chromedome

I always use the broccoli stems. Sometimes in casseroles, sometimes in soups, sometimes in broccoli salads, but most of all in stirfries. At work I'm becoming recognized as the king of utilization. Overshipped on tomatoes? No problem: I printed Suvir's tomato chutney recipe and brought it in (had to bring a few ingredients from home, but what the heck). Cherries getting tired? Bald guy pits them and makes cherry pie filling for the bakery to make tarts with. Zucchini and summer squash starting to look like your granny's neck? Shred 'em in the RoboCoupe and bake 'em into the coffee cake. Stock boy put two cases of cabbage on top of the flat of raspberries? No problem! Raspberry coulis for the bread puddings I'll soon be making with the leftover bread... On Tuesday, when I go back to work (it's a holiday here in Canada tomorrow) I've got some beef ribs to work with. We had a catering contract involving prime rib for 250 people this weekend, and the meatcutter put aside the ribs for me to do something with. It all appeals to that "east-coast frugality gene" I've inherited from my various grandparents, I think.

Ditto on the bowls and multiple "all-but-disposable" cutting boards. I bought a ton of each at the local dollar stores during my first year at school, and they've become stalwarts of my kitchen. So, also, are silicon spatulas. I really like those, and use them for a lot of things I used to use wooden spoons for. I like 'em for things like hollandaise or creme anglaise, so that I can make a nice clean sweep along the bottom of the bowl. Saves straining later (I alternate, of course, with the whisk). As for the KitchenAid mixer, I am not wholly satisfied with mine...I find it useless for anything larger than a single loaf of yeast dough...but still wouldn't be without it now. I have tendonitis in both elbows and a significant amount of arthritis, and while I can still challenge all comers in whisking a mayonnaise I'd sooner not bother. Meringues, especially Italian; nice light buttercreams, choux paste, genoises, and similar preparations: all are much easier in the KA. And let's not forget brioche! I sometimes appreciate the emotional therapy of a lengthy kneading session, but usually I just want the finished product. I know there are several savoury items I use it for too, but they are eluding my sleep-deprived brain at the moment. I'll come back to this, when I can think of them. I know I use it for pureeing beans, because I don't have a food processor and my mortar and pestle are too small. On a semi-related note, I found an offbeat appliance at a garage sale last week. It is a Moulinex "Jeanette"; essentially a light-duty meat grinder with attachments for shredding, grating, and slicing vegetables (a motorized box grater, if you will). I can see potato pancakes and kartoffel-kloesse being more frequent in my household, this fall and winter! It's kind of an odd little thing, but I think Jeanette and I will have some fun together. At least until I get a food processor.

You've inadvertantly hit on one of my pet peeves, JP. For some reason which I can't quite define, the exclusion of the southern shore from our understanding of what is "Mediterranean" irritates the hell out of me. When you think of it, there's a real continuum of overlapping influences, isn't there? I'd second the Tess Mallos recommendation, btw...good sound recipes, and lots of background information for the interested newbie. And all of Najmieh Batmanglij's books are worth looking at.

I'm with Varmint. Mrs. 'Dome (Leslie to those who know her, "who's that wacko?" to those who don't) is still my favourite reason to cook. She's patient with infinitely-extended mealtimes, ill-thought-out experiments, and my transient enthusiasms. And she really, really loves good food. REALLY loves good food. Think Thumper from "Bambi." When I hear her foot going thup-thup-thup under the table I know I've hit on a "keeper." I can't think of anything more appealing than the notion of a whole day, just us, to go out and pick the ingredients and prep a meal to enjoy together. No phone, no kids (dearly though we love 'em), no neighbours, just us. <sigh> Been a lot of 60-80hr work weeks, these last few years. Alone time is hard to come by.

Montreal is definitely Gallic, but SPM is France. Both are great places to visit, of course.

I'm not an utter novice, Monica, but I've accumulated things here and there haphazardly over the years. I'd certainly be interested in an orderly exposition of basic principles, combinations, etc. I'm also (he says modestly) one king-hell proofreader.

Like any other city with a booming scene, in those days, there were a great many local bands who would not have become known elsewhere. And that's not counting the various ad-hoc side projects of established bands' members. Vancouver at that time had a lot of so-called "fuck bands" (because they were just "fucking around", you understand). I remember, for example, the Flunkees (punked up Monkees covers) and the Themester's Union (punked up retro TV themes) with great affection. Popular local alt-rockers The Reptiles had a country incarnation called Tex Tiles and the True Moral Fibres of the South: they did old-school country tunes with a great deal of affection and something of a poke in the ribs. In their version of "Ring of Fire", for example, they pulled out kazoos to do the horn parts; their take on Jack Scott's "My True Love" was an outright spoof called "My Tree Love"...("I Cedar in the bar...she was obviously quite Poplar..."). ==================================================== Okay, that was OT. But I did mention ribs.

BTW, if you can free up the time (and it sounds like you're already somewhat loaded up with things to do) you can get to St Pierre et Miquelon quickly and easily from Newfoundland. SP&M is France's last North American colony; picturesque and appealing in its own right, and also an opportunity to visit France on the cheap-and-easy. SPM website Necessary documents

Hmmmm.... I was part of the punk scene in Vancouver in the early-mid 80's. Which band did Martin front? Anyone know?

I'm getting word back from my family that nobody there is really that much "into" restaurants; and therefore can't advise on what's good these days. Into round two, I'm now checking with friends and friends-of-friends.

Mackeral? Only one way to do it. When you hear they've started running, you go set your nets. Then you go home and cut up strong white onions into thick rings, and set them to macerate overnight in white vinegar. Next day, go pull your nets. When you drop your mackeral at the fish plant, you keep a dozen or so that are still flopping in the bottom of the boat, and bring them home. Gut them, and give the pigs a treat. Then fillet them and dredge them in flour. Fry them in a hot cast-iron pan, with just a quick rub of salt pork to start off. Serve them with the macerated onions, and drizzle the oniony vinegar over the fillets. Sides? Who needs 'em. A loaf of fresh-baked bread, maybe, to soak up the juices from your plate; and perhaps a cold beer if you've got any room left for one. That's how it's done in northern Newfoundland, at any rate.

Up here in the Great White North, my beans are at least three-four weeks away from kitchen-ready (just beginning to see one or two blossoms...but hey! we don't plant most things until the May long weekend). However, I'm now entirely geared up for when they come through. Gotta love a vegetable that *everybody* in the family likes.

Worked my part-time job tonight, so I ate well. We didn't get many orders for salmon this week so I had last-of-the-old-batch salmon fillet, done precisely as we do it for the customers: brandy-cream sauce; saffron rice with capers, peppers, shallots, & tomatoes; cpl spears of asparagus, broccoli, baby carrots, snap peas. Oh, and a "spiked" icy lemonade from FOH (we eat after service, I hasten to point out).

Andy, most of the caribou served in western restaurants comes from our northern territory of Nunavut. Nunavut is 1,900,000 square kilometres in size and has only 29,000 people, so there is lots of room for caribou! At the restaurant where I work part-time, we serve caribou and muskox tenderloins from Nunavut producers. Most of the bison comes from here in Alberta. Nunavut website Nunavut's Parks

Flipper pie is definitely an old-timer's thing. A very rich meat pie, is the short version. Seal in general is very dark and gamey-tasting, but the flippers are milder in flavour and do make a very good pie. Personally, I think the liver is the best part of the seal. Cod tongues are one of those foods that are rather off-putting, to those who aren't accustomed to them, but they are surprisingly good. A cod tongue consists of two tight balls of muscle, enclosed in a rather gelatinous pouch. Generally, they are simply dredged in flour and panfried (in rendered salt pork, traditionally!); and really they require nothing more elaborate in the way of preparation. The interest lies in the difference between the textures of the muscular portion and the softer enclosure. The flavour is, well...cod. <sigh> Haven't had a feed of cheeks and tongues in a long time. Oh well.

I own the Dr. Oetker book, and it's reasonably good. Haven't made much from it as yet, mind you. It seems to be at about the level of a Time-Life or similar cookbook. There are plentiful illustrations, and the translation is well done. In another thread, on the subject of Dobos Torte, there is mention of a highly-respected book about the pastries of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I don't recall the title and am too tired to search for it right now, but it's out there somewhere. The recent "Eurodelices" series of books, from Konemann, include a volume on Pastries (ISBN 3-8290-1131-8) which features recipes from a number of leading German and Austrian pastrychefs. Unfortunately, these come largely without any historic/cultural context. ...it's a start, anyway. I'm going to be looking for similar books (for my own interest) over the next little while, so if I come up with any gems I'll let you know.

Gee, I have two bags of cashews on hand from the little Punjabi store down in the South End. And a couple of litres of egg whites in my freezer. Hmmm.....

A quick question. At my school, we piped financiers into small dome-shaped flexipan molds (about the size of a Muppet's eyeball, or half a ping-pong ball) and then piped a fruit filling into them. These were a nice little petit-four for the Friday buffet, but I know this is not the traditional way to make them. So...what is the traditional "form factor"? What kind of pans or molds are normally used? (PS: like Neil's school, we refrigerated our batter overnight)

The books you're referring to would be his "Professional Pastry Chef" and "Advanced Professional Pastry Chef." We used the former as our text at my school, for the patisserie module of the Culinary Arts program. As you've observed, his recipes are very reliable (they've been honed through his decades of teaching). If I had a complaint, it would be that some of the recipes have been manipulated to make them more "foolproof." His brioche, for example, works out to be only about 20% butter by weight, which (to me) can hardly be called brioche. I'll grant you it's easy to work with, but the result is not quite what I'm looking for. His laminated doughs, similarly, reduce the butter to a level that I'm not quite happy with. That being said, though, his books are an excellent starting point for anyone interested in pastry. I've used my copy a lot, and expect to wear it out over the next couple of decades. I see from his website that the "Advanced Professional Pastry Chef" won a 2004 IACP award. Really should start shopping around for that, I suppose...<sighs, checks bank account, sighs again...>

Freezing products within a bag of water is thought to provide an impermeable seal, extending the usable life of the product and avoiding freezer burn. Not owning a deep freeze I can't vouch for that personally, but I know several people who follow that practice. I've eaten venison from one person's freezer which had been kept that way for three years, and it was absolutely fine. Go figure.

Alexander Keith's IPA is brewed entirely in Halifax NS, in one brewery on the corner of Agricola and Young streets. I used to live a few blocks from there, and walked to cooking school with the smell of their wort in my nostrils. It's not a bad thing. Alexander Keith's 1820 brewery has been restored to a glistening, touristy parody of its original state, and is used to produce seasonal microbrews four times a year for the local bars. They're pretty good, and Keith's (okay, call me a "home-r") is my favourite mainstream brew. It is available pretty reliably throughout Canada, and is classed as a "domestic import"; ie Canadian but out-of-province. Kokanee, likewise, is all brewed at one plant in Creston BC. Most of the artisanal beers in Canada are only available locally, which (I sometimes think) is as it should be. If you're in Halifax (for example), you have Granite Brewery's various bitters to savour; and Propellor Brewery's legendary porter (adjudged one of the world's best in head-to-head competition); and the Maritime Brewery Company's "1749" and "Black Pearl." Here in Alberta the heavy hitter is Big Rock. I find their Grasshopper to be, like Moosehead, too sweet for a light beer; their darker Traditional Ale is quite acceptable. The most widely available artisan brews, I think, are Unibroue and Granville Island Brewery. I love the Unibroue products, which are fermented "on the lees" and have a phenomenal flavour. They've just been purchased by Sleeman's, who are in the process of growing from a scrappy regional player to a noteworthy national player (they've also purchased the Maritime Brewing Company). Could write more, but the wife (and a garage sale) are calling. Maybe later.

Calls to mind Mark Twain, in The Innocents Abroad, lampooning his fellow countrymen (and -women) who affected to have forgotten how to speak English during their three whole months in France...

Tempest in a disposable plastic cup, anyone? I mean, really! Come to think of it, I got royally chewed out once, when I was working in retail, because I used the phrase "rule of thumb." Anyone besides me (and the chew-er) know why that's offensive? As she stalked out of the store, I shook my head and thought to myself, "Okay, so when you and I are dead, there'll be *nobody* left in the world who remembers how that got started!" -Chromedome (has Metis brother-in-law, mulatto brother-in-law, neither of whom really give a rat's ass what they're called)

...and after all that, you can name your daughter after it. (Melissa) [/smartass]

I don't have any personal knowledge of Seattle, but I would suggest an upscale market rather than a hotel or restaurant. Won't hurt you quite so deeply in the ol' student budget. The forcemeats are, all told, rather fun...but peeling the skin off the chicken in one piece for the galantine is a pain in the arse. You may want to buy a few whole chickens; I'd be inclined to practice that particular skill more so than training my tastebuds. Just a thought, from one who'd "been there done that" during the fall semester.