Behemoth

So here is a little bit of fun. A week from next Saturday we've invited a dozen or so of my husbad's students for a Philadelphia theme party. I am planning to make cheese steaks and possibly have available the fixin's for italian hoagies. Since I am in the godforsaken midwest, I will have to bake my own italian rolls. What are PH's rolls like? How crusty is the crust? Do you think they would work for the steaks or would they be too hard? Also, will they still be okay if baked a day in advance? I'm also making shoofly pie and if I can figure out how to do it, "wooder ice" (Yeah, I'm a little homesick.) edit: sorry, I meant PR, not PH, and italian bread, not rolls.

I can't help but think the raisins are a persian influence that was carried through the middle east to the west.

First time at a local breakfast place. As a representative of Old Europe, my husband enjoyed the Freedom Toast, but felt it was best to avoid the American Fries at this early hour. I went for the egg & cheese sandwich, on a Coalition of the Willing Muffin. (I made the last one up, but sadly, not the other two.)

I tried it a few times. I got very drunk. That was about it though. There are more reliable things to get high on out there, you drink absenthe for the history of it, I guess. You can get more interesting highs from cough syrup IMO, and that's perfectly legal. Anyway, more interestingly, we found a big difference between french and czech versions. The czech one was very bitter, like a sugar-free campari. (We needed to add a LOT of sugar to make it even barely drinkable.) The french one was milder and more drinkable, much like Pernod once sweetened. I don't know if it was a quality issue or if the recipes just differed (very) greatly. edit: $100?! save up a little more and travel to Europe, where it is legal!

That's it. I didn't think it was a Neil Stein type of place. Way too student friendly prices, and the food wasn't exactly award winning. But the setting was fun.

Is that right? I went there in the late 1990's and it was still a fish store. It seemed quite cheap at the time, and my friends who took me there were grad studens...

I remember a really good place to have lobster in upstate NY, from when I was a kid. Don't know if it is still there. You basically took a number and they called you when it was ready, cafeteria style. No need to dress up, and the lobster was never overcooked. They did great hush puppies, too. Oh, and before it became a semi fancy restaurant, there was a fish store on 18th street in Philadelphia where they had picnic tables in the back, (you sometimes had to share the table) and for some absurdly small sum of money they would boil your lobster for you while you watched. You also got corn on the cob and some other vegetable. Oh, and it was BYOB so you could bring beer. I think it was a closely guarded secret, that place. Having said that, my favorite version was when my grandparents would break out the giant pot full o' lobsters, clams, potatoes, corn...

Nullo, sorry I didn't check this thread sooner. I had a similar design pizza stone from Crate and Barrel which cracked on me. Twice. We'd registered for it as a wedding present. (This is before I found egullet and read about the miracle of quarry tiles.) The nice thing is after the second time, I just told them I wanted a different stone because I thought the combination of metal and stone was a design flaw. (I don't know about your particular one, but my instructions seemed to assume you would leave the metal on.) The one I exchanged for was similarly priced but the size of my oven floor so I use it for bread and stuff too. And it has no metal parts, hasn't cracked despite very heavy usage. Anyway, if yours cracks you should feel completely justified asking for your money back from BB&B. Oh, I never wash the thing, I just brush it off. If I ever make friends with anyone who has a gas self-cleaning oven, I will make them clean it for me, but so far it seems to work fine.

This is quite true. I have to admit I ate the strawberries in Egypt, and they were great. Of course, I was visiting there from Lebanon so perhaps my stomach was already in training...

I have the second volume, which covers Lebanese regional foods. Do I have it right that the first volume covers arab foods more generally? Anyway, a thread would be fun, I definitely plan to cook from this. Actually I recognized the name of the book from Elie's previous mentions of it. I had planned on buying it when we went, but this now saves me a bit of suitcase space. (Thanks for the tip about the dessert recipes btw, Elie.) Before I completely forget my manners, welcome to eG alanbalchin. Sorry, since I haven't been there in so long I really have no good advice. I was thinking about heading to either Musar for wine or Massaya for the arak. I will report on it when I'm back but that will probably be too late for you.

I did before a half bottle of Barbera D'Asti and a few Negra modelos Sorry, spouse back from abroad, much to celebrate

So my dad, completely unsolicited, sends me a copy of Chef Ramzi's book. What an amazing volume! Here is a plug, and a link -- apparently an english edition is in the works. Walk, don't run, if you have any interest in Lebanese food. link We're definitely going, to both Lebanon and Syria. IMaybe the photos in the book sold the trip more than anything

Ellen, from what I've gathered, you need to slash at a very sharp angle on the diagonal, almost parallel to the surface to get a good ear. Here it looks like you slashed straight down. I wouldn't turn down a slice though, it looks delicious! I just made ciabatta again. Such a creature of habit but I really love the process, and that particular bread. I love how the surface texture exhibits so clearly how you folded it before proofing, and the air bubbles stretch as the dough rises in the oven. The rusticity almost has an asian aesthetic in a way, you know? Or maybe I need to have less of a caffeine buzz

Thanks for all the recipes everyone. I am really looking forward to trying a bunch of them once the spouse is back in town (I need another person to be eating this stuff with me -- I'd rather spend my cash on cooking equipment than a new wardrobe.) Oh, as anticipated, the heretical gelato recipe, while not completely disgusting, is not something I plan on making again. It was kind of dense and chewy, without (duh) having any richness to it from the yolks. Gotta wonder what Saveur was thinking, I thought they of all people would be fairly reliable.

Remember Oprah got sued by the beef industry for $10 million when she brought it up on her show. While she won, it involved a lot of negative publicity and court expense for her and ad revenue loss for her network. I suspect that's a big reason there has been little to no coverage on major networks. They are primarily in the business of keeping their shareholders happy. That pretty much explains a lot of how things work in the U.S. BTW: seen "The Insider"? Great movie. Edited for clarity

Are those supposed to be brains? Awesome. I don't know if they still have it, but Archee McPhee used to sell a brain-shaped mold with a recipe for greyish-colored jello. I always wanted one, I must admit.

I mean, obviously I too have a geek fetish, but Penn stats TA's? I lived on 2nd in Queen Village for a couple of years so I used to walk by Ulana's all the time. I never saw any business there, I just assumed they had some semi-legal sideline going or something.

No no no no no! I was the same way -- I hate measuring. But then I got a kitchen scale and it makes everything much easier. For the first time I've really gotten into baking. Oh and it makes you a popular dinner party guest, BTW. Next Christmas, ask for the scale and buy the book for yourself

Oddly enough, ever since I went on the pill I don't get PMS at all. It's very nice!

It's a good thing you made the typo, we got a really interesting thread going here

I almost became an economist because of Amartya Sen. But I like abstractions much more than reality. Anyway, here is a Wikipedia link.

Ah. I should have done this sooner. I googled Phyllis Richman and found out she recently retired after 24 years as the Washington Post food critic. I wonder if the reactions on this thread break down on generational lines. To me her piece read like something out of the south florida sun-sentinel that my grandparents used to get -- kind of retro chipper. At least now it makes more sense. I wonder if Phyllis is some buddy of hers. Diva, your mom sounds like quite a woman. Much more interesting subject for an article, anyway.

thanks for the recipes! PH's chocolate ice cream (and the sorbet) are definitely high on the list, but I would just feel too guilty making them while A is still out of town

Oh also -- I don't have the Bouchon cookbook. It's on my eventual wish list but I don't have the time for really precise stuff these days. But Pierre Herme mentions that he serves "Suzy's cake" with ginger ice cream, but he doesn't provide a recipe. Any idea how that might be made?

The machine? Nothing fancy, just a standard Cuisinart. Crate & Barrel are selling them for $49 including a second freezer canister. Since we might be moving to Europe next year, I just wanted something that works quickly, doesn't consume a whole lot of power and won't devastate me if it burns out on a 220 transformer. (I might have waited but it seems non-industrial ice cream machines are really scarce in Europe.) Actually, I threw some junk in it this morning to see how it worked. I sometimes make "lemon yogurt" for breakfast using plain yogurt and lemon curd. I had a little of each which I was going to eat for breakfast anyway, so I just dumped it in the machine first. The texture was not good (gritty) but I kind of expected that since I didn't add anything else. But the machine worked fine, and only took 30 minutes -- a far cry from the noisy salt and ice monster of my youth. You just have to make sure everything is really good and cold before running the machine. Calipoutine, do you want me to PM you the recipe before or after seeing whether it works? Cornstarch might not be a bad thing -- the mix tasted quite nice, actually. Had that weird unctious thing which was fairly authentic. We'll see -- again using stuff I need to use up anyway, so I won't be heartbroken if it doesn't work out. My dad did some research on arabic ice creams a while back for some reason. I will see if he knows any tricks.