Abra

I'm glad to read about stylistic differences for each of the rices. I don't make enough risotto to explore the subtleties of the various types in depth, but this discussion has definitely contributed to my understanding of what I'm doing.

<blush> Thanks for the much-needed history lesson, guys. But I sure didn't see signs in Dutch in Indonesia, which only emphasizes how differently colonialism affected different countries. And cuisines, undoubtedly. Wow, would that be an interesting topic!

My husband is a thyroid cancer patient, which means that periodically he has to do an iodine-free diet for two weeks. This is VERY restrictive, and makes baking a huge challenge. Every bite he eats has to be prepared at home, no restaurants, almost no canned or processed foods. Since iodized or sea salt, bleached flour, and dough conditioners are verboten, all bread has to be home-baked. No dairy products at all, including butter. No egg yolks. No soy. No brown sugar or molasses. No chocolate, except cocoa powder. And there are more restrictions, but these are the baking challenges. So I've been playing around with baking for him, and here are two really successful treats I've made On the top is the remains of a cinnamon bread he's been eating for breakfast. The little tartlets are made with a lard pastry (home made lard), and nutmeg-simmered apples. I made a crumb topping with flour, sugar, sesame seeds, and walnut oil, then decided to put a layer of that under the apple layer, as well as on top. I haven't tasted them, but he pronounced them delicious, so I'm happy.

Annie, if you google on feuille de brik, or bric, you'll find lots of ideas. One little discussion and recipe that looks like what I've read about is here.

Making one's own vinegar is a cinch, so long as you have a reliable supply of leftover wine. I did a photo demo of the process last summer in my blog. Just scroll a little bit in this post.

Thanks for the new ideas, all! Lowblow, I make my own red wine vinegar. I don't drink a lot of Cab, since I'm more of an Old World red type, but my vinegar is made with all good wines. Is the specific Cab character important here, or just that it's a high quality vinegar? It's an interesting idea to salt before sweating. I always salt while sauteeing or sweating, but I've never tried doing it before. I will now, though, just to check it out.

I get Vialone Nano when I can, but it's not always available. I get carnaroli the rest of the time. I sense a consensus building.

Interesting blog! I'm amazed at seeing all the signs in English. I've only been to Indonesia, never to Malaysia, but I sure don't remember English being so prevalent there (granted that it was 15 years ago.) What's up with that?

I'd love to see how you do your red cabbage, as I still have a couple od servings of confit left after making CB's delicious salad with the majority of it. Just what I need is a homey little recipe that I can eat all by myself without feeling like I have to invite guests over for confit!

I've been eyeing that contraption myself, but lack of counter space has been holding me up. I'm really looking forward to seeing what opinions are expressed here about its usefulness - would someone also comment on its storage weight/counter space requirements?

Here's a link to a little photo essay I did last year on making mole Great Tamale Thread Just scroll halfway down the page to see the photos. It's a terrific project, but be sure to make two or three times as much as you need. Mole freezes fine, and it's so much work that you might as well stock up your freezer while you're at it.

Vengroff, your brioche is beautiful. The dough looks so golden - is that a trick of the light, or was it really that color? And your description of forming the tete is hilarious - basically, brioche a tete has its head up its ass? I can't wait to try that at home!

Our 10th anniversary is coming right up, so the wedding has been on my mind a lot lately. That was the first time either of us had ever hired a caterer (2nd marriage for us both) and we really had no clue. I picked a bunch of appetizers that sounded good, stayed out of the kitchen and let the caterers do their thing, but don't remember actually eating any of it on our wedding day. We had lots of apps and cake for the guests, since we were married in early afternoon, and then the family went out to dinner that evening. We did have lots of leftovers, and so lunch the day after the wedding was assorted wedding food, and I remember thinking that it was good. We did have a delicious wedding cake, though, and I think I remember eating that. Or is it just that I've seen a picture of the cake-cutting, and that's what I remember? A lot of people had told me that they didn't remember their wedding, and I'd vowed that wouldn't happen to me. We were married in our garden, which I'd been feeding Miracle Grow for several months before the wedding, so it was gorgeous. I do remember the wedding itself in vivid detail, but the food...I have to admit that I remember more about what the plants ate than what the guests ate! There were only about 30 of us, and I suppose they did eat. The dumbest thing was that we bought unforgivably cheap champagne from Trader Joe's for the toast, neither of us being much into wine at the time. It was so terrible that we had lots of bottles left over, evidently no one wanted to drink much of it and I was cooking with it for months afterward. What I find really funny is that now I have a personal chef business, and I cook for peoples' weddings and rehearsal dinners, and I'd be totally mortified if they didn't remember the food, like I don't remember the food at my own wedding. It must be karma!

Oh, I wonder if I could just use Lillet, which I love? I shudder to think of how much a poulet de Bresse would cost in Switzerland. When I lived for a few months in Geneva about 8 years ago a regular farm chicken could cost as much as $30. Food costs were just amazingly high there at that time.

That poularde looks wonderful. I've never seen Vin Jaune anywhere - have any of you other U.S. members come across it?

I'm in awe. You turn out an incredible amount of food, make stuff for them from scratch, do your own cleaning, work brutal hours, have time for a husband and racquetball, and look about 18! I bow to you.

Thai lemongrass chicken soup made with nam prik pow and no coconut milk. It'll cure anything.

For me it's the slow tasks. An all-day braise, or something simmering for hours in the crockpot, or dough rising overnight in the fridge, projects that take all day or even a couple of days to complete. And grilling over charcoal is always a thrill. I used to would have said kneading dough, but now my doughs tend to be slack and kneaded with a dough hook, so I usually don't get that tactile rush. Another weird one. I love seasoning. That iterative process of tiny taste, add salt, repeat until perfect, is a ritual that I really enjoy.

Here's how I do it. I wouldn't hesitate to make these up ahead. * Exported from MasterCook * Salmon En Papillote With Leeks, Fennel, And Brandied Currants Recipe By :Abra Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 fennel bulb -- stalks and fronds discarded 2 small leeks -- white parts slivered 2 medium carrots (1/2 lb) 1/2 lb. small red potatoes 1/3 cup currants 1/4 cup brandy 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest 2 tablespoons fresh dill -- chopped 2 large garlic cloves -- minced 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 4 tablespoons white vermouth 4 6 oz center-cut salmon fillets -- skinned 1 teaspoon fennel pollen Salt and pepper to taste Divide ingredients between 4 papillote packages. Preheat oven and baking sheet to 400 degrees. Bake papillotes for 20-25 minutes. Oh, and I'll second the pinot noir with salmon - it's a classic pairing.

Just for perspective, I spent $100 on a ScanPan which made the same claims and the non-stick coating sheds all into the food, so of course I never use it unless it's with a lot of oil. I spent a bit over $100 on a Cybernox, which is hard as anything and I use it every day, but is only stick-resistant, not non-stick. I don't think $100 is that much if it works, but the cost sure is no guarantee of quality, in my experience.

Holy cow, Rochelle, just reading about your day was exhausting! That's really a lot of work in one day, alone. Here's an idea to spend your food budget - how about going organic, or moving toward that? It would give you lots of opportunities for education with the students, if they want any, and you'd get to work with cleaner products.

Percyn, that mango looks delicious - I can't wait to try your recipe! Now, in my case, this vindaloo I'm about to describe was a lesson in recycling, compromising, and weight watching. It wasn't the best vindaloo I've ever made, but it might have been the most interesting, and was definitely the most non-traditional. However, it was still pretty good. In my freezer was a motley assortment of lamb remnants, left from a lamb I got from a neighbor last year. Here's all I had in the freezer As you can see, there are about a dozen of the World's Tiniest Lamb Chops, really just one bite each. Then there are three tiny shanks, and a couple of pieces of "lamb steak", which seems like sirloin-type stuff. Lots of bones, and definitely sub-optimal for making a traditional vindaloo. Then there were spices Lots of garlic and ginger, coriander, cardamom, fenugreek, red pepper, turmeric, black mustard seed, and cinnamon. Although it's better to toast and grind the spices fresh, I didn't want to take the time yesterday, and used what I had, which was fresh, ground Penzey's spices. Again, less than perfect, but still good. Normally when making vindaloo I fry a pile of onions in 10 Tablespoons of oil until they're really dark brown, almost but not quite burnt. But last night I wanted fewer calories, and decided to try it with only 4 Tablespoons of oil. Well, actually I tried it with only two, then added a third, then a fourth, until I had barely enough. These onions are only caramelized - there was no way to get them to the proper color without additional oil. So there's one big flavor component missing right there. While the onions were cooking I popped the huge pile of bones into the pressure cooker and made lamb broth. I also put the shanks in with the bones, to tenderize them so that I could cut the meat up and it would be ready to eat with the rest of the meat. Even though I had trimmed the fat from the bones and meat before making the broth, there's still an amazing amount floating on top of the finished broth. Then I took all the trimmings and cooked them up for our dog The next step was to blend the caramelized onions and spices together in the food processor, and then, uh, fry them in more oil. Nope, no more oil, so into the pot went the naked puree. Another thing I always do is to brown the meat to a very deep color, in, of course, more oil. But this time I vowed I wasn't going to use any more oil, and so the meat went straight into the spice and onion puree without browning, all raw except for the meat from the shanks, which was somewhat cooked already. So there's another big hit to the flavor, no caramelized meat juices. The fresh lamb broth smoothed the sauce together, and I set the whole thing to simmer with a little prayer that no Indian kitchen goddesses were watching me. Are you thinking really terrible things about me yet? While the vindaloo was simmering I dug in and picked all of the meat off the bones post-broth and served it to the cats After all the pets had eaten, our supper was ready. It really looked, er, brown, so I added a few peas to cheer things up and served it over some red Wehani rice I had in the fridge. White rice would have made for a better picture, but it's the Weight Watcher in me that made me use red rice, unphotogenic though it is. Please, don't mention that the cats' supper looked at least as good as mine did! But here's the thing. The freezer is now lamb-free. The dog and cats were fed for several meals. I have a big bowl of lamb broth to make Scotch broth or some such soup today. We had a more-than-decent dinner, and it was, while not low in calories, at least manageable for me. My normal vindaloo doesn't even fit into a week of weight watching, let alone a single meal. So, no, it wasn't exactly vindaloo, more like a nice lamb stew with strong Indian flavors. But in the real world, we don't always have, or can't always use, the perfect ingredients and techniques. This was an exercise in improvisation, in making do, in seeing what good can come out of a series of compromises. The only thing holding me back from calling it a completely successful experiment in using what I had and wasting nothing is the fact that I can't think of a thing to do with that layer of lamb fat that's congealed on top of the broth. All suggestions welcomed!

I'm amazed and impressed that you're making stock for their soups! They seem to be getting much higher quality food than I would have expected. And you still have excess budget and could be doing even more, if you could clone yourself? Wow.

I love it that the Smokin' Pro is a grill as well as a smoker. Winesonoma, do you use it as a grill often? Any performance comments? Can you have a fire in the side box and use that as indirect heat, as for a turkey, or will it only produce enough heat for smoking? How about the rotisserie? I'm really thinking of getting this one if it has all those features and they all work well.

Doc's is generic yuck. They've turned over three times in as many years, which is really too bad since they have the best deck in town. It's only the food that's disappointing. BI Sushi is indeed good, although expensive. We have a new Japanese place, Shima, that was excellent on our first and only visit a week or so ago. It's also not on the water, but a nice place to try if you have time. Lala, you might be interested to know that it's the Pub's owners that built those condos. In practice about 85% of all the restaurants on the island are within walking distance of the ferry. It's just that we don't have a huge number of restaurants.