
balmagowry
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Everything posted by balmagowry
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More importantly, perhaps, why are there so many "Newfie" jokes? Because New Englanders are jealous that they invented chowder I guess. Actually - for the same reason there are Belgian jokes. And viola jokes, for that matter.
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While I've never been entirely convinced by the chaudière etymology (yes, it's plausible, but there are other possible derivations, some of which I think have already come up down-thread - I mean up-thread - I mean, oh hell this is confusing, down-thread of the post I'm quoting but up-thread of this one - there), in another regard I need to say MY BAD for being imprecise in my terminology. My very bad, since I'm usually so careful and intolerant about that. Please, wherever appropriate, can I retroactively add "clam" before each time I said "chowder" or "chowdah"? I'm not proposing to withdraw any of my doomed combativeness, but really and truly I meant to exclude other, non-clam, examples from the argument. Corn chowder, chicken chowder, whatever - those aren't what I meant to address. (Though now you mention it, I can't help noting that those are just about invariably patterned after the New England styles, aren't they? at least to the degree of being white rather than red. ) The subject of the rant was intended to be clam chowdah, and clam chowdah only. Er, yes. Duh. Um, this is what I was trying to do. And it seems to have worked pretty well, too - wouldn't you say?
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According to Dunand, she's right about everything except the olives. And it would have been crawfish, not shrimp. If you think about the countryside arould Marengo, it all kind of makes sense. Yes, and this is precisely what never happened, what could not have happened. It's sheer Münchhausening on the part of Dunand, who as it turns out couldn't even have been there. It's amazing how one mistaken assumption, one chronological error, one inconsistency in one reputable source can be perpetuated ad infinitum and obscure the truth, can become the accepted truth; nevertheless the Larousse Gastronomique contains all three and is at the root of this widespread misconception. Or rather, close to the root, since the real root is Dunand, who made up the whole thing to impress and amuse his drinking buddies.
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Aha! you come to the right shop. All false modesty violently thrust aside, I consider myself (seriously!) the world's leading expert on Chicken Marengo. Chicken Marengo itself is a put-up job, a fantasy, a fake. Waverly Root was wrong. Julia Child was wrong. Prosper Montagné - wrong. At the risk of boring you to death, I could tell you how Napoleon really dined that night (it's actually a better story), and could even wax eloquent about the Deep Inner Meaning of Chicken Marengo... oh, but that isn't what you asked. The eggs. Yes. The eggs, one per serving, are fried, quick-fried in hot oil at the last possible minute. If you want. Chicken Marengo is a dish that rises to the occasion - ultimately, it is whatever you want it to be. (Oh, sorry, I wan't going to do that, was I. ) [Edited for emphasis]
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Fair enough - I guess that makes sense. Though... I dunno - at what point does it change so much that it ceases to be chowdah at all? Thing is, if you go to a restaurant and order chowdah, then chowdah should be what you get - no? All too often it isn't - as in the thick creamy types I mentioned up-thread. They're often delicious, and marvelously warming and comforting on a chill winter's day. But that don't make them chowdah! In my mind this is analogous to Disney's take on Mary Poppins - probably a perfectly fine little saccharine movie musical, but it had about as much to do with the real Mary Poppins as it did with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. My feeling is, hell, go ahead and make the movie, do whatever you want with the plot and the characters, and sell it for all you're worth - but for pity's sake - for audience's sake - call it something else. Similarly with chowdah - when you've improved it beyond recognition, give it a name that reflects the change. Never mind, just me on my hobby-horse. I know it ain't gonna happen. But a girl can dream.... Ah yes. Speaking of whether or not to call it chowdah. Hang on, I gotta put on my Kevlar jumpsuit before saying this, but... according to the same principle as above, there is no other kind. Now before everyone's bowels get in an uproar! I have nothing against the Manhattan version, nothing whatsoever - personally I like the other better, but that's just my own taste. But as long as I'm being quixotic then let me BE quixotic: I say there is simply no justification for giving that red soup the name chowdah. Or even chowder. By what defining standards is it a chowder? None that I know of. Manhattan Clam Soup - fine. Manhattan Tomato Soup With Clams And Other Stuff In It - fine. But as long as I have breath there will always be one lone small voice crying in the wilderness: No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o... it is NOT chowder!
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I tried a whole fried clam once - wasn't so good. I recommend you get them out of their shells first. Wow - I never thought of that. Y'mean - they aren't supposed to CRUNCH like that? Go figure. The things you learn....
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Well, that's four more for me. The Waldorf-Astoria Cookbook, as discussed on the Red Velvet controversy thread in the Southeast forum, and all three of John Whiting's book recommendations from the Pressure Cooker Recipes thread. Sigh. One of the three I really hadn't meant to buy - but as with the Waldorf book, I really don't see how one can avoid it when the books are so underpriced that a good copy goes for less than the cost of shipping! Under such circumstances it would be downright immoral to resist. Yes, I have done my duty by buying twice as many books as I intended. And if the dealers want to start paying me to take the books - well, I'm ready for that sacrifice too.
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Hie thee, Dear Balma, to Recipe Gullet! You'll find two recipes therein: Oy, dahlink, thank you, but... under the circumstances I can't think of anything I would have less desire to make! I won't quite file it under the One Thing You Won't Eat thread, but suffice it to say my associations with this particular cake are not of the happiest. (Wonder if #4 is as sick of it yet as I became.... ) Nah, I think for now I gonna confine my red-velvetude to researching the is-it-is- or is-it-ain't-ness of the urban legend. (Oh! WRM, gotta trot over to the cookbook tally and enter this latest acquisition - plus a couple of others. Naughty....) But thank you all the same.
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Thread Convergence Alert! For further proof that clams don't give a damn about corn meal, and for some great pictures and insights into the farming of mercenaria mercenaria, look at this thread.
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Visiting Some Clam Farmers in South Carolina
balmagowry replied to a topic in Southeast: Cooking & Baking
What a great spread! And BTW, Thread Convergence Alert! More on grit and purging, harvesting and triage (non-commercial), as regards both mercenaria mercenaria and mya arenaria, in this thread. -
Found it! Freezing Dried Herbs You know, thinking it over, I realize I may be hallucinating about the rosemary. I always have some growing, so maybe I haven't ever bothered to freeze it after all. I don't really have any reason to. Sage, though, is another story. And yes, it is very, very fresh when I freeze it, and the leaves have enough oils of their own to keep it from blackening in the freezer. It doesn't come out as perfectly as dill, but it's a whole lot better than dried! Apparently it also has to do with how frost-free your freezer is. I keep my ginger in a ziploc too, and it stays intact for a long time, but eventually the dryness of my frost-free freezer gets to the ends....
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Huh? What th'...? You mean the anthem doesn't have to be original? Is that legal?
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Don't be too sure. I'm here now, after all.... Well, one could always go authentic and substitute cochineal! I've got a big jar of it around here somewhere (2 oz. is a big jar if it's full of little indelible beetle carcases...), and I don't have a whole lot of call for it, these days. Meanwhile, here is some potential progress on the Waldorf front. There is indeed a cookbook, published 1969; also a history of the hotel, published 1991. Whether either of these will contain the essential nugget of data remains to be seen; but at least it's an avenue to pursue. There doesn't seem to be a copy of either one, in either the Suffolk County or the NYPL library systems. But Schlesinger has them both, and I'd be surprised if Nach Waxman didn't have a copy of the cookbook. (Have yet to look at used book sources like ABE - that's next.) EDIT: OK, found the cookbook via ABE. I wasn't going to buy it, I swear... but for 3 bucks, how could I not? Having it shipped priority, so may - or may not - know a little more in a few days.
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We need a new eGullet Cocktail!
balmagowry replied to a topic in eGullet Q&A with Gary and Mardee Regan
Hear, hear! And it sure isn't a Champagne Cocktail ("such a happy drink") without 'em, either. (In fact, that's what led me to make my own in the first place - we were dead set on making Champagne Cocktails and for the life of us we couldn't find Orange Bitters in the NY area; and in the high and far-off times before the world wide web, that was a stumper!) -
Nominally chocolate, but in all the recipes I have seen, they call for a mere 2 TBSP or even 2 teaspoons of cocoa ... The amount of red food coloring, on the other hand, is usually one quarter cup!!! Scary! It's several years since I tasted it or saw a recipe - and again, all this via the not necessarily reliable ex - but I do remember there being enough chocolate flavor to take it slightly beyond the nominal. The red food color, however, I can certainly vouch for! Also, to be fair (if I must), I do remember it looking pretty much like the picture on the David Leite page. I also remember it being extremely dense, and the frosting being unusually rich - all in all, rather cloying. Yup. But to keep beating the same dead horse as before - the story is consistent with the other two. No, we haven't seen any proof that the cake came from the Waldorf, but we also haven't seen any evidence whatsoever to the contrary. It maketh me to think, so it doth.
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Thank you kindly! Yes, I went off and checked it on Snopes, too, and found substantially the same story. Curiously, though, there's nothing in either of these stories that disputes the association of the cake with the Waldorf - the only point debunked is the part about the sale of the recipe. Plot thickens! I'm not sure either (hey, and I said I was ignorant!), but now I'm curious. There's got to be some way to find out. I bet there are records at, or from, or available through, the Waldorf. They have to have published a cookbook or so in their time. I may just have to investigate further.
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Call me ignorant on this subject and you'll be right - but I was surprised to see Red Velvet Cake referred to as Southern. My ex-husband used to make it (it was just about the only thing he knew how to cook, but that's another story...), and he always said it originated at the Waldorf. Not that I place any special credence in anything he said! but I don't think he had enough imagination to have made it up, so if it isn't true I wonder where he got the idea.
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We need a new eGullet Cocktail!
balmagowry replied to a topic in eGullet Q&A with Gary and Mardee Regan
Believe you me, it is damn near impossible to find in the US too. That's why there's a separate recipe for it (in TDG article, and a scaled down version is discussed in the follow up thread) as well. Speaking of things that are hard to come by in the US - damn, I hate being so late chiming in on this, I only wish I'd been around when it was actually happening - I've been going over the Flaming Orange Gully threads and would be interested in anyone's take on why Dale would have used Angostura Bitters rather than Orange Bitters. I can see where the latter, on the face of it, might sound like too much of the same thing - would you like some orange with your orange and orange? - but I have a feeling it would be a marvelous addition to the "layering" of flavors; subtle yet complex. Of course, [A] I haven't tasted the original, or tried to reproduce it, yet; and I have a strong prejudice in favor of Orange Bitters because I make my own and am rather proud of them. So I can't pretend to be either objective or competent... just curious. All I know is, my fantasy of the drink is flavored this way and I can't seem to do a damn thing about it - the stubborn palate of my imagination keeps telling me, ain't broke don't fix it. -
Chocolate: White or milk, bitter or better...
balmagowry replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Côte d'Or Noir de Noir... Mmmmmmmm.... -
After some sort of misunderstanding about shipping (ain't it always the way with the things you want in a hurry), crock pot arrived AT LAST - yesterday. Yesterday, that is, when I had to blow most of the day on going into town for a master class. And today was a total culinary loss for reasons too dull to discuss, but tomorrow I shall at last throw myself into my first batch of onion confit - after which I look forward to throwing it into me. Going to do first batch without demi-glace - as discussed up-thread, for practical rather than ideological reasons: I only have a tiny bit left, and making a fresh batch of stock and/or demi-glace is an awful lot more mess-intensive and time-consuming than making an experimental batch of veggie onion confit! Fully intend to try the beefier version, however, once I've remedied the stock supply. The crock pot itself is rather a beauty, especially at the price: a Rival Chefmaster, bigger than its former owner claimed (haven't actually measured yet, but I think it's the 5-quart - though actually it looks a little bigger than that), removable inner pot of course, and the kind of simple settings (high, low, off) that I generally prefer to fancier bells & whistles. I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship....
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Somewhere in the universe (not necessarily this one) is a marvelous old-model KA that belongs to me; trouble is I don't know where. A long and not terribly interesting story. The more I think about it, though, the less I mind, because I do know where in this universe to find my 1950s Sunbeam Mixmaster: tucked away in my pantry, eaily retrieved and set up whenever I want it. I can't remember the last time I had any blending/mixing need that it couldn't handle. It's powerful enough to field even the toughest jobs I throw at it; and unlike a KA it can be taken off its stand and used as a hand-mixer. Yeah, it's a bit heavy for that, I grant you; and yeah I'm tempted by that hand blender (and may well succumb before long), but the fact is that I very rarely need it to be anywhere other than on its stand, where it deals easily with every task (cream, egg whites) mentioned up-thread as the province of some other kind of mixer. Sure, it uses proprietary bowls - but it came with two of them and I have several more, large and small (also have a whole 'nother same-vintage Mixmaster in the cellar, bought like this one at a garage sale, and kept for parts - at $5 a pop, who could resist?), so I'm never pre-empted from using the mixer. There are occasions when I wouldn't bother - for crepe batter, sauces and such I prefer a balloon whisk anyway - but anything that's too tiring for my feeble biceps gets handed off to the Mixmaster, which never fails me.
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Yes, please! I haven't tried your dal recipes yet, but am looking forward to it and am very interested in learning more. Yes - as if some magic has occurred in the night. Which actually I suppose it has.... Hmmmm. I'm hardly the authority on this, but I suspect that the overnight soaking of legumes is far too universal a practice to qualilfy, technically, unless it's followed by equally long cooking. (edited for clarity in last graf.)
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But a lot of herbs can be successfully frozen without this treatment. I have a fair-sized herb garden, and except for rosemary I haven't been growing herbs indoors at all for the past few years, so I preserve a good bit for winter use. Freezing is my favorite method: it's quick and convenient and yields much better results IMO. Herbs that freeze (and defrost) brilliantly include thyme, savory, rosemary, parsley, sage, tarragon, and most especially dill. Thyme, savory and rosemary: I prep them as I would for use in cooking, i.e. just pulling the leaves/spikes off the stems. Parsley: I freeze it chopped. Sage and tarragon: I freeze the leaves, whole. Dill weed: I freeze the fronds whole, in a sort of clump; then to use it I just snip from the end of the clump. I swear it tastes absolutely as if it were fresh-picked; the others damn near that. The chopped parsley lives in a little plastic vat; the others in zip-loc bags, taking up very little freezer space. I haven't had much success in freezing hyssop or lovage or oregano whole - but I suspect those would all lend themselves well to the same olive oil treatment as basil. I know we discussed this recently on another thread - in this forum I think - can't remember what it was called, though. Anyone? Might even have been "Freezing Herbs." Oh, and ginger - I always keep a big hunk of ginger root in my freezer. Freezing it does change the texture a bit, and over time you'll probably get some freezer burn at the ends (easily cut off), but after cooking you wouldn't know the difference. Also, frozen ginger actually works better than fresh for some purposes; I use a lot of it in my extreme Ginger Snepps, and grating it frozen means less of the fiber ends up in the batter.
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Well, sure. But when you say "larger," doesn't that still mean proportionately larger? IOW, doesn't the size of the water supply have to be considered in relation to the capacity of the pot and the quantity of solid matter being subjected to the steam/pressure? So in that sense the small Kuhn-Rikon pan mentioned up-thread could require less liquid (1/4 cup) than the 8-L Magefesa (1/2 cup), yet still be viewed as using proportionately more liquid because the pan is so much smaller. Which is why I'm still curious to know how much smaller.
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The 8 litre isn't sold anymore; I tried to order one about a month ago and was informed that it is no longer produced. You can get an 8 litre Magefesa from qvc, but it's not the nice one. However, the 6 litre is pretty nice too! Like everything else you could ever want... if you keep a weather eye peeled, sooner or later the old-style 8-litre Magefesa will turn up on eBay.