fierydrunk

Ask me next week after I read the WW, Oregonian and Mercury!

Hollis and I just recently started "really" cooking and trying out recipes and Saveur has been awesome. I like the tone of the articles way more than the condescension of Cook's Illus (tho I like it too for other reasons). I really like the adventurous nature of Saveur and really don't think the recipes are far out at all, for the most part. I found a huge stack of older ones from the mid 90's at a yard sale and must admit, it was a better magazine then. I will try Cuisine at Home too. I also agree with the taste test stuff of Cook's Illustated...I think I can trust myself and I can say their biscuit recipe in a recent issue was just plain wrong!

I have some conflicted thoughts on what I have read in this thread. Naturally, we all have our own experiences in this (yes) varied area of the US tied together by history and sometimes, food. I grew up in Memphis, went to college in East Tennessee and eventually, lived in Jacksonville Florida for nearly 3 years. All three cities are "Southeastern" but really totally different in terms of food and what role it was obviously playing. Out of the three towns, I see Jacksonville as the most bland--just a real feeling of disinterest when it came to food. Believe me, I tried to eat well there! There were some pretty decent "high end" spots, but overall, food was pretty generic. Florida was superior to me for the seafood dishes at coastal towns and the Cuban/Carribean food in various places. But typically Southern food--NO WAY. Maybe in individual kitchens, but not out in the wide open. I think the Floridians posting definitely have a different view of the Southeast than most of the rest and I agree, Florida is its own thing, much like California. The population there is certainly more "diluted" with non"Southerners" than anywhere in Tennessee etc, for example, you can bet that a lot more than 50% of Memphis' residents grew up somewhere around Memphis! Anyway, it seems it would be extremely difficult for many Floridians to feel any kind of comfortable kinship with what is perceived as stereotypical Southerness in the kitchen. Am I making any sense????

Fried food is fantastic and eating it wasn't what has killed any of my family--leave that to carcinogens. I get a little annoyed however at "overfrying", like bar foods (mushrooms, cheese et al). I think we Southerners figured out what needs to be fried and what doesn't! My fave fried food is chicken livers! I don't think I will convince my beau to eat them though.

While I love Genie's Hollandaise and the people who work there, I have had at least 2 benedicts there where the muffins were chewy and the eggs too cooked...I still stand by their lunch options over breakfast.

An asiago cheese bagel with smoked salmon cream cheese...my Sunday staple. Tomorrow I will scramble 2 egss with the salmon cream cheese. Oh yeah, no Fall or Winter morning is complete without a soy mocha with whipped cream.

I like cheddar on decent bread (sourdough or light wheat) using butter in a CAST IRON SKILLET. That surface approximates a griddle well. I melt the butter in an area the shape of the bread, put the bread own in it, lay on the cheese, then place another piece of bread on top that has little pats of butter on top. Also, I am a fan of a more "done" than not...how do others like it? My fiance likes it barely browned.

Everything you just wrote must be tried in my home--THANK YOU!

What is parbroiling (sorry, just learning terms...)? Thanks for all the ideas!

My turn to cook & I want to use some leeks I have. Not really in the mood for potato leek soup yet (still 80 degrees here), though. Any other great ideas? Pasta dishes, perhaps?

Hollis made a DELICIOUS bunch of shredded beef tacos (meat made in a pressure cooker) with a few london broils. I throughly reccommend using this cut for the slow cooker method listed above (stew) or in a pressure cooker...which is awesome, by the way, if you have never used one before. VERY EASY and fast and the beef was soft and cooked well.

Chunky tomatoes. Ground beef, chicken, turkey, even tempeh. Dark red kidney beans. Tons of peppers and spices. Masa flour mixture to thicken. YUM. Gotta have it soon. Oh yeah, I love saltines crumbled in it too! Shades of Memphis. Almost forgot--cheddar shredded on top too!

Sounds awesome--we went to clarklewis last Saturday night and did the $30 prix fixe/chef's choice thing and all four of us got 4 separate 4 course meals!!! The desserts were on a couple of our friends who work there, which was fantastic as we told my parents we were getting married over desserts. Everything was phenomenal. The service smooth and unobstrusive. I am spacing out right now on everything we had, but one of the dishes was the tagliatelli with pork sugo mentioned before. I know I had a delicious filet of halibut with a porcini mushroom sauce. I wish I could recall every detail, but my mind was blown at the whole experience. We had two servers and they would swoop in, describing each dish in detail as we had no idea what we was going to come next. I throughly reccommend the chef's choice option when you go to clarklewis...then you can pass your plates and get a taste of the entire menu...or maybe even a dish not on the menu!

I bought a bottle of the semi-sweet Dilletante and it is great, but I am thinking the regular sweet may be better for me as the semi-sweet just ain't sweet enough. It does do the floaty nastyness on the ol' mocha, I just keep stirring a lot to avoid it. I too have a Rancho Silvia and it is just this side of disgusting. Thanks for reminding me to give her a cleaning!

Made Turkey Tetrazini from an old issue of Saveur last night and it was AMAZING! Such good comfort food...would be a good after Thanksgiving Day easy leftovers recipe. If anyone wants it, I'll copy it to the thread.

Hollis & I ate at Park Kitchen last night for dinner and it was GREAT. Just perfect really. We ordered 2 small plates and 1 large plate and two beers--- we shared everyting,our check was $50 and we were satiated and FULL. The service was excellent as was the ambience and food presentation. I highly reccomend this place if you are going with your wife---great dinner for two. Get there early to get on the wait list as we were there at 6PM (dinner begins at 5:30) and we waited for 45 minutes. Worth every minute, however. Oh yeah--get the tempura battered green beans with tarragon aioli--delish! We also ordered the cold flank steak and bleu cheese salad which ruled...our entree was the grilled sablefish on potato risotto. I am still dreaming about it.

Agreed re: the sauce talk--but I have had some gross sauce here in PDX (Cannon's). I have to just reiterate that you went to one of the worst (to me) BBQ places in town--Corky's. Central I have never been to before--I strictly stick with the ancient, tried and true: Paynes, Cozy Corner, Interstate and on occaision, Neely's. I hear you about that kind of weird pork sandwich--that was the sort they would serve us at school. You would definitely notice a difference, esp. in the Payne's sandwich. It is much more what you describe as enjoying and their slaw is UNREAL, I have never seen or tasted one like it. It drips with great, spicy sauce, it has a good mix of crisp ends and tender PULLED meat and it is not overwhelmed by the bun. Just like any other town, some people just have no taste. Even Memphians with their BBQ. I am not one of those fools, however!

I know I am biased,being a Memphian, but there is something very special and particular about GOOD Memphis BBQ. I am sure LOW is good and I am sure people in Memphis would eat it and like it, but I can vouch I never thought of eating beef brisket in any of my favorite BBQ places at home. I think the point is give credit where it is due, but don't ever forget: Some places excel for certain things for mysterious reasons. Pork BBQ ribs and sandwiches just haven't been as good anywhere else (and believe me, I have lived all over the USA and I have wished that wasn't the case many times!)

What are the "tuna fish textured sandwiches"? You'll have another chance--I am telling you, no one does a pulled pork sandwich like Payne's. They have the best slaw too. Corky's is one of those local chain places, akin to Pasta Veloce here. I will have to read the rest of your blog to see your opinion on the Commissary. I tend to never go to Germantown unless I had to. The best Q was definitely in town.

Truly sorry you didn't get to Payne's or Cozy Corner in Memphis and had to settle on crap like Corky's for your Memphis experience. Hopefully you can get back there in the future to get the real deal. Did you see if Interstate or Neely's was open?

I have to disagree about just saying "tea"...at least in Memphis, it was ALWAYS "Ice Tea" (say: AHYce Teah), even from the old timers. Just "tea" was something the Northeastern transplants did...a quaint (but good) little tradition of theirs.

Ladybug!!!! You RULE! That is exactly the bottle. The Semisweet chocolate one. I feel like I have won a serious game of poker. HAHAHAHAHAHA! I love Stumptown but damn that sort of secrecy when I pony up $11.50 every two and a half weeks for their beans. I think they do a bit of a combo of adding some of that with a mixture of (quite possibly) Hershey's cocoa/hot water. I am into the test kitchen---I will let you know by the week's end.

They ain't using Hersheys---I think that is their stock response. If they are, they are definitely adding this other mystery syrup too. I asked a girl once when she had to go to the fridge for more and I saw the container (like I said, a familiar looking smallish container with a black w/red curly-looking writing sticker)--she said they also added "that" but would not tell me what it was. I have seen the Fresh Pot baristas put something resembling caramel in after the cocoa. Fresh Pot uses Da Vinci choc syrup. I may have to go on another spy mission. I have tried using Hersheys and Ghiradelli and neither have had that Stumptown mocha taste...I use Hairbender beans too and have a great home machine.

Potato Leek Soup Lots of Lasagna Tom Kha Soup Cream of Mushroom soup

Does anyone drink the mochas at Stumptown (or the Fresh Pot)? They use an extra syrup ion them that "makes" it. Someone showed me from afar the bottle and it looked familiar--like an Indian grocery syrup container with a black label with red writing. They didn't say what it was, however. They put it in an unmarked container and it resembles caramel, but I can't be sure. Does anyone have any idea what this flavoring is? I have narrowed everything else down for making them at home!