Smithy

Would you elaborate on that, please? I'm curious both about the pig's age and the freezing bit. Why would those determine the level to which the liver was to be cooked? Edited for clarity

Yet again, Fifi beat me to the punch. I'll add: malt vinegar on chips. Lemon juice will do in a pinch, but it isn't the same. People in the States look at me oddly when I ask for vinegar for my fries, so it's always a relief to order chips in Canada or England and get the right stuff.

My New American Heart Cookbook is now taken. This leaves me with - Passover Desserts and - While the Pasta Cooks I'll add another. I have a spare copy of the Cooking Club of America's Celebrate! The Holiday Cookbook, complete with lovely photos and menus for various occasions. Warning: this particular copy was poorly printed, and the colors didn't always line up, so some of the print makes you think you need glasses, or that your hangover is worse than you thought. Still, if you can get past that it has some nice ideas.

The only uteruses eaten as human food are those from non-pregnant pigs. They are generally poached or boiled ... I know, offal, just horrible! source for this information ← Well, my first impulse at this line of commentary is to be glad I didn't get the entire package (sans oink) after all. How small-minded is that? Maybe sometime when I'm looking for adventure I'll go seek some out.

This makes me very, very sorry I don't have some defrosting RIGHT NOW so I could have it tonight.

Ooh, looks like the dog won't be getting any of this after all. Thanks, folks - keep 'em coming! Pointers on how to make a terrine of this, or what makes a coarse country pate, will also be appreciated.

That looks really good, Charlie O. While I'm on a pasta kick right now (glad you liked it, Susan!) I may be trying potato gnocci soon myself. Your photos and comments are as encouraging as Susan says mine were!

The titles pretty much say it all. We bought a hog, butchered, last year. I've learned, more or less, to render the leaf lard and use it. The steaks, chops, hams, etc. are nearly history. Last night when I was digging through the freezer I found some remnants yet - oh joy, pork chops in our future! However, I also found several packages of pork liver - so many packages, in fact, that I wonder whether we got someone else's into the bargain. I have no idea what to do with pork liver. The most I can claim to know is from an old Mason Williams "Them Poem" about "Them Hog Liver Likers", and 'Getcherself some hog liver, rare back and like it' is not very helpful. Shall I feed it to the dog, or is there something more constructive to do with it? Ideas and recipes, please!

Welcome, boticela, and congratulations on your tenacity! This is a good place to ask questions, get and give answers, and share triumphs... ... as well as lamentations.... My cherry tomatoes are about done, though they were good. So far I've gotten 5 ripe large tomatoes from my plants. Every one has been mealy, as though it perhaps got too much water. Could I have overwatered the plant? Or was it the growing season or the soil?

Hmm. I started by listing all the convenience foods we keep around, then realized that's not quite your point. I'm not big on Mrs. Dash, but Spike makes a regular appearance on my avocado. Other secret weapons: -Lawry's seasoned salt (for me) -Montreal grill pepper blend (for him) -Prepared mustards, with or without horseradish -Famous Dave's Barbeque Sauce of some variety -I always thought Nestle's semi-sweet chips were a basic food group on their own?! -Trader Joe's sun-dried tomato pesto -Trader Joe's or someone else's olivada, tapenade, bruschetta topping, artichoke lemon pesto (hey, I can't can all of this stuff) -Jarred roasted red peppers -Danish smoke salt There, those are some of our favorite condiments/convenience foods. That leaves out our too-tired-to-cook shortcuts like frozen vegetables and canned sauces, and the Jet-Puff marshmallow cream for Dad's favorite fudge, but we use those too.

Hey Kristin - C'mon in, the water's fine! Last night I got that extra practice I'd hoped for. I carefully read MobyP's instructions and followed them nearly to the letter, with much better success than my previous attempts using pasta instructions from other sources (including the Atlas pasta maker instructions). One difference was that I used unbleached pastry flour (King Arthur, protein content unknown but doubtless low) and forgot the semolina except as a dusting flour. It all worked well - I will use this recipe again - and I learned as I went. I used my bread bowl so the egg yolks wouldn't go all over the floor, and basically pretended I was a food processor: that is, instead of all that neat stirring and whisking, then adding salt, etc. I just broke up the eggs well and started stirring. When it started coming together I began to knead it by hand in the bowl, then turned it out onto the bread board with semolina to keep it from sticking. After some 8 - 10 minutes it was smooth, elastic, and felt well mixed. I let the dough rest in the refrigerator, wrapped, per instructions. While the pasta was resting, I skinned and deboned some frozen smoked cisco I had left over from a recent smoked fish tasting adventure. Cisco is a small freshwater fish, rather bony, pretty fishy. I decided it's generally like anchovy in terms of strong fishy salty flavor, although not as oily, and that it needed anchovy-compatible flavors. Into the food processor went sundried tomato pesto, walnuts, a touch of olive oil, and parmesan cheese. After a bit of whirring I adjusted all with a touch of lemon and salt. Capers might have worked too, but I forgot to try them. Lesson 1 (I've made this mistake before): with the full recipe of dough, cut it into 8 pieces instead of 4. Otherwise, that strip gets much too long to be manageable by the time it's down to the thin roller setting. Note how sheer but sturdy the pasta is. Note how elegantly the excess drapes over the pasta machine. You can see the nicely rolled pasta laid out, fading into the background, but I had to cut off a bunch of the excess (not enough hands) and reroll it. In the future, I'll cut the dough into 8ths in the first place and figure on using two. Lesson 2: I should have stopped with Atlas Level 7 instead of going on to 8. By the time I was putting my layers together, the thin dough was tearing. You can just see a small tear on the right. I compensated by doubling the pasta on most of the ravioli. Purists may cringe, but it worked for me. I cut them out with biscuit cutters... ...and poached them in a mixture of chicken stock and water (I needed more, in a bigger pot)... ...and then came to my next question: how, how long, and where does one drain these delicate beauties? A colander didn't seem quite right, but that's what I did. Answers, anyone? Dinner: ravioli stuffed with smoked fish, tomato and walnuts, tossed with butter and the cooked-down poaching liquid. Garlic, herbs and/or olive oil would have looked better, perhaps tasted better, but it was getting late. This was still good. I shall now start kicking myself, per MobyP's instructions, for not doing this sooner. Hey, I have the leftover dough in the refrigerator. Can I freeze this stuff? Comments and questions welcome. This was fun, and I'll be doing it again soon.

I'm puzzled by "unsealed" ravioli. Didn't it dump all the contents out into the pot as the ravioli cooked? Am I misunderstanding you? I like that trick. I can see why you'd need tiny leaves, though. With big leaves I'd expect either the leaf or the pasta to tear with that treatment.

I hate to say this because I really try to keep costs down, but there's another way that it got easier for me: that KitchenAid pasta attachment. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to use that Atlas hand-cranked machine with only two hands. Indeed, I needed four in my house: one to stabilize the machine (the clamp didn't work with any of the surfaces in my kitchen), one to crank, one to feed the dough, and one to remove the pressed dough or cut pasta. Now I only need two hands -- and that machine can roll far more quickly than I ever could with that crank. [Pasta traditionalists committed to fork-blended eggs slowly incorporating a mound of flour atop the clean counter should turn away now.] I also find that the KA works very nicely for the initial dough blending and kneading. Plunk down your two cups of flour with a pinch or two of salt and blend for a bit. It'll make a slight well in the center, into which you break the three eggs. Then turn the paddle on low to beat the eggs and then incorporate flour into them. As they start to bind and create little nodules of dough, turn the speed up; when it's starts to ball, switch to the dough hook and knead it for a few minutes. I always take it out for some hand kneading before letting it rest, but it works like a charm. I have found that I make this more often, and thus practice more, thanks to the KA attachment; screwing up and starting over isn't as big a pain in the butt as with the hand-crank machines. ← On my death bed, they will wrench my KitchenAid and Cuisinart processor from my right and left hands as I try to take them to the great beyond. How did people cook and bake before them? I'm not a gadgety sort of person with these exceptions. The pasta rollers are terrific. I can't imagine pasta making with the fiddly dance of the hand cranked machine. I tried it once. You might want to try using the processor to make your dough. I find it even quicker and easier than the KA - and it cuts down on the flour storm when I'm careless with the switch. ← I don't have the KA pasta attachment, but I do have an electric motor that turns my Atlas machine. It was well worth the $50 I paid for it, for all the reasons you cite above. How DO people do that with only 2 hands? The machine fits on the side where the crank normally goes. It has 2 speeds. I got some more practice last night (see below) but so far I still can't see using the higher speed. Edited to add: Chris, note the cutting board used atop my counter. That's how I managed to get the clamp to work. It really requires a thick surface, doesn't it?

Your photos of the food and the buildings are beautiful! Yum! (the food, not the buildings) It's funny, one of my college friends was a Filipina who loved to cook and who frequently had a bunch of us over for dinner. She generally did Oriental foods - stir fries, things like that - or Mexican dishes like chorizo con juevos. I don't recognize a thing you've discussed in her cooking. She grew up in Manila. Would that make a difference as to the food she'd have grown up with? Sinigang looks like a promising recipe...I'm glad they suggested substitutes for some of those ingredients, though, because I'm not likely to find those greens around here. Talk about a whole new cuisine!

I've seen that pressed-leaf trick before, possibly in the same magazine. I think it's also used in From Simple to Spectacular. I ooh and ah over it, but haven't tried it. Yours looks great! I'd think you could cut the finished stuff strategically enough that you'd have a centered leaf over something like a raviolo (if I have the right term), or else leave the pieces whole and use them in a lasagna. I still have to try the stuffed pasta, so I'm nowhere near your expertise. It sure looks pretty! I am very encouraged by the comments that the pasta-making process gets easier with practice. Tonight I'll start getting that practice, I hope.

Well, now! I just wandered over to Soba's thread on Filipino food and see I've been missing out on a lot! My eye snagged my taste buds at the mention of tamarind....oh, tamarind, how I love thee....but the rest looks good too. I'll have to read that thread in more depth later. Meanwhile, Moosh, I'm looking forward to any of your Filipino cooking but I'd be especially grateful to learn a new use for tamarind! Please?

Although Dumptruck has its charm, I go for more literal/literary names, meself. What about Fingol? Or, to feminize that giant's name, Fingola? I can easily imagine that cat giving a start to a date! Back to food...how much of this stuff will you be able to harvest when you move? Maybe you could tell the present owners you're weeding?

...and yet another 3 for me: Modern Greek (170 contemporary recipes from the Mediterranean) by Andy Harris Mediterraneo (delicious recipes from the Mediterranean) by Clare Ferguson Slow Cooking (not so fast food) by Joanne Glynn I picked these 3 up at Williams-Sonoma over the weekend on the sale table: $7 for the three of 'em! I was amazed and so pleased! I was sorry, however, to see that Paula Wolfert's Slow Mediterranean Kitchen was among the carnage at something like $3.99. I have a copy already, and since weight was an issue I couldn't see picking up a spare for some friend I don't know yet. I did, however, talk the friend who was with me into picking up a copy. Thanks to the Free Cookbooks! thread Susan in Fl and I exchanged cookbooks, leaving the balance even in this case. My take was the 1942, 1944 edition of The Good Housekeeping Cookbook. It's a fun item, and completes my gang from that time, since Mom gave me her old banged-up copies of The Joy of Cooking and the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook from about the same time. Thanks, Susan! I still have a couple of cookbooks begging on that thread, by the way, although I think one may be on the verge of being claimed.

Now I know why you're supposed to prick the skin before grilling or cooking it whole. I always wondered. Another way of cooking eggplant, that I haven't seen mentioned here yet, is creamed eggplant. I love this preparation. Basically, you cook the eggplant through by charring or oven cooking (whole, with skin pricked ) until it totally collapses. Then set it aside until cool enough to handle. Peel, throw the pulp into a bowl of lemon-salt water to keep it from going brown. Meanwhile, make what amounts to a white sauce. Throw in the drained eggplant and stir in the sauce, and it melts down into the sauce, no kidding. Add grated kasseri and melt it in, then add salt and pepper to taste. You can see pictures and more discussion of the process in this post, about halfway down.

Well, isn't this cool, and aren't you the daring one! I thought blogging during a more-or-less normal week was difficult enough. It's fun, though. I know nothing about Filipino food, so I hope you'll give us a great rundown on it. What sorts of ingredients does it use? Is there any special cookware that gives it a special touch? What about cooking methods (braising, grilling, etc.) What's your connection to Filipino food? I hear Vancouver is a beautiful place. Please be sure to tell us what the weather's doing and show us some photos of the area. Gratuitous family and pet photos are de rigueur, of course: we must see the largest Norwegian Forest Cat in Christendom, and no doubt your child and husband are the cutest ever. What are your markets like? Blog on! Edited to hide my geographic ignorance (thanks, *Deborah*!)

Edsel beat me to it, but I'm going to repeat it anyway. In my one or two attempts to make pasta I've learned that, instructions or no, it's easier and less messy to mix the stuff in a bowl. I'm looking forward to this cookoff - been gone but now back, so I can get to it - and my motto is "purists may look the other way". I will be using my bread bowl. Do try again, Kris! Seriously, your first attempt looked terrific even if it wasn't what you wanted to do!

So...going back to the original post...does anyone know how Antoine's and its owner made out?

Wow. I can't make the attempt for at least 2 weeks. Now I'm sorry we'll be away over Labor Day! Chufi, those are gorgeous!

All of the above! The mosquito problem is efficiently managed by a small swarm of dragonflies that swoop around at dusk. I never thought I would love any insect this much... I suppose I would regret saying that in 10,000 years as they slowly take over the world... Are they edible? ← My cats think so! When I moved here I started hearing dragonflies referred to as "mosquito hawks". Cool name, eh? Your blog photos really are lovely, and have the power to make me faint with hunger even on a full stomach. The chowda is inspiring. So is the ceviche. Heck, so is everything else. Cusk is new to me. What is it?

Yep. I'm just surprised that granite and soapstone would have such different conductivity as to be perceptible to the human touch. Guess I'll have to go take another look at a minerology book and see what soapstone is.