chappie

Had no specific plans until my wife found nice-sized (two pounds plus) lobsters on sale for $7.99 a pound and brought home three of them. So I steamed them in white wine, saved all the roe and tomalley for a compound butter, made a big salad with a reduced cider vinagrette and steamed asparagus topped with homemade hollandaise in which I substituted half the lemon juice with wine. Completely gorged ourselves on lobster (with a bottle of rose prosecco), after which I mashed up the aforementioned butter and turned the shells, steaming liquid and juices into stock. A sidenote, perhaps better off asked elsewhere than here, but after the somewhat short simmer and straining, can I reduce the lobster stock later on or does boiling it too long -- even without the solids -- give bad results? H

Maybe you're not missing anything and it's just a taste preference. I like the fact that whatever oil I use (olive combined w. something else usually) absorbs into the popped corn a bit, and I don't mind a few slightly browned pieces on the bottom. I actually like them. As for "what's good about 'em," these two varieties I've tried taste nuttier and fresher -- and pop fluffier -- than the Food Lion corn I'd been using. I'm still working on perfecting my cooking method, however.

So ... having heard me repeat my newfound stovetop popcorn obsession, Mom gave me a huge case of 12 varieties from Fireworks Popcorn for Christmas: http://www.popcornlovers.com/c-2-popcorn.aspx There are actually 13 types lister here, but as I'm not at home right now I can't recall which one is left out of the box). So far I've tried Harvest Blend and High Mountain Midnight, and both were delicious.

I always make an improvised, homemade stuffing with lots of fresh herbs from Mom's garden. This year I used a ton of mushrooms because I had them, and yes, I used one egg blended with the stock. It holds the mixture together better for our new method: Plopping big balls of it into muffin tins so each guest can grab their own individual "stuffing muffin," with lots of crustiness. Served last night alongside Saveur's crisp apple-scented roast turkey (brined overnight and delicious), a recipe from last year that's easily accessible on the magazine's revamped website. Also roasted garlic whipped potatoes, applejack-infused gravy (per Saveur), good old peas, roasted and glazed veggies (onion, parsnip, carrot, sweet potato and fennel), crap dip (as appetizer) and a Smith Island cake for dessert -- more of a birthday cake because my brother-in-law was born Christmas Day. Back on subject, though, I think I'll make oyster stuffing muffins next time. Herbs I used were fresh sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano and a bit of basil; breading was one bag of cubed stuffing mix and half a loaf of non-dried, cubed Trader Joe's whole wheat Tuscan Pane, which I think along with the egg added to the cohesion of the mix in muffin tins. Merry Christmas, eGulleteers!

But an actual new episode? Not that one they dragged out last year?

I might disagree with you a bit there. We took a fresh wild goose last Thursday that my friend killed that morning, plucked, gutted and cleaned it, sopped it in the accumulated juices on the back well of a pig slowly cooking over applewood overnight for a Christmas party -- and then roasted it with the hog for a few hours. Very low temperatures (below 200 in the beginning while it sat atop the pig in the goodness, then up front by the embers at like 250 for the remainder, to brown and crisp), and it was rare in the middle. Everything on that bird -- including the skin and fat -- was nutty and delicious. Granted, geese here on the Eastern Shore eat a lot of farmers' corn left in the fields and soybeabs, but still it's wild game. I know this gets away from the deer discussion. I don't like the taste of venison fat. I tend to slowly braise and stew my venison (often with Guinness or another dark beer as liquid) in stews.

Hey, I just realized there will be a new episode on Christmas Eve ... unless Bravo's airing a rerun, which I can't find anywhere that they are. Awesome! Cook all day for in-laws, feast, do a gift exchange, they'll be gone by 10 and a Merry Top Chef to us all!

This was the funniest moment of the whole episode. I'm guessing Italians have a different slang term for pubic lice, but your post just made me accidentally sneeze out my beverage.

I've got no problem with Martha Stewart. She's a tough hen, and there were many that should've gone to jail before her. She served her short stint; why should it preclude her from moving on? I guess I'd completely overlooked the fact it wasn't Thanksgiving, either. Ah, television. But the one-pot meals thing is annoying. Yes, Paella is a one-pot meal and so was the failed potato "risotto," but most of the others were anything but. I wish they'd been called out for it.

The guest judge, actress whoever, even plays a role in this fake Christmas spectacle, dribbling some cliche: "The great thing about this time of year" pablum. And then the chefs make a "Merry Christmas!" toast. Huh? This was filmed in mid-summer last I checked. This is a low blow for Top Chef.

That's what I was wondering! Tom was telling the chefs they were getting a Christmas gift of no eliminations -- and I'm pretty certain it wasn't filmed last Christmas. Again, a kind of sleazy touch. Eugene should've been gone.

Hahahah -- I loved Fabio's "When I was a-seex, I was evil." Side note: Isn't cooking a bunch of things seperately and assembling them into one final dish kind of defeating the purpose of a "one-pot meal?" Ed: Watching the Quickfire judging, almost none of these were actually one-pot meals whatsoever!

Oh, no, Hosea-it-ain't so! Are you kidding me, Top Chef? A zoomed-in cheesy promo of his cellphone? I'm pretty certain they don't come with that huge sticker on the back blaring "T-MOBILE SIDEKICK LX," Nor do we need a freaking five-second closeup of his texting device. Ridiculous!

Trifecta Predictions: Next three eliminated (each group boxed trifecta style, no order): [Melissa, Carla, Gene] The next three after that: [Ariane, Hosea, Leah] Then: [Jeff, Radhika (my dark horse), Jamie] Leaving the Fabio/Stefan showdown.

I'm really glad you started this topic. Dad and I sometimes butcher the deer we (mostly he; I haven't killed one in awhile) shoots, though where we live on the Eastern Shore of Md. it's more of a meat harvest than a hunt anyway. Plus, the deer eat lots of corn and soybeans so they're somewhat semi-farm-raised anyway. But you know what you're doing more than we do, so I'll try to learn more here.

That's the mark of a true salesman and showman.

Just wanted to note that "shatteringly" has become one of my favorite modifiers.

I thought he guessed fish sauce in the bouillabase?

Hah -- When I said "Rick" I mean Jeff. I kept thinking of him as Rick because he looks like the character Rick Stratton on Silver Spoons as I mentioned before. Anyway, Jeff seems pretty professional.

I can't imagine some of the other contestants, like Fabio for example, moaning and groaning about not winning the way Jamie does. I really am hoping she gets some comeuppance. Gene has been someone I liked -- especially the quick-thinking charcoal pit move -- but I don't think he's built to last. Got way too testy and rattled talking to Stefan at the apartment, and his entire concept for that dish was ridiculous. Can't believe he didn't simply re-cook the rice, for one. Top contenders right now appear to be Stefan, Fabio, perhaps Rick. I would throw Jamie in there sometimes but I'm not rooting for her.

Ariane's tomato dish won because it was for a two-minute demo on live TV, the most mass-market program imaginable, and it worked, looked good and people at home might be inspired to make it just from those two minutes. Yeah, it's not a real creative dish, but the object is to win the challenges as they're presented. It's not Jamie's fault she's been given so much camera time, but she's turned into a dour, spoiled little curmudgeon. So what if you don't win a challenge? At least you're not eliminated.

Oh, come on. Daniel was so oblivious, so lacking in self-consciousness, I found him highly entertaining to watch. I loved the rooftop scene where he's just vacantly smiling and lifting weights the whole time. Hah! "Bababoooey!" Jamie may be talented, but damn. What an annoying personality; always looked over, poooooor Jamie. "Everyone thought I was the winner." Suuuure they did. And I'm certain she went around asking the rest: "You thought I was the winner, right?" I predict her exit soon.

Just this instant I finished the last of a pot of chicken (used a rotisserie, picked clean -- another carcass! -- because the slim turkey remnants were getting old), kale and canellini bean soup with my ultra-rich, gelatinous turkey broth. Lots of carrot, celery and garlic (like eight cloves), red pepper flakes in the beginning and chipotle sauce in the end for spicy/smoky kick, and finished with lemon juice. It got better each day, and I must've eaten eight bowls of it myself. I consider it a borderline crime to toss a carcass in the trash, and if I could get away with it I'd probably troll the neighborhood during holidays, looking for unwanted turkey remnants for soup.

I too was in love with the Fleur de Sel Caramel batch. That is, until I found an easy -- and IMO, better -- replacement. Simply grind some good sea salt onto Haagen-Dazs vanilla and then top with quality maple syrup. The two combine into a salty-maple-caramel taste, and I find I add more salt than I first anticipated. Addicting!

I can't believe I'm seeing a defense of Kathie Lee Gifford on eGullet. Not liking something and spitting something out like a spoiled child are two different things entirely. I even thought Padma spitting out the lemon meringue dessert was complete melodrama. But really. Nothing could've been that bad to warrant spitting it into the trash on live TV. It wasn't like she unknowlingly pulled a three-month-old carton of milk out of the fridge and titled it back, or accidentally took a hearty swig from a beer bottle full of cigarette butts at a high school party ...