SobaAddict70

The borscht I'm familiar with has shortribs, carrots, beets, onions, turnip, sour cream, dill and black bread. You spoon some sour cream into the borscht and eat it with the accompanying bread. I've never had one with apples though. Sounds delicious.

Just remember that everything goes well with a little Mrs. Dash. (I'm kidding...well, mostly. ) Soba

Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Jean Georges, 66, Spice Market and V Steakhouse, presents his newest offering in the Vongerichten restaurant empire: Perry St., deep in the heart of Greenwich Village. Perry St. (Frank Bruni) Discussion relating to Jean Georges and Nougatine can be found here. For a thread on Spice Market, click here. Discussion relating to V Steakhouse can be found here. Click here for related discussion regarding Chef Vongerichten's track record. A discussion of Mr. Bruni's style of reviewing and the star system can be found here. Soba

Thanks to Melissa for blogging this week. Tune in, in just a few short hours when our next blogger takes up the reins. Soba

It wasn't until I moved to New York that I saw envelopes of Knorr's for sinigang and paksiw respectively. I've never had makeshift sinigang or paksiw, having only had the real thing from my Mom. I've often wondered how those would taste...then again I'm not sure I want to find out. Anyone ever have experiences like those? Just the other day I saw powdered abobo mix. I was like....um, why?

A large part of it is due to my metabolism, not to mention the increased appetite that comes from a good workout in the gym. Thanks btw, for this thread. There's only so much cottage cheese I can consume before my taste buds begin to revolt in protest. Spending triple what the OP spends is similar in that I'm trying mightily to keep food costs down, such as they are. Believe it or not, I spend more on milk and dairy than animal protein. I'm mildly lactose intolerant so it has to be Lactaid. One half gallon of Lactaid costs something like $3.50-$4, and as you might imagine, adds up quickly.

I wish I could spend $40 a week on food. My food costs are something like triple that per week. Then again, my needs are different, lol. Still, it's a challenge. clarification: I eat six to seven meals a day. Yes, you read that right. 6 to 7 meals a day, at around 4000 calories total, sometimes slightly less. I aim for 250+ g of protein a day but tend to fall short. I work out a great deal so the nutritional requirements tend to be a bit exacting. I'm learning to economize though. Threads like this are great even if the circumstances don't exactly match up.

Do you grill your eggplant first? If you ever end up with extra grilled eggplants, they're awesome with a bit of chopped onions, tomatoes, a few slivers of ginger and coconut cream (unsweetened) vinaigrette! ...which in turn goes great with inihaw na liempo (grilled pork belly which are first marinated in calamansi, vinegar, garlic, pepper, salt and bay leaves).... ← Yep, absolutely. And then the typical eggy batter, then fried and served with garlic fried rice and *gasp* banana ketchup.

Taku (Frank Bruni) Related discussion regarding Mr. Bruni's style of reviewing and the Times' star system can be found here. Soba

Went there last night with Sam, his girlfriend, Kathleen and their friend, Sarah (SarahD). I'll let Sam describe better, but Regional lives up to the hype. To those who've naysayed it, it's difficult for me to believe that the food didn't live up to expectations. Everything was wonderful. I'll definitely be back. Now if only I didn't move away from the UWS.

Some of you are probably going into Foodblog withdrawal. Never fear! We're working on an installment that'll begin tomorrow morning and run till next Wednesday. I guess you could say it's a miracle. Next: A taste of small-town summer, on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Backstory for this preview segment can be found by clicking here.

Hm, I don't remember where I saw that reference, so I checked a couple of cookbooks I own. (And it appears I'm half-right and somewhat wrong. ) From Lorenza's Pasta (1996, Lorenza de'Medici; Random House)

No, no. In it's previous life, "marinara sauce" was originally a seafood-based tomato sauce for use with pasta. As time went on, eventually it evolved to become the familiar "red sauce" that many Americans associate with what passes for Italian-American cuisine. Marinara sauce nowadays bears no relation to the original save in name only. What we call marinara sauce within the context of Italian-American cuisine is really sugo di pomodoro. Of course, most people don't call it that. Here's another: moo shu pork is a classical Chinese dish, except that it's usually made with a minimum of pork, whereas the modern version -- or at least the version that's served in Chinese-American restaurants all over the U.S., is made with an overabundance of meat.

Possibly they are but a real purist would insist up and down on there being rascasse in bouilliabaise, otherwise, it's not the real thing. I wouldn't say that Thai fish cakes as "bouilliabaise" is too far a stretch. Marinara sauce started life as a seafood-based tomato sauce and look at what it's become in Italian-American cuisine. Something totally different. A food-aware person would say it's "sugo di pomodoro". Most people wouldn't know. Whether this is partly due to ignorance or just because things evolved remains to be seen. The fact of the matter is that it happens all the time, and it's not about to cease anytime soon. That's my point.

And now that I think about it, some tortang talong would hit the spot. Decisions, decisions...

No, I know what chicarron and ampalaya are. I've just never had munggo with either.

Chicarron as a topping for munggo is a new one on me. Have to ask my mom about that. I've been craving it recently for some reason.

Oh, you know where I'm coming from. Traditional/authentic bouilliabaise requires amongst other things rascasse, yet I could point to probably half a dozen different "bouilliabaise" that don't have it (or include other things like salmon and cockles), some from French bistros in NYC that should know better. Those other "bouilliabaise" aren't in the least bit authentic according to our definition. Won't stop people from calling it bouilliabaise though.

What's that dish with mung beans? Can't remember most specifics, but I know it's not a sweet dish. Maybe it's Chinese influenced?

Of course it matters. Just not to everyone. In my book, there is "authentic" and there is everything else. I'm quite happy with "everything else", because for something to be truly authentic, I'd have to go to the country of origin and experience it there. That, or have a grandmother from the source country with amazing cooking skills. Naming is important. Keeping traditions alive is important. So is a good meal.

Yes, but things evolve. You can be a stickler for saying that things should remain timeless, like a painting is timeless, but everything changes, even art. Though certain things remain the same, there will always be variations and there will always be people who defy tradition and call something what it isn't. It's important to care -- to be sure -- but it's also important not to lose the forest for the trees. Have a drink, live a little, and if you want to call a Caesar's salad a Caesar's salad (even though it has sliced chicken breast and maybe a little roasted garlic, or just a drop of balsamic vinegar), why be my guest. Soba

Fair enough. Plenty of people call it "beef burgundy". It is what it is.

At the end of the day, isn't it really about your expectations? Honestly, I'm all for authenticity but not at the expense of good food. For instance, there are innumerable recipes for boeuf bourguignon -- there is Chef Keller's infamous version that takes something like three days to prepare (and is probably manna sent from heaven), and there is a version made in a crockpot that's not as labor intensive, has margarine, sirloin tips, brandy and burgundy that was passable. There's a thread on it somewhere in the Cooking forum. (Click here.) All of them are boeuf bourguignon, some more authentic than others. Can't you just accept it for what it is? C'est la vie and all that jazz. It's all very well to say dish X and Y should have ingredients A, B and C. And that's perfectly fine. I find that to be a bit limiting though. Soba

There is no "must" when it comes to naming a dish, unless you happen to be a purist. For every genuine article out there, there are a million pretenders, and most of them are perfectly valid, in my opinion. edit: I split off several posts from this thread in the Middle East forum (and managed to screw it up in the process, in case some of you were wondering why some posts appeared and then disappeared). Everything's fixed now.