olives, a substantial drizzling of olive oil, and several rings of fresh-sliced onion. My initial reaction was incredulity (Olives? with salt cod? ....In my own defence, let it be said that I was quite young at the time...). Upon reflection, though, I realized that it really was the same dish. The salty, pungent olives filling in for the crisp, salty pork...the olive oil making a (healthier) alternative to the rendered pork fat...and of course the onions were precisely the same. That was the time in my life when I began to take food seriously, and this meal was something of a turning point for me.

Bread. Hands down, no doubts, and I'll second everything Thom said (Atkins acolytes be-damned). That was easy...but now, second place? That's something like a 247,989-way tie... (edited once for fumble-fingers)

Okay...my archaeologist friend got back to me, and seconded the notion of Ful Medammas as a classic, archetypal Egyptian dish. Then he reminded me that he'd given me this, and several other Egyptian recipes, months ago. <blush> I'm blaming lack of sleep. So, Rod's starting point was boiled eggs. I quote: <He does, at that...'Dome> And, from a later missive: Now, finally, a recipe you won't cook but which your students may find interesting. This comes from an inscription he saw on one of his digs, which centred around the Greco/Roman period in Egyptian history. Don't ask me about the units of measure....

Is this a false dichotomy? Why must it be either/or? The foodservice industry could certainly be seen as a prime application of Sturgeon's Law ("90% of anything is crap"); given that the majority of restaurant food is pretty low-end. Of the remaining 10%, the majority is well-crafted food; created by craftsmen (/persons) of varying degrees of ability, but a comparable basic skillset. But then, once in a while, you run across someone with the same basic skillset; the same basic ingredients; and yet what they put on a plate is somehow light-years above the run-of-the-mill. That's artistry. And for the record, towering showpiece plates are not food-as-art to me. They're self-centred masturbation; the kitchen equivalent of a 20-minute guitar solo.

I read an article recently (can't find the damn' thing now, of course, but I will...) on the influence of funding on the results of medical (and other scientific) studies. Aspartame was used, in this article, as a classic example of the thesis. The authors of the piece surveyed the (extensive) literature available on PubMed and other resources. They sorted the studies that had been done according to whether or not they found potential health issues; resulting in a nearly 50/50 split. Then they sorted the two groups of studies by source of funding. The correlation was almost perfect: studies funded by companies with a stake in Aspartame found no health issues; studies funded from other sources found a "significant likelihood" of health issues. They also had some things to say about Atkins, but this thread is already contentious enough... I find aspartame to give me "cotton mouth," nothing more. My daughter gets migraines. My wife finds that her tongue and throat get swollen and puffy, and that she has trouble swallowing. This holds true regardless of whether she ingests the stuff in a beverage, candy, or cough syrup. My son has no sensitivity to it at all. We don't have a whole lot of processed foods in my house, though, so this typically takes place when we're visiting somewhere...and my wife drinks only milk or bottled water when we're at a potluck.

The whole intellectual property issue is taking some unpleasant turns, with extensions of copyrights being granted wholesale by US courts in particular. It's not far from the point at which any attempt to write prose or music (to pick just two) may lay one open to litigation. Science fiction writer Spider Robinson wrote a wonderful short story several years ago exploring this, but I can't remember the title. Something about elephants and memory.

I dunno... Bring over a couple of bottles, and I'll work on it, okay?

They are absolute world-champion generators of gas. Think beans squared. Think "beer and saurkraut festival" for a week. Think "Hindenburg." Oh, the humanity! (PS I love 'em, but avoid them to spare my loved ones the consequences)

I have an archaeologist friend who spent 30 years in Egypt. If you are still gathering material, I can touch base with him and see if he's interested in relaying some ideas.

This has been a very interesting discussion for me to read, both as a newbie to the forum and as a culinary student. I am a career changer - 40 years old - and will be graduating from a well-respected school in Canada at the end of April. Will I consider myself a chef? No way. The woman I work for has operated one of the most respected restaurants in Western Canada for 23 years and counting. She has a degree in mathematics, and before turning to foodservice had been an industrial engineer, a government IT person, and a computer consultant. She hadn't previously worked in the industry, or gone to cooking school. Do I consider her a chef? Hell, yes! As for the corporate guys, well, they usually need to have some serious chops to get that position. Like, say, that former "corporate hack" named Metz, who runs the CIA. Admittedly, the general public ("great unwashed," laypersons, civilians, whatever term you prefer) has a pretty unfocussed notion of the term. I cringe whenever I'm introduced as a "gourmet chef" by some well-meaning acquaintance.

Wow...lots of great titles to add to my "gotta get" list. I've usually got several on the go at any given time...right now "Lord Krisna's Cuisine" by Yamuna Devi; one or another herb book by Jekka McVicar; "The Professional Pastry Chef" by Bo Friberg; "Food that Really Schmecks" by Edna Staebler (Ontario Mennonite cooking...guarantee to be the antithesis of *any* diet). Recently finished: "Bone in the Throat" by Bourdain; "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by P Reinhart; "A Passion For Chocolate", R L Berenbaum's translation of the book by the Bernachons; several books by Madhur Jaffrey and Najmieh Batmanglij (Indian and Persian food respectively); "Hot Sour Salty Sweet" by Duguid and Alford; and "Savouring the Spice Coast of India" by Laila Kaimal (sp?). This is mostly above and beyond the various textbooks and online readings required for school; and exclusive of the non-food-related books that I go through. I have, on occasion, been called a bookworm... PS: My local library averages about $300/yr in overdue fees, primarily because of my ghastly schedule..

<sigh> I remember when beef shank was cheaper than dirt...and flank, too. Oxtails? Holy crap, they're selling oxtails here in Alberta for $6 a pound (CDN dollars, but still...). About the only thing that's still cheap here is my dearly beloved organ meats, and none of my family will eat those. <double sigh> I saw an interesting presentation recently from a representative of the province's pork growers. They're beginning to promote a cut called the "capicolla" (the same one they make the Italian cured meat from, apparently) which is the portion of the loin muscle that extends into the shoulder butt. Their angle with restaurant people is to buy the butt and break out the capicolla, then use the remainder for specials (pulled pork, souvlaki, whatever). The capicolla gives you a "loin-quality" cut for butt price, essentially, as long as you have a way to use up the rest of the butt.

Yes, I was quite amused to see that course on the CIA website. "Soy Sauce...not just for Asian foods any more!" As far back as I can remember, my father has been using soy sauce in soups, stews, and meat dishes of all kinds; and as a key ingredient in the marinade he'd use with anything he put on the hibachi (hey, it was the early 70's). I grew up thinking of soy as something one could use in any savoury dish, and was quite surprised as an adult to find that it was considered exclusively "Asian" (and downright miffed when one of my dishes in cooking school was criticised as "a weak attempt at fusion" because I'd put soy in it...).

The wife of one of my cooking-school instructors used to cadge his old, dried beans (post vanilla-sugar stage) and pulverise them in her food processor. She'd sprinkle them into her linen closet after the periodic cleanings, then put her sheets back. Of course, if you're a pastrychef, that's the last thing you'd want on your sheets! The pods will retain potency for a while, and can be re-used to some extent. Try adding a previously-used pod to your pot of milk, when you make cocoa or hot chocolate. The flavour will still come through, though to a lesser degree. I've also spoken to people who use the older pods to "stretch" their use of new (expensive) pods; ie if recipe calls for three beans, use two new and two old. Also, the used beans can be used to provide a *hint* of vanilla flavour in a savoury dish...though that would be the last use for a specific bean, I should think.

They taught us that in cooking school, twenty years ago. So does anybody do it? Nooo... I guess the restaurant I work in is the exception that proves the rule. The chef/owner is very passionate about wine, and wants our customers to drink the best available product with their meals...so we have a flat mark-up policy on our wines (ie a straight "x"-dollar markup on every bottle, rather than a percentage) so that proportionally, the better wines are a better buy. I'm in no position to tell you whether we sell more wine than our peers around town...or whether we make more profit from it...but we do enjoy some serious customer loyalty.

I've been fuming for years about the Texan company getting their basmati patent...and retaining it, in the teeth of legal challenges from India. Now, as the article says, the Indian government has decided that it simply can't afford to pursue any more of these lawsuits...meaning it's open season. What next? A patent on ghee? How about cardamoms? It makes me furious every time I see one of Monsanto's TV ads about how they're using GM technology to meet their goal of feeding the world's starving millions. Rhetorical question. If the starving millions of, say, Africa stop saving their seed from year to year (as has been the case since the dawn of agriculture); and switch to a Monsanto product which produces higher yields but demands that they purchase seed annually...who's benefitting, here?

Good grief. Is there a less ethical company than Monsanto anywhere?

<blush> My bad. Was mis-informed, and did not think to check any of my multitudinous textbooks for verification. <slaps own wrist, re-reads message taped to monitor: "Should you think about this some more before you post?">

Creme Chantilly is just lightly-whipped cream. Not whipped enough to make even soft peaks, just enough to thicken it slightly so that it pours like a thin Anglaise.

Comfort Me: There is a chance that your rice cooker is actually designed to create the crust of brown, cooked-on rice at the bottom. In Iran, Afghanistan, and other countries in that region, a cook is frequently judged on his/her ability to create just such a crust, whether with the highest or lowest of technology. In Iran, for example, the crust from the bottom of the pot ("te dig", or variations on that spelling) is the portion of the dish which is alternately served to the honoured guest or scoffed by the cook before it ever leaves the kitchen. Cookbooks of Persian recipes frequently include instructions for tarting up the rice at the bottom of the pot with yogurt or eggs or both, in order to ensure the proper consistency. Reading the cookbooks of Najmieh Batmanglij, for example, she frequently comments on how much easier a good crust is now that rice cookers are readily available. Y'know...cultural differences, sort of thing.