tupac17616

Cool skewers, Susan! I like 'em.

Yes (fried, please)

I am a little full after breakfast this morning. First, had an apple. Then a cinnamon roll. Then two slices of cinnamon chip french toast with fresh whipped cream, blueberries, and banana slices, with nutella and honey on the side for dipping the french toast into. Then some strawberry yogurt. Then some of the pumpkin cheesecake I made the other night. That's all.

Thanks, Ann. I'll have to try soaking them, never tried that before. Tonight's dinner: A 5 minute throw-together-stuff-I-feel-eating kind of meal. Chopped broccoli sauteed with roasted garlic, herb polenta heated on the griddle, sliced prosciutto di parma, sliced fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes fresh from our garden, toasted pine nuts, and of course some extra virgin olive oil drizzled over everything. Dessert: Nutella panino, bananas caramelized in butter and brown sugar, vanilla ice cream. Not a good picture, but it sure was tasty

Wow, your homemade fries look absolutely delicious (and nothing like my own homemade version ). What method do you use to get them to come out that beautifully?

Braised Rabbit with Homemade Tagliatelle My terrible picture and complete lack of any presentation does no justice to the amazing deliciousness of this dish. My whole family loved it (except my mom, who refused to eat rabbit because it was too "weird" and then had a panini and potato chips instead of the rabbit and pasta ). This batch of pasta turned out to be by far the best I've ever made at home. Wonderful texture and great flavor. Can't wait until the next time I've got time to make some more.

July 4th...time for fireworks, but more importantly, pizza night! This was my second time making pizza at home. This time I used Peter Reinhart's Neo-Neapolitan pizza crust recipe from American Pie after I'd used the Neapolitan crust the first time I made the pizza. They both produced such nice results IMO that it will be hard to choose between them next time. The dough this time was much wetter, but in the book it says wetter dough yields a better cornicione in the end, which in this case turned out to be true. Anyway, on to the grub... Margherita --- To me, good pizza is almost all about the crust. And the crust on this one turned out great. It's a little hard to tell from the angle of the pictures, but the corcione puffed up beautifully, crust had evident oven spring throughout, nice pockets of air in all the right places, bottom charred nicely. Texture crisp on the outside, yet wondefully chewy inside. Ah, this is what it's all about. (Oh yeah, the toppings tasted pretty good, too). Beautiful way to start the night... Before After Sopressata & Pepperoni --- This one turned out pretty well. The crust didn't puff up as much this time, but was still nice and crisp on the outside yet chewy throughout. The soppressata had a nice spicyness to it that I liked. The pre-sliced pepperoni were bland and unmemorable, but the few thick slices of Boar's Head brand pepperoni we threw on there had a nice flavor to them, and I'll definitely be using those again next time. Didn't get a before pic, but here's the end result... Zucchini, Fava Beans, Ricotta & Pecorino --- This flavor combo was my idea, and I was glad I made it, because it ended up being my favorite of the four we had tonight. The zucchini was fresh from our garden, so I sauteed it along with the favas in some extra virgin olive oil. Used fresh ricotta cheese from a local farm. Threw a little bit of roasted garlic on for good measure. Sprinkled on some pecorino romano right before tossing it in the oven. The flavors on this one just seemed to blend really well, and the crust turned out nicely as well. Here 'tis... Before: After: Garden Tomatoes & Roasted Garlic --- So we had some roasted garlic left over from making a tomato tart yesterday, and some tomatoes fresh from our garden sitting up on the window sill just begging to be used. So for this last pizza, we kept it simple. A little San Marzano tomato sauce, then some fresh mozzarella, fresh tomato slices, and some dollops of roasted garlic in between the tomato slices. A nice way to end the meal (well, before the non-dessert part of the meal, at least ). Here's the last couple of pics... Before: After: A good night with good people and good food. It doesn't get much better than that...

evongvisith: Thanks for the helpful info and the link! Kevin72: Thanks for the tips. And by the way, I love the thread about your "Year of Italian Cooking". Your knowledge of Italian cuisine is really quite amazing. Keep up the good (and delicious looking ) work! dockhl: Heh heh. Loved the story. The adults, of course, must have been just trying to "protect" you from these nasty mushrooms. I'm sure that was their only intention

I have no idea what those are but WHERE do you find the 'Hen of the Woods' ? I think these were the mushrooms of my youth, collected from the wild by my Czech grandparents in Pennsylvania ! I knew them as 'Sheepshead' mushrooms and they were SO good ! Kathy ← Hi Kathy. I did a quick Google search, and those are indeed the ones! Check it out: I've got to agree with you. They are absolutely delicious. I've only had them a few times. The first time, I had them at Craft restaurant in New York City, then again at Hearth restaurant also in NYC, and at a few other restaurants as well. Since then, I've seen them fairly often in markets both in New York and here at home in Texas, although I've yet to prepare them at home. I would imagine that if you weren't able to find them in a local market, that you could order them from an online source. Maybe some other eGullet-ers can chime in and suggest a specific website or two. I wish you the best of luck in your search for these delicious 'shrooms

Egg, Basil Polenta, and Cherry Tomatoes fresh from the garden, all sprinkled with pecorino romano, salt, pepper, and dried red chili flakes

I'm sort of a novice when it comes to recognizing different mushroom varieties. My favorite two varieties are morels and Hen of the Woods mushrooms. Those I can spot a mile away. And of course, I know the basic portabello, cremini, etc. But when it comes to blue oyster, maitake, matsutake, hon-shemeji, porcini, and so on, I begin to get a little lost trying to keep them all straight. So anyway, I was at the store today, looking for some mushrooms, and I notice most of the mushroom bins are not labeled. So I picked up about a few of these mushrooms, thinking (and hoping) they were porcini. I don't think I've had porcini before, but I know they're fairly rare and supposedly quite delicious. So I picked the nearest label, "Bulk Cremini Mushrooms", paid my $1.38, and was on my way. (Dishonest, I know ). Here they are: Are these porcini mushrooms? Or am I mistaken, and they are actually something else? If they are porcini, then now what? What are some nice ways to prepare them? Dice them? Slice them? Saute with olive oil? With butter? Pan roast? Grill? Oven roast? Throw a little wine their way, and let them take a bath in it? Add a little balsamic into the mix? Use them to stuff ravioli? Toss with fresh homemade pasta? Use to make a few panini? Just enjoy them on their own? What to do, people, what to do? Please, oh wise eGullet-ers, clear up this little mushroom mystery of mine and lead me to the land of good eats.

I remember seeing an episode of Good Eats on TV sometime recently, I think it was either the burger or meatloaf episode, but I can't remember. Anyway, Alton Brown just threw some cubes of meat into the Cuisinart and pulsed it like 10 times to grind his own meat. Haven't tried this yet myself, but it seemed to work pretty well for him.

Well said. I agree.

Okay, I realize I'm probably a little late to this thread, but I finally tried the CM Blood Orange Italian Soda, which my mom's been buying for a while now. Man, that is some good stuff! I'm a weirdo when it comes to drinks (I only drink ice water, no soda, no alcohol, no juice, nothing), and even I liked this Italian soda.

This past Saturday, my family and I treated my Dad to a little pre-Father's Day family road trip to Lockhart. Thus began our Marathon of Meat, our Convoy of Cow, our Parade of Pork, our... okay okay, I'll stop Living not too far away in San Antonio, it was our first trip to Lockhart, so we decided if we were gonna do this thing right, we'd have to hit all of the big three: Kreuz, Black's, and Smitty's. Here's my impressions of each: KREUZ: This was the first place we stopped. Knowing we had a lot of eating ahead of us, we tried to pace ourselves a little. So among the five of us, we shared, 1/2 lb of brisket, 1/2 lb of pork ribs, 1/2 lb of prime rib, one link of regular sausage, and one link of jalapeno sausage. We seemed to agree that the brisket was pretty good, though a little on the dry side. It had a nice smoke ring, and good flavor, but we all agreed it should have been more moist. The pork ribs...WOW..the pork ribs. I am not normally a huge fan of ribs, but these were by far the best ribs I have ever eaten in my life. Hand me a big plate of those, and I will be a happy man. The prime rib was quite tasty and very juicy. The regular sausage was quite flavorful. The casing had a nice snap when you bit into it, which I liked. Nice flavor, nicely packed filling. Some thought it was a little on the dry side, but I thought it was quite good. The jalapeno sausage was better, though. It was jalapeno and cheddar sausage, I believe, and every time you bit it, the warm gooey cheese flavor would ooze out. Very tasty. Overall, we loved this place. Great place to start our little BBQ pilgrimage. We will definitely be back here. (And soon, if I have any say in things ) BLACK'S: Our second stop, we arrived here to find a practically empty restaurant, just one other couple there. Here we sampled 1/4 lb of brisket, 1/4 lb of pork ribs, a link of regular sausage, 1/4 of a chicken, and one 1/4 lb turkey (along with a few non-meat things like cornbread, potato salad, and peach cobbler, but back to the good stuff). The brisket here was only passable. Not good, but not bad. Very little smoke ring evident, and the flavor and moistness were kind of lacking. The ribs were terrible. The sausage was practically inedible. They were too loosely packed, leaving a soft wrinkly casing. They were so incredibly greasy that any attempt to cut or bite them left a nasty trail of grease in its wake. Just disgusting. The chicken was juicy and pretty flavorful, and the turkey was boring and dry. We were not terribly fond of either. After all, Texas BBQ is about beef, not birds, darnit. FWIW, the sides were very weak as well. And unlike Kreuz and Smitty's, Black's offers BBQ sauce. Says something about the quality (or lack thereof) of their meat if you ask me, but that's just my two cents. I really doubt we'll be back here next trip to Lockhart. SMITTY'S: Our final stop. By this point, they were getting pretty full, but my appetite and I were ready to pick up the slack . Here we ordered 1/2 lb of brisket, 1/4 lb of ribs, and one regular sausage (we wanted prime rib as well, but they'd run out by then ). Wow, this was some wonderful brisket. Easily the best of the bunch, in my opinion. Soooo juicy. Great flavor. Yep, this is the life. The ribs here were passable. Definitely way better than Black's ribs, but nowhere near the incredible ribs we'd had earlier at Kreuz. The sausage was pretty good. Not a grease festival like Black's, but still a little more loosely packed casing than I prefer, and nowhere near as flavorful as the sausages at Kreuz. Finally, we capped the day off with a few nice cones of Blue Bell ice cream, at a whopping $1 each. Nice way to end a nice day of eating. We'll definitely be back here again as well. Overall, definitely a great trip. We had some great BBQ, and it was a nice day to spend together as a family. Kreuz became our immediate family favorite. Black's was not up to our expectations, but hey, at least we got to try it. And Smitty's left us with another fine option for BBQ when we go back to Lockhart. We're still hoping to try some other BBQ places around Texas as well. City Market in Luling, Southside Market in Elgin, Salt Lick, Cooper's, etc. Maybe a visit back to east Texas where I was born, to see what we can find up there. Who knows. (Man that reminds me, we still miss that place in Caldwell, TX on the highway that runs through that little town. A little old-timey grocery store that sold some darn good 'cue, it was closed the last time we drove through there. Ah, memories). So much BBQ, so little time...

Aubergine is the French word for eggplant; also used as the word for eggplant in the restaurants the last time I visited London. You'll also see courgettes used to describe zucchini. ← Cool. Thanks for the info.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is aubergine? Looks a lot like eggplant to me, but I've never heard of it.

Fruit Salt Sugar

Not sure if these are things most people like, but some of my dislikes are: Olives (but I love olive oil) Bitter dark chocolate Hot dogs Horseradish Licorice Tabasco Sauce Sour cream (except as an ingredient in baked goods) Coffee Tea Soda Melon/Cantaloupe/Papaya American "cheese" Velveeta "cheese" Still trying to think of more...

Finally had the chance to post some pictures of the awesome meal my family and I had a few days ago. It was the first time I'd ever made pizza at home. I used Reinhart's Napoletana recipe from American Pie for the dough. It was so easy to work with, and I thought it yielded great results. Crisp, yet chewy. Nice and thin. Lovely flavor and texture. Our pizza stone broke right down the middle before we put the first pie on, but no big deal, still works just fine. Anyway, onto the pictures... Personally, I prefer an uncooked sauce, with simply crushed tomatoes, and maybe a little salt and extra virgin olive oil. Some of my family members, however, prefer "marinara sauce" as they refer to it, meaning they wanted a cooked sauce. Thus, a compromise. I bought a couple of cans of San Marzano tomatoes, strained, seeded, and crushed the whole tomatoes, and set those aside. Then I reduced the juices to create their cooked sauce. The best of both worlds. Clearly, I was very interested in the sauce on the stove And occasionally, I even stirred the sauce a little. Remarkable... Anyway, enough of this saucy talk. On to the pizza! The first --- Margherita. The standard by which all pizza should be judged. Buffalo mozzarella, crushed tomatoes, basil, extra virgin olive oil, salt. Delicious. The second --- Tomato sauce, Mozzarella, Microgreens, Carmelized Onion, Prosciutto (and one-fourth Magherita for my little brother). I loved the combination of the onions, greens, and prosciutto. Quite tasty. The third --- Tomato, Mozzarella, Sopressata, and Pepperoni. Tasted way better than it looks The fourth --- Half margherita, half mozzarella, fresh ricotta, precorino romano, and parmiggiano-reggiano. Another winner. The fifth --- Dessert Pizza. Clockwise from top left: Nutella with pine nuts and banana, cherry preserves with almonds, dried figs and blue cheese, mascarpone and dates. I divided the sections with chocolate chips. Then drizzled it all with a bit of honey before hitting the oven. Here's the before and after (including the beautiful dough bubble on the after shot ): The day after --- Calzone time. Stuffed with pepperoni, mozzarella, ricotta, basil, and tomatoes, brushed with some olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt once it was out of the oven. Mmmmm. Sorry no picture after I cut it open. We ate it too fast for me to get a shot The day after --- dessert pizza again. I made this one especially for my mom with the last bit of dough I had left. Cherry preserves with almonds. This time, a la mode, with vanilla ice cream This was an absolute blast. One of the most enjoyable cooking experiences we've had as a family. I'm always in the kitchen, cooking up a storm. But ths time everybody was in the kitchen, shaping their own dough, adding their own toppings, laughing, and eating. It was a great time. Can't wait to do this again soon.

That's my understanding too. It's been a year since I went there alone, but that's how it was last May. You might consider just giving them a call and see. You never know.

Cool idea. Some "A" places in Manhattan I'd like still like to try: A Abbocatto Alain Ducasse Alto Amy Ruth's Annisa AOC Bedford Apizz Aquavit August Aureole A couple I've tried already and enjoyed: Amuse Aritisanal

Excuse my ignorance (and the lack of relevance to this thread), but what are "soldiers"? I remember seeing that on the menu at Balthazar here in NYC and I had (and still have) no clue what exactly that is. Anybody? By the way, I am loving this thread! Looks like people have really been making some great pizza.

I'd say either Brooklyn or Manhattan, but there are many wonderful options as far as the specific place. Maybe a couple of slices at Di Fara?

Couldn't agree more. Having never run a business myself, though, I can't completely bash restaurants that choose to operate under such a policy. It just happens to be a policy that annoys me as a customer. Cash-only restaurants are far more common here in NYC than they were where I am from (San Antonio, TX), so perhaps the fact that many mid- to high-end places are cash-only is just something I am not used to yet.