Behemoth

I should qualify this by saying I've had decent Thai and Korean food in Hamburg and good Malaysian food in Berlin. It just seems like Chinese food has been around longer so people have certain expectations for it. People think of it as cheap food, and the quality suffers for it. For all the great turkish imbiss in Hamburg, you would be hard-pressed to find a really nice sit-down Turkish restaurant, I think for the same reason. But you can easily blow 100 euro on say, a Lebanese meal.

Paula Wolfert recipes: Orange and black olive salad: Couscous with chicken: Yep, there's a chicken buried in there. First stewed, then brushed with honey and blasted in a hot oven to brown. Onion glaze with raisin, almond, saffron etc poured over. This recipe alone is worth the price of the book.

You can post them if you like. All the photos I take in my kitchen are dark, because my kitchen is dark. Photos taken in better light are brighter, obviously, but as far as lighting in our current house, the kitchen is as good as anywhere. It would bother me a lot more if we weren't moving in the next few months. To some extent, I like dark pictures though. The bright pictures garner the most enthusiasm from others I guess, (I've taken lots of photos of fruits and stuff outside, which various friends and family have asked me for as wall decorations) but it is the dark ones that I personally end up staring at the longest. I gravitate towards darker paintings in museums also, which is strange since as a person I am all sweetness and light. (Ha.) I think Nikon capture should be enough for now, it is really a good program and I haven't explored it nearly as much as I should. I plan to also start playing with RAW files. Back to lighting: what would be a good solution for photos inside the house? Nothing too spendy, but a decent lighting system?

I'm glad this thread is active again. Pete, I guess I got active on eGullet after you were gone, since I'm sure I would have remembered your photos! I love my D70, I've had it for about 9 months now and it was totally worth every penny. I really like the spot metering feature, which isn't available on a lot of other cameras. For food photos, I have the same problem you do, lighting in my kitchen is lousy. I also shoot usually next to the sink, since there are spotlights, but there is no white wall behind the counter, so they point straight down. I clearly need to get my hands on photoshop, though I have been reluctant so far since I really want to have to worry about all that stuff for a while before I just think "screw it I can fix it later". Still, most of the stuff I am photographing is not food, but friends and travel stuff, which is more "seat of the pants" so having the means to fix imperfect shots would be nice. (I have the Nikon Capture program, got it last christmas...I think I will gently suggest photohop for next year ) As far as food and other in-the-house photos, I need to give up on my nonexistant ambient lighting for the time being and buy some sort of light/diffuser setup. Any advice welcome. Here are a couple of in-kitchen shots I took that I was happy with, though I still think they are a little dark: (espresso chocolate cake with figs, was on the dinner thread a while back:) (from the Manna thread, in the ME forum:)

Do you happen to remember which book? Looking at your beautiful gratin at the top of that link, I am guessing the main advantage is the cast iron browns the bottom & sides. Damn, they are expensive and they never seem to show up at TJMaxx I guess I'm off to enrich my wishlist at Amazon now... edit: After googling, I just realized the clay pot cookery idea was not a thread, but a book Paula Wolfert is working on. <whine>but I want it now!<\whine>

After a day that went on forever, a short run followed by Chilaquiles with tomatillo salsa. Not super healthy, but oh so good.

The Chinese food I've had in Germany (Berlin, Hamburg and points north) has ranged from lackluster to downright awful. We always order the "sharf" stuff, not because it is spicy (it is not at all) but because at least then the dish won't be cloyingly sweet. And rarely any vegetables to speak of. Also, I never had a problem with MSG until I ate at a few places there, and finally figured out where those headaches were coming from. As for London, much better dim sum than anything I've had in NY, SF, Chicago or Philly chinatowns. So far the all time best I've had, pending some upcoming travel plans east. (You gotta do a little reasearch, but there are some great places.) I have also heard Australia has great asian restaurants. Would make sense, given location and the frequency with which people travel back and forth. But that ain't Europe.

I fidget a lot, so I guess I have nothing to fear. Fifi, I would like to justify to myself that the cast iron gratins are measurably better than the porcelain baking dishes I have. (I really want one.) What say you? Anyway, my list is similar to most people, in format if not in brand. This is what I use on a near daily basis: 1) stockpots: I use the 8 qt All clad very often, for chicken broths, and as a pasta pot. The 16qt (celebrations or something -- decent quality but not expensive) one I use not as often but essential for making beef stock. 2) 12 inch all clad MC2 frypan, (picked up at TJMaxx!) 3) all clad MC2 saucier (also TJMaxx) 4) 8 inch non-stick IKEA frypan for eggs 5) Le Crueset 5.5qt I use for almost everything else. 6) I use the 10-inch all clad MC2 for fritattas especially, and for sauteeing vegetables. 7) I guess one of the smaller stock/sauce pots (also All-Clad) for rice, potatoes, smaller quantities of pasta etc Wishlist: I would like a 14 inch carbon steel wok. Right now I use my frying pans which works okay so long as I frantically flip things around. I don't know if I need a cast iron skillet, but I would really like a tagine. I have lots of neat clay pots from both sets of grandparents, I need to read that clay pot cookery thread so I know what to do with them. And I would like an enameled cast iron lasagne pan. And a large oval LC dutch oven to hold a leg of lamb. And and and... Edited to add, the LC was also found at TJMaxx. Dude, its the only place in this town that carries something in between the britney look and the elastic stirrup pants & christmas sweaters. Yeah, I wish I was kidding.

I have a cheapo plastic one. But the three disks work well, they have the rough surface. If the thing ever breaks I'll buy a stianless one, but it doesn't seem like the sort of thing you need to spend a lot of money on. On the other hand, I would like a chinoise -- why are those things so freakin' expensive??

Lessee... Thursday we went out. Friday we had chorizo with white beans and I forget what else. Saturday morning had a leftover chorizo scrambled with eggs and eaten with corn tortilla. Leftovers = good. Saturday night we were invited to dinner. (I think 70% of meals we've been invited to are lasagne. Is this a Midwestern thing? No complaints though...) Sunday we had some pasta with leftover tomato butter sauce. And I made my ciabatta again, this time with wonderfull results. And chicken stock for the freezer. Later that night I demanded a Maxwell street polish from boo boo's dawghouse. I'm not sure what came over me, but this should do for the next six months. Tonight is healthier, at least. Spaghettini with garlic, anchovies, endive (you know, like frisee), breadcrumbs & a little parmesan. (I know the fish/cheese combo but in this case it is really good. Elie, do you have an online source for beeswax? Those canelles look amazing.

The Italian and Iraqi products certainly seem to be related...but I am interested in knowing whether they are identical. The descriptions differ a little. The Iraqi one is supposedly gathered off the trees after a rainfall, and are the secretions of aphids living on the trees (if I read that first article correctly), whereas the Italian kind is obtained directly from the tree, more like maple syrup. Interesting. Does eGullet want to sponsor a research fellowship? Edited to add, I am talking about the actual raw substance, not the candy that is produced from it, obviously.

Neat, divina! I've never seen it in its natural form. (Gotta love eGullet.) Given that it can be gathered in Italy, I am really surprised it is not more popular, at least for the religious reasons.

SethG, thanks for your advice and link -- I had much better results this time: This is by far the most delicate dough I've ever handled...I tried to keep it as wet as possible and did as little mixing as I felt I could get way with. The folding method as explained in the thread you linked is really interesting. manipulating the dough was like trying to hold an infant! The next time I do this I may leave it in a little longer -- the internal temp was about 200 when I took it out, whereas PR says 205. The one thing I will need to get good at is getting the dough in, and water poured as fast as possible. My oven really doesn't have as much power as I would like so I need to spare all the heat I can. Maybe I will try vengroffs method of putting a pan of boiling water in the oven instead. Those pain a l'ancienne loaves are really something to work up to. Still, I was pretty happy. My results tasted amazing this time, the big holes really do make a difference in flavor. So for next week I need to decide if I want to work on this recipe again. Part of me wants to get this one perfect before moving on, but the other part of me wants to play with razors.

For one thing, a wine glass is more likely to tip over when it is more than 1/3 full. And cause a lot more damage.

Ha, I didn't take it as snark at all -- I make fun of the German languange all the time. While the pronounciation makes sense to me the grammar probably never will. So as an IT person, you count as a math nerd. Here's my mnemonic: ei = eigenvalue, ie = Riemann.

so if it starts with an "e" it's pronounced "i" and vice versa? how <i> helpful</i> I think the idea is that is the sound you get if you pronounce the E (as you would in "ever") followed immediately by an I sound. If you would like to hear it properly pronounced, ask anybody who has taken a little college math how to pronounce "eigenvalue". I guess that was why it made sense to me at the time. I learned French as a second language in a former French colony so I can manage the vowel pronounciations but I really need a solid review to get back to where I was as a kid. German I seem to use all the time these days...even though I learned it as an adult I found the pronounciation to be no problem. I would love to learn Italian and Spanish at some point.

Thanks Andie!

I have no clue when it comes to Italian. Guanciale? At least German is always consistent. Umlaut = vowel + e. In fact, if you are on a computer without umlauts, you would spell umlauted vowels with an extra e. Example: Gruener Veltliner. Our V is their F Our W is their V ei is always pronounced eye (e.g. eigen = eye-gen) ie is always pronounced ee (e.g. riesen = ree-sen) Are there consistent rules for pronunciation in French? I thought I remembered these from school but it sure has been a while.

Any good web sources for those of us in the land of flyover?

I think "Mann" means gift in Arabic, BTW.

Thanks Paula, I think I will need to get the book too. I have imitation manna too, it came in a fancy inlaid box but I told my folks I didn't think it was the real stuff, so they requested the next batch direct from the source. I didn't mean to put them through any trouble, but my dad tends to get excited when I express interest in my heritage Chefzadi, you should be able to find descriptions of masgouf on the web -- actually there was a thread about iraqi food on eG a while back, where we discussed it. I will try to look for it a little later. Basically it is a fish dish, where the fish is dry-rubbed with spices, and then impaled on upright spikes in the path of a smoky fire. It is really, really good.

Oh, so it is packed in cardboard boxes in flour usually, to avoid sticking. You eat it like you would eat regular sweets. They are popular at weddings in Iraq, though I have never been to an iraqi wedding. I think I need to buy that book. I would also love to learn how to make masgouf, the great grilled fish dish.

Here is a photo: The paper says "Mosul sweets and pastries company." I assume my parents cut it from the box because they thought I wouldn't believe they'd gotten some. (Yes, those are pistachios embedded in there...) The texture is a bit like nougat I guess but the flavor is hard to describe. I would put it sort of in the same flavor category as cardamom or mastic? I was happy to find that article bacause it is one of the few mentions I've seen in the western press. Maybe with Iraq in the news there will be more western interest in the product, though I assume quantities are limited by nature. As for a recipe, do they say how to get hold of the resin?

Yep. Duke's is the only jarred brand I'll use. I always snag some when I'm down South. There is a certain creaminess to Duke's that no other brand has. How can you not like a brand started by "Mrs. Eugenia Duke of Greenville, South Carolina?" ← I must admit I am impressed by the ingredient list: The other brands all seem to use at least some form of preservative. What kind of shelf life does this Duke's stuff have?

Yet another entry in the category of weird middle eastern foods you've never heard of, most people are unaware that the Manna mentioned in the bible is an actual food. My husband, for example, thought it was bread. Manna is in fact a resinous substance gathered along the Iraq-Iran border. Lest you think I am going batty, here is one of many links that talk about this stuff. link I had it about fifteen years ago, when I was lucky enough to visit Iraq, and again recently, sent to me by some friends of the family. (I will try to get a picture.) It is often imitated -- weirdly scented eggwhite nougats and little clumps that taste like circus peanuts. But the real deal is good stuff, and doesn't taste like anything else. Has anyone tried or heard of the stuff?