NickV

As far as getting a good emulsion goes, I usually just keep a small jar with a tight fitting lid around and shake my dressings in that. I've always had good luck with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and shredded fresh basil.

Bloody Marys and fried foods for sure, also on shellfish like shrimp and crabs.

I've got plenty of carrots in my garden at the moment. I've taken to pulling one up and eating it as I water the garden at dusk, but I think it's time to bring some into the kitchen. What would you do with a wealth of fresh carrots?

It's true that the bread really is crucial. I grew up eating bread from the Cuban bakeries in Key West, and now, living in Sarasota, I've had a few cuban sandwiches that just don't stack up. It's all because of the bread. Not enough lard in the dough I think. And none of them have that characteristic stripe of dough down the center. I'm curious about the regional differences of Cuban sandwiches. In KW it's called a Cuban Mix, and anywhere you go, it comes not only with pickles, but also shredded lettuce and tomato. All of the sandwich shops make then that way. A medianoche down there is what seems to be a Cuban sandwich elsewhere, with the sweet roll, of course (I find it similar to king's hawaiian bread).

There's the Thai-style salad of green papaya/cucumber/tomato with skirt steak. Savory fruits, but fruits all the same.

I received a Wusthof santoku for Christmas and I'm still not sure what to make of it. Of course, its disfiguringly sharp and very precise, I guess I'm still getting used to working with something the size of a chef's knife but much lighter. Usually I use a WMF Spitzenklasse chef's knife. Also, after chopping a bunch of vegetables, including potatoes and tomatoes, I havn't found the hollows in the blade to be of much use. I'm wondering what other people think of this knife, and do the hollowed blades usually work?

Does anyone have any recs for sites with good selections of amaro? I've tried a few from my local liquor stores, but they're a bit limited--Averna, Fernet Branca, not much more. I'd like to find a site that can tell me a little bit about the products as well. Not that the posts and articles here havn't been helpful. They have. Thanks.

I'm consistently happy with the Cook's Illustrated recipe for pad thai. I made it again last night. I'm curious about other recipes, as this is the only one I've tried at home.

I've never had these before, but it sounds like it could be really good. Does anyone have any experience or recipes? I usually don't like to deep fry at home unless its really worth it.

A few weeks ago I asked around about recipes for huevos motuleños. Thanks to the references people here gave me, I found a decent recipe. Thanks. Have a look: http://imcookinhere.blogspot.com/

I've never made a rum cake before, but I happen to have a bottle of Barbancourt on hand and I'd like to try one. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Add a small amount to whichever muffin recipe you favor.

Render some diced prosciutto in olive oil, sweat chopped leeks for a while in fat, add chopped sun dried tomatoes, turn up heat, add a splash of white wine and then some chickent stock, toss with ziti or penne.

Myers's Rum and pineapple.

The tom yum puk sounds good. Does anyone have a recipe for that? I'm always looking for more things to do with tamarinds as my family has a huge tamarind tree in their yard down in key west. So far I just eat them plain or use them when I make pad thai. Thanks.

I'm using tiparos at the moment, and I like it. I also like three crabs brand. Also, there's a brand with a picture of a baby sitting on top of the world (I think). That one wasn't bad either.

Yeah, the latter description sounds like what I had in mind. I'll keep an eye out for the 1,000 cookbook. Although I went to the Yucatan a few times as a kid, my memories of the dish come from when a family friend would come over to our house and make the dish every now and then on a sunday. He'd show up with a brown-paper grocery bag of stuff, stacked in a big cast-iron skillet, and he'd do breakfast. If any body else has any more suggestions on this dish I'd like to hear them. Thanks again.

Does anyone out there have any good recipes for huevos motulenos? Googling them produced all sorts of strange recipe variations, only a few of which sounded anything like the dish I remember. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks for all of the lemongrass suggestions. I wound up making mussels in a lemongrass broth, a standby of mine. There's a picture of it on my burgeoning food blog, which should be linked below. Thanks again, Nick

Having grown up in Key West, I have to say that most of the Cuban coffee details held true. I've never seen any of the shops here muddle the sugar, but I guess thats just a regional difference. Sort of like the way a Cuban sandwich or Cuban mix will vary from place to place. In Key West, a small shot of Cuban coffee is called a buchi or buchito--a little sip. Is it the same in Miami?

I have lots of lemongrass in my garden at the moment. I was wondering what some of your favorite uses are for it.

A friend has access to whole rabbits, all organs intact. I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas for preparing rabbit organ meats. I know it would require a substantial amount of rabbits to make anything with say, livers or kidneys, but any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

A friend of mine recently inherited a few bottles of rum. He believe's that they're cuban, but can't find much info on either of them. One is a Santa Cruz Ron Blanca and the other is Ron Centenario Conmemorativo. Any information about either of these would be appreciated. Thanks.

The Asian grocery that I've been frequenting lately has a variety of Chinese sausages. I've never cooked with them before, but I'd like to. Most are vacuum packed and produced in either the US or Canada. I was wondering if anyone had any brands they liked and any favorite uses. Thanks.

I've only recently started making osso buco at home, and I was wondering if veal shanks were traditionally an expensive cut of meat, or if the high price is a result of their association with the osso buco prepared at many high end Italian restaurants.