fiftydollars

I use fresh butternut squash for making pumpkin pies. I would use canned, but I have not seen it available anywhere. The fresh butternut squash does require some extra finesse, but I think it's worth it. Now if Libby canned butternut squash...

I really love this stuff, but I never thought to whip it... Mainly because it is more expensive than whipping or manufacturing cream. It is definitely a lot thicker and has a great flavor. I may try whipping it sometime, but only if I run out of tamales, tacos, or tostadas...

Because of the price of their dairy products, the Smart & Final I go to runs through product pretty quickly so I find that they always have very fresh cream and butter. The store in your area might be different, but it's probably worth a look.

Typical American butters contain around 2% salt.

My local Smart & Final carries Berkeley Farms Manufacturing cream in 1/2 gallon containers. I am not sure why it is called manufacturing cream, but it is basically a heavy whipping cream. The price varies but is usually $6-8, which is as good a price as I can find anywhere. S&F also carries butter at a good price and their products are usually very fresh.

Sorry... I thought this thread involved yak butter... somehow

Yes, especially if the secret ingredient is an essay.

Yes, the saltines are definitely a popular way of eating ceviche in Mexico. They are also a popular accompaniment with Mexican shrimp cocktails and whatnot. But my mother has distinct preference for freshly fried corn tortillas and to me it feels like that is the only proper way of eating it. Occasional indiscretions aside, it's definitely better than the saltines.

I definitely don't fear the saltines... Truth be told, once in a while, when I want ceviche, but don't want to fuss... Well I probably shouldn't be admitting to this... My mother isn't reading is she? ...I've made ceviche with Trader Joe's pre-cooked shrimp and have eaten it over saltines with tabasco... Ok, I said it. Don't tell mom.

The article touches on an interesting dynamic between LA and NY Times restaurant reviews. I agree that it’s a dis to the LAT that in Sandler’s movie the NYT reviews his LA restaurant. But I, for one, don’t read LAT restaurant reviews while I regularly read the NYT’s… and I don’t live near or regularly visit either place. I can’t be the only one… I do read the food section of the LA Times every Wednesday just like I read the NY Times’, Washington Post, SF Chronicle, Oakland Tribune(sucks), Modesto Bee(surprisingly good), etc... However, I only bother with the reviews in three papers, NYT, SFC and WP. I read the Post’s because of Sietsema and his weekly chats and the SFC because I am a local, but the NYT I read because NYC is the epicenter of the culinary universe and LA, is by comparison, just sad culinary backwater that no one outside of LA really cares to read about.

Oh, yeah... and how do you serve it? I like serving them over fried tortillas, but not necessarily as tostadas. I serve them with freshly fried tortilla wedges, lots of chunky guacamole (more of an avocado relish), and lots of good spicy Mexican hot sauce (buffalo, la tapatia, cholula, etc...).

Welcome! Lately, I'm really into seafood/shellfish ceviche. I really like using shrimp, lobster, and crab. I find that starting with par-steamed shellfish works best. I'm not sure if par-steaming is a real word/term, but basically I steam the shellfish to where they are about half-done then I dump them in ice cold water before proceeding with what are pretty close to your instructions.

I don't buy loaves. But my favorite baguette, and hands down my vote for the best baguette in America, is Acme. Although semifreddi's, which is available at Albertson's, is very good in a pinch.

I would like to see a buddy film starring Bourdain and Ruhlman-based characters (or Bourdain and Ruhlman) wherein they would go around doing pretty much what Bourdain did in Cook's Tour, but with Ruhlman, lots of drinking, and lots of witty dialogue. As a running gag Bourdain would vomit a lot while, for some reason, Ruhlman wouldn't.

I line my cake pans almost the same way you prepare your muffin pans except I use parchment. I don’t like the crust that develops when I grease/flour. But on muffins… I spray… spray… spray Wow... I'm kind of impressed that you do that.

I use an empty Acco pastry tip box I purchased at Smart and Final. They, of course, also sell one full of tips, but the one I got was empty. Only my cake-sized tips fit, though. The larger tips I store in a messy tackle box along with fondant tools, scrapers, and junk.

That's an interesting observation and could definitely be a subtle way of differentiating their product from that of the "cheese-eating surrender monkeys," as Homer Simpson has referred to the French. But what explains the hideous green color of the gratin? I took a look at some of the enameled Lodge at a restaurant supply store and it looks like they have yet another great product. But the price is a bit too high. I don't see that Lodge's gratin (in ass green, no less) at $99 is a better buy than LC's for $79 (and I can choose different colors). edited to add- Ok, so the Lodge also comes in different colors... but it's still too expensive, if you ask me...

hmm... this is probably not the place to bring this up, but as long as we are on the topic of pressure cookers. I got an old faberware pressure cooker from my grandmother and I am wondering if it is safe to use. It looks to be about 25 years old. The seal is intact and the whole thing is in excellent, almost never used, condition. It is a model with a round regulator. Anyway, I have had if for more than a year and this is the first time I have been tempted to use it. I love flan and I would really like to try Caroline's method, but not if it means prying pressure-cooker shrapnel from my kitchen wall.

The Blue Dish in San Leandro serves up a solid shawerma.

Yes! That's exactly why I wanted to get an LC gratin in the first place! I was thinking that maybe a small lc cast iron baking pan might yield more gratin than the oval. I just always seem to have too many potatoes left over when I make that recipe. I also thought that I wouldn't mind having a round pan about the same size as the oval gratin. I want it round for use with pies. Of course I could make an oval pie... and I really do think I will be buying one of these oval gratins if I find it at a good price.

The oval ones? I was really close to buying an oval gratin at an outlet store. It had some problems in the enameling department so I didn't get it. But I also thought that I would prefer a square or round shape... am I wrong to think the oval isn't as versatile?

I would marinate/brine some cubed beef in a spiced orange/lime juice brine, and slow-cook it in the crock pot. Actual barbacoa, as practiced in Mexico, often involves a goat, a hole in the ground, lots of time, and a few liters of pulque… overall not a bad way to pass the day so you might want to give that a try sometime...

This stuff is great. After following the onion confit thread for a while, I decided to try the shallot. It's great stuff. The stuff that stuck to the side of the crock pot was probably the best -darkly caramelized and slightly crunchy- but it was all very good and definitely had a different flavor than the onions. But it does cook a lot faster. The first time I tried it I ended up with charred shallots after only 8 or so hours. The same volume of shallots seems to have a vastly lower water content... or something. If you have enough shallots to fill a crock pot, give the confit a try... Cooking garlic slowly in the crock pot also gets good results, but again the much lower water content means they are done in 3-5 hours.

I spent a couple of high school summers working in CA’s stone fruit industry and I know that the term “tree ripe” that appears on the box probably doesn’t mean what you think it means. Stone fruit has the unique distinction of being uniquely perishable. It can’t really be coerced into staying fresh any longer than it wants to. In contrast, apples, most notably, can remain saleable, if stored under the right conditions, for months after harvest. However, the best stone fruit producers can do is keep it at 33 degrees, treat it very nicely (it also bruises and damages very easily), and sell it as soon as possible. Most stone fruit is sold before it leaves the tree because once it is in the box it won’t last much more than 10 days ( and even at that point quality will have degraded substantially… to the point where the fruit often has to be repacked and reinspected and it risks rejection by the receiver). Practically all stone fruit is picked before reaching true maturity… usually by as much as 1-2 weeks. Once off the tree the fruit doesn’t really get much better, but you can’t wait until it is ripe or it won’t make it to its final destination. There are some purveyors who actually wait until the fruit reaches full maturity, but they are a tiny fraction of the market and are in no way representative of the industry or its product.

Georgia? ← C'mon... you're being silly... Nobody gets peaches from Georgia.