chappie

Yeah, but I don't think anyone would claim you are "supposed to find delicious" either unadorned raw onions or insects. For me, one thing that stands out is Morbier cheese, the one with that ash line in the middle. Smells and tastes like what I can only imagine the unwashed foot of a corpse, doused in sewage, coated in a used-cat-litter crust and buried for 18 months, would. The worst part is I'll accidentally sample it from time to time on someone's fancy holiday or cocktail party cheese and fruit platter, and I can't swallow it. The taste takes ages to scrape from my mouth and memory.

I want to know more about periwinkles and their prep. In the spring/summer there are thousands upon thousands of them in my dad's tiny sliver of Tred Avon River waterfront marsh alone. Someone told me there's a tiny hard piece you have to get rid of? How do you deal with grit? Can you raise them with cornmeal? Anyway, if I ever get the harvesting down, is there a way I could do them here and there in batches and freeze them in a manner that wouldn't make them freezerburnt or stale when I thawed them in February for the chowder cookoff? If I could do this, it might be one of the biggest coups ever.

I don't know... baking is what I do the least. And it didn't call for proofing the yeast, either, just mixing it in with the flour and leaveners, adding the liquid, kneading, letting rest for 10 minutes, rolling and cutting. I'm open to suggestions for better oyster crackers. These were a hit, but perhaps only because they tasted really good and were homemade. I think if I could get them more shatteringly crisp (these had the texture to me of really crunchy cheese straws?) and oyster-crackery, I'd make them forever.

So, I know this thread tends to fall down rapidly, but I'm already thinking about next year's chowder. Maybe it'll be an actual aquarium of seafood to which a flame gets added, plus cream, potatoes, onions butter in stages. The Cycle of Life Chowder.

The idea struck me pretty last-minute, so I did a Google search and turned up This Recipe. I added lots of good cooked bacon, whizzed in the food processor, to the dough as I was stirring in the water and shortening (I used unsalted butter), and more or less followed as directed. Except for I made them much smaller than her photos appear, and I cut them with a knife into squares because I couldn't find a tiny round, hollow cylinder to use as a punch. Also at the advice of one of my mom's coworkers who bakes a lot I added twice as much baking soda (and no herbs). They're great. But next time I might chop the bacon a little courser. And I would like to learn how to make airier crackers. Still, the garnish was well-received.

I won my friend's annual chowder cookoff Saturday, beating 15 other entries to reclaim the title I last won in 2005 with a corn/crawfish entry. The past two years I'd suffered from a lack of focus, a lot of last-minute adding of too many flavors that produced a confused chowder. This time I focused on a few great ingredients and let them shine. Here's what I did to make my winning Oyster and Leek chowder with Vermouth (served with homemade bacon oyster crackers). The subtitle on my sheet was "Boardman's* Levitra: It might not make your naughty parts tingle, but it's guaranteed to stick with you for 72 hours." First, I cooked four slices of good thick-cut bacon from Amish market, diced, reserving some of the fat to sautee two leeks and three or four stalks of celery. Also to the bacon fat I added some amazing organic Amish unsalted butter, which formed a delicious layer on top. I deglazed this with about cup of really good vermouth, Boissiere "bone white." Then I added homemade chicken stock, diced russets and a touch of white pepper and two good spoonfuls of hot sauce. Next went in a quart of oysters and their liquor -- whizzed in the food processor (the second quart was added whole 15 minutes before tasting began). This was clutch because there were both oysters in the background adding thickness and depth to every bite, but also tons of whole ones. To correct the salt, I used this excellent Alderwood smoked salt I got off worldspice.com. For the creaminess, I used a pint of organic Pennsylvania cream (also from Amish market) that was so thick it was more like creme fraiche. Insane stuff. At the last second, a handful of herbs went in: tarragon and some parsley growing out of the bricks at Dad's house. That was basically it! What I haven't mentioned though is that for the first year in this event's six-year run, I wasn't there to taste any of it! I had to cover a high school ice hockey playoff in Laurel, Md. for my newspaper, so I dropped my chowder off with a friend whose job it was to represent it, add the whole oysters and herbs, stir the crockpot every now and then and make absolute certain nobody used my secret weapon -- the bacon oyster crackers -- for another competitor's chowder. I've got a huge red beard right now and Mom took a closeup of me with gaping maw, making a menacing face, printed it on legal paper and laminated it. We made it into a mask -- complete with partially cutout nose so it fit over a face -- and he put it on to accept the trophy. By the time I got to the bar in Annapolis for the afterpartying, strangers already recognized me. It was hilarious. It's a really great annual event at Severn Sailing Association now, and my buddy Sean does it all himself. I keep trying to talk him into charging people at the door, but he'll hear none of it. If any photos materialize, I'll post them here. *Note: Boardmen are the usually husky guys who keep Chesapeake Bay Log Canoes (www.logcanoes.com) from tipping over on summer weekends. It's a glorious sport involving the mass and strategic consumption of beer.

Dejah -- you are correct. I am looking, out of curiousity, for a way to prepare an abundant summer pest into something I can eat. And all I can find online are general descriptions of the technique without specifics.

On the jellyfish note, does anyone know of a definitive source for the method of preparation? I want to try it with Chesapeake Bay sea nettles this summer, but all I can find is a general idea, i.e. "first they are cured in a salt/alum brine," without proportions.

Hah, that's funny. I have a huge mouth and thus have never required a double dip. Just cram the whole chip in, even one of those "restaurant style" biggies, though sometimes that requires a forceful crumbling.

I always buy coffee there (love the New Mexico pinon), love the cheeses, yogurts and now some of the cereals and chicken sausages. Plus all kinds of odd staples like tomatoless corn salsa, salt-cured olives, olive oil and vinegars, etc. But the thing that has me coming back more than any other is the Tuscan Pane. One of the best breads around, for cheeeaaaappp. I don't buy many prepared meals or produce there. But for what I go for, at the prices, T.J.'s is indespensable. I've kicked the Ritter-Sport-at-checkout habit. And oh, when I'm in Virginia (Maryland doesn't let them sell alcohol) I enjoy the $3 Buck Chuck shiraz.

Clarified/whole butter aside, is there a discussion here about methods/recipes for making Hollandaise? I use my mom's technique, which is basically two yolks per stick of butter, half a lemon (she uses more) and whisk on low heat, no double-boiler, no water. But I would love to hear other methods. Also, I melted my butter the last time I made it, drizzling it into the yolk/lemon mixture as a whisked. It was delicious but had to be served within 20 minutes or so (which, isn't that the way it should be?)

Much much cheaper is Trader Joe's Pomegranate Glaze. From everything I can tell, it is pomegranate molasses, except it's only like $2 a bottle, maybe $3. Middle Eastern stores around the D.C. area sell their product for a lot more.

I've made lobster/andoille chowder before (with saffron) but the problem was it broke the bank. I like the idea of the conch, though. I know a guy who could get it on the cheap, too. OK, even if the chowder is in low crockpot, and the scallops entered raw into the base, you think they would start to overcook? I could try a small batch first. Chrisam -- I'm not looking for exactly. Just a chowder discussion. When I'm eating chowder I like it thinner (even love the Rhode Island clear-broth style), but I think most winners at these contests tend to be quite rich. It's a people's vote, not an expert judging panel. I do like to stay away from flour thickener, though. It would be labor intensive, and it's not the season where they gather around here on the marsh grass by endless thousands, but I wonder what periwinkle chowder would taste like. I think each tiny one needs a tiny hard piece plucked off its meat, which itself is picked from a shell by a toothpick ... Yarrr...

Hello (lo-lo-lo-lo)? So cold, so lonely. Shivvering away in this desolate forum, huddled near the digital vapors rising off photos of delcious chowders past. If I go the scallop fudge route, I'm thinking of quartering them and just adding them to the crockpot maybe 10 minutes before tasting. The background will have to be interesting and with something to counter the sweetness. I'm not sold on this idea yet, though, as I have over a month to prepare.

OK, no responses yet so I will think aloud here. We have nearby a place that offers almost-daily supplies of fresh sea scallops harvested in Ocean City, Md. They're wonderful and sweet -- you can eat them raw, and I gladly do. Now, I've used them in the past, but only sparingly. What if I were to, for a large crockpot, use like 4-5 pounds of them, in a thick, thick, rich scallopy goodness chowder? Maybe a bit of potato and a bit of some kind of mild pepper and some herb, but otherwise sweet scallopy goodness? No one seems to make a mussel chowder, but that might be interesting.

It's that time of year again for my friend's annual chowder cookoff in Annapolis. (I had a brief thread on it a few years back: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=81076). So far I have no idea on what I'm doing this time around, but I'm thinking even though it might not be what I'd order every time, that it should be dense with quality heavy cream. Any ideas on techniques, tips, etc. to produce a winner?

Last night we spent the first stage of our New Year's Eve at a friend's house for dinner. One of the hosts had boiled some very large-looking eggs and asked me if I could transform them into devilled eggs, as she did not know how. I peeled them and began slicing, and to my increasing surprise, every single one of the 10 or so had a double yolk. I've seen these before but rather infrequently. How is it that an entire batch of eggs had double yolks?

More flashes in the pan than celebrities, but I'd name Ilan from Top Chef II, with Betty as a close second.

I'll do it. A few years ago when my friend lived across the street and in a block from the Raven, I was in there enough that some of the regulars thought I was from the neighborhood -- not the Eastern Shore. We used to go to Tonic to eat sometimes, but then people were gathering on Sundays to (very seriously and severely) watch some TV show, like the Sopranos or something.

What kind of person would actually ask for a "trendy, young, beautiful-people-type bar?" Don't people who even are trendy like to believe they're not? Screw it. Send 'em to the Raven for dark and dirty, cheap drinks and the most ecclectic gathering of people they're likely to encounter.

I have enjoyed certain crops of Galas, certain Fujis, more recently Braeburns, but Honeycrisp is my current favorite since a few back-to-back years of excellent Crispins, which suddenly I can't find in my local stores. Nothing like a shatteringly crisp, tangy yet not acrid, sweet flavorful apple. I don't know why certain varieties are even still sold. Because at the same time, there are few gustatory downers like eagerly biting into an apple only to find it bland and (worse), mealy. Ugh. Mealy apples should be ashamed of themselves.

Travel Channel's been running a lot of back-to-back Zimmern lately, and lately I've become quite a fan of his show. I really enjoyed the episode on Taiwan, the one on Vietnam and even the Gulf region (mainly because I'm eager to cook nutria). I still want to know what that deep-fried mullet roe tastes like for him to rank it worse than anything he's tried.

Can't minnows be whitebait? And don't you squeeze them to gut them, then, once fried, eat them bones and all?

On that reunion, I thought Casey looked frightening with all that makeup on. It almost looked like a different person. Especially when they kept flashing back to show moments. She looks much better without it (or at least keeping it minimal).

I wonder more about goat, probably the first domesticated livestock animal, than bison. Goat is delicious and sweet, and yet mention it to most people and they wrinkle their faces.