chappie

Just wanted to warn the rest of you that this Hickoryworks site has crashed two different browsers on two separate computers here tonight. I don't know what the problem is (but I want to order some syrup!)

Daniel, you purchase that insane hunk of flesh, lovingly inject it with garlic juice and roast it to perfections and you're "NOT EATING MEAT RIGHT NOW?" WTF? You make candied-bacon, lard-caramel, double-blood-fudge scrapple ice cream sundaes with a pig's eyeball replacing the cherry on top, and you're not eating meat? Even if so, how did you resist once you got that beast out of the oven? I'm going to have to get a bottle of that smoky hickory syrup. Might go well with Marmite, my current insatiable obsession. I don't know where you can get bear meat, but I had bear bourguignon a few years ago and it was fantastic. Really tender and a deep, deep flavor. Even though you're slow-cooking it, you might still marinate it first. Lots of chocolate in that chili, too. The Indiana guy at the office (His last name's Shinn, so we've turned every applicable word into a "shinnonym;" i.e. Shinndiana) is from the northwest sliver of the state, loathes the Colts and is a shinnsane Bears fanatic. But his idea of a culinary adventure is mild salsa, so I don't know how that speaks to the Indiana-based aspect of this Super Bowl.

The jar I have is the (standard?) 4.4-ounce, or 125-gram, container. I bought it last Friday and I'm about to start scraping tomorrow, so it looks like one of those a week for awhile. That is, if my local suppy holds up. But I heard there's an English lady in town who demands it ... so I am not alone. I'm thinking this will be a good addtion to a venison Guinness stew with loads of root vegetables.

Now, I've been exposed here as a Marmite neophyte, but in my week-long addiction thus far, I only eat it on non-toasted bread while waiting for other pieces to toast. If Vegemite has certain properties, doesn't Marmite as well? Subtle flavor and strength differences aside, aren't the essentially the same breed of product?

Classic response! I suppose you're going to start giving me that older married-man advice about Marmite: "Don't start something you can't finish," "Make sure you've chosen the right yeast extract spread to spend your life with," etc. OK, off to make some Marmite on toast.

Right now I don't see going without it for any extended period of time.

Is there already a Marmite thread somewhere If so, I apologize. I can't find one. A week or so ago, a visiting friend brought me a jar of Vegemite as a sort of payback for a stunt we pulled on him long ago when he was 14. We had pinned him down and forced a container of Crystal Light (artificially sweetened, super-concentrated drink mix, intented to make a gallon or two) into his mouth. So he dared me to eat the entire jar of Vegemite, which I couldn't. A few days later I tried it properly on buttered toast and became hooked. When I ran out, I found Marmite was the only available, similar product in my town, and I think it's even better. Seriously, I bought the Marmite jar on Friday and it's about 2/3 gone already. I like it better than anchovy. I even like it better than cheese right now. I'm surprised Japan doesn't revere the stuff with its "umami" properties, though I guess you could use miso in a similar fashion. What else do you do with Marmite? I imagine it would be great in a stew, similar to the effect a tin of anchovies has, melting into the background. Is it normal to want to consume this stuff all the time? And is there a discernable difference between Marmite (the British kind) and Vegemite? I had Bovril a long, long time ago and read somewhere that it too is all vegetable now. How does it compare?

Aha — Great news today. It turns out my wife's coworker will be spending her honeymoon in Australia, so I have a now have a one-time source for Vegemite! I better slip her some cash and have her bring back the largest container available. Any other Australian delights she should bring back (ooooh... I like Violet Crumble)? Do they sell the NZ Marmite there? I would like to do a taste comparison between Vegemite and both Marmites. I probably shouldn't bog her down with a big list though; she should be focusing on more important matters (hopefully) on her honeymoon than fulfilling a coworker's husband's culinary curiousities.

I grew up on Chesapeake Bay oysters (not the ones barged down to Chincoteague and allowed to soak in the oceany brine first), which are kind of bland due to the brackish water in which they grow. Still, I am one who chews the oyster and appreciates its flavors instead of treating it like a zinc pill and swallowing whole, and I always felt the ubiquitous cocktail sauce overpowered everything else and defeated the purpose of eating one in the first place. I do like a squeeze of lemon, and if it's not a briny oyster, a pinch of salt. Nowadays I use the locals mainly for cooking and seek out better breeds for enjoying raw.

Being that these spreads basically evolved from the desire to find a marketable use for the leftover yeast from brewing, it's not too far-fetched to say Vegemite and Marmite are, in essence, concentrated beer. So perhaps it is not a B-vitamin deficiency I am satisfying but a beer deficiency. Time to drink more beer!

Mmmm. I am going to try the Tiger Toast today. My friend brought me a tiny jar last week of Vegemite, mostly as revenge for a prank we played on him some 14 years ago when he was 14 -- held him down and forced a container of Crystal Light powder (concentrated to make a couple gallons, I think) into his mouth. Intense! So he wanted me to eat the entire Vegemite jar. Of course, this was impossible as it is saltier than salt. But, days later I tried it proper, thinly spread on some buttered toast, and now am addicted. In our small town in Maryland, I can only get Marmite (British kind), so that will have to do for now. I simply can't eat enough of it, and my bread-and-butter intake has risen accordingly. Is this common? Do most people who grow up on either yeast extract spread want to eat it all the time?

Here on the Delmarva Peninsula, the massive herds of whitetails spend much of their time (to farmers' curses) munching on soybeans and corn. I've never felt they tasted very gamey at all. I did taste some in college that came from a friend's home in West Virginia, where the deer eat lichens and whatever else they can get, and it was gamier.

It's that time of year again, the annual chowder cookoff weeks away and a title to reclaim after a subpar showing last year when I lost to some blonde whose oysterish paste contained bits of shell. Maybe she paid off the judges in the back room. This year I'm thinking of making an insanely rich and delicious base, then grilling my seafood outside on the deck just before tasting. How does this sound? I have also been tempted to do a quadruple corn, non-seafood chowder, but I think the voting public expects something that recently swam or lurked on the bottom of a body of water. Any ideas for an award winner? I want to hone this recipe in my mind before taking it any further...

Upon rereading this I realize I should have followed up on the secret ingredient and the promised answer, which I never got, to "how it turned out."

Were they packed in a heavy brine? I can't imagine non-preserved oysters funking around in their own juices for "the next couple of months" in a barrel in the basement. Surely they were preserved somehow.

I usually avoid the place because the McHangover grows worse with age, but I still occasionally have a hankering for MickeyD's cheesburger-like-substances, and am still convinced I could inhale 15 of them without coming up for air. The trick they have achieved through modern evil science is that you can go years, even decades without gumming one (they offer no resistance to the tooth so you can't call it chewing) and then one day you pony up 75 cents and it tastes precisely — mathematically, militarily precisely — as your brain remembers. The Robble-Robble lobe throbs in recognition. Taste memory satisfied, and that's what it's all about. The memory of McDonalds cheeseburgers, not the present. McDonalds cheeseburgers have nothing to do whatsoever with actual cheeseburgers, and that is not by accident.

My friend Gil took a several-month, wandering journey through South America in 2001, during which he kept those of us who couldn't make the trip thoroughly entertained with a series of some of the best emails I've ever received, still parked safely in the nether regions of my inbox. This was the best. He was in a small town called El Calafate in Argentina, where he met a man who tought him how to make the local variant of chorizo. Without further ado, here is his original story, dated 2-15-01: * * * A few days ago I met this quirky old man that's quite a cook. How I met him is another story, but it happened that yesterday I told him I would like him to teach me how to make something, and he suggested we make chorizo (basically sausage, though purists would argue). Immediately I imagined myself impressing everyone back home with my delicious homemade chorizo, and agreed. As the process unrolled, I realized pretty fast that I wasn't going to be making no goddamn chorizo any time soon, and here's why: HOMEMADE BEEF AND PORK CHORIZO (I'm sorry, but again this is not intended for those with weak stomachs, neither the dish nor the story) Serves 200 Preparation Time: 10 days 1. At your neighborhood butcher's, proceed to the filthy back meat locker and cut the neck off an enormous side of beef. Make sure that the whole lamb (gutted and skinned but with the head still attached) hanging behind you leaves bloody kisses on your back as you lean down to carve off the beef. Walk out with 5kg of beef neck. This meat is especially hard and works well for chorizo. 2. If you haven't already done so, pick up 200kg of solid pork fat from the farm down the street. You'll only need about 5kg for this recipe, but you can freeze the rest and use it for salad, soup and smoothies. 3. Take out another 5kg of unidentified pork parts from your fridge. 4. Cut the beef, pork and fat into thin long strips, removing the nerves and the hard fat from the beef. 5. Feed everything into your meat grinder, letting the ground mush fall into a huge tub. 6. Add massive amounts of crude salt, oregano, cayenne pepper, black pepper, cinnamon and a bunch of other stuff I don't remember. 7. Chop up 1/2 shitload of garlic and put in the blender with 1/2 liter of white wine from a box and some sugar. Dump it on the tub of meat and after washing your hands (better yet -- take a shower) go to town on the mixture until everything is well-mixed. 8. Flatten the mixture with your hands, then dump a bunch of whiskey on it. 9. Let the mixture sit there for a day, but don't hesitate to fix yourself a little slice of bread with the raw mixture when you're hungry. Yummy? The rest of the recipe will be discovered later this afternoon, but as I understand it we roll it up in tripe and then let it all dry for about a week, at which point you can eat it either raw or cooked. I keep telling this guy that after he teaches me all his secrets I'm going to open my own little restaurant right next door to his, and luckily he thinks I'm kidding. In case one of you is thinking of doing the same, good luck, but be aware that I've left out the secret ingredient. Cheers, and I'll let you know how it turns out. Gil P.S. I keep waiting for that one experience that will finally make me want to become a vegetarian, but it's looking more and more like that's not going to happen.

I just quizzed a co-worker from Indiana first on defining characteristics of Indianapolis (beside the car race) and secondly what the city (or state's) cliched "signature" dishes are. You know, Baltimore and its crabs (even though you can get far better an hour east), New England clam chowder, Texas (or Carolina, or Memphis, etc.) barbecue. He has no idea. Can anyone help here?

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. I'm going to try to become adept at a good fish stock in the new year...

Got a good method for ham salad?

The real question, now that the holidays are about over, is what to do with al this leftover ham?

I would have to say it was the fried green tomato hornworms I made a few summers back... I was trying to search to find the thread I wrote about it two summers ago, but it appears to be gone... Actually several of my threads are gone. Why? Maybe I need to post something elsewhere...

I live about two blocks from a great seafood market which is willing to give me fresh fishheads for free. I want to learn the best technique and recipe for turning them into stock and/or soup. Some sources say to only simmer a fish stock for an hour, others contradict. Any seafood experts out there willing to share your secrets?

We're going to Aspen with 6 or 7 other people in February to stay at a friend's vacation home. My funds are meek right now, and if it weren't for this gracious offer, plus cheap airfare on Southwest, I probably wouldn't have chosen Aspen, which I understand is pretty pricey. But surely there must be some great (ethnic or non) places to eat for a reasonable bill. Any suggestions?

Sarted thinking about pricey beers that get opened and unfinished (um, if it makes you squeamish I will say they were poured, partially, in glasses...). Looked up "beer vinegar" and found references to its use in Dutch and Belgian cuisine. Can you make beer vinegar? Does anyone have any experience with this? Seems like a natural, perhaps a good replacement for malt vinegar on fish and chips...