Chris Amirault

Reviewing the photos above, I realize that I have an irrational bias: I assert that hash must not be discrete chunks of stuff (a la Alcuin's version) but rather should be an amalgamation of meat, potato, onion, and so on (a la David Ross's version). One should be able to scoop up a forkful of hash and get a bit of each ingredient; one should not have to skewer items kebab-style. Thus the role of potatoes as both brick and mortar is crucial: a proper hash has both large-ish, firmer chunks of potato and well-cooked, mashed-up binder flesh as well. If it's just big chunks, it ain't hash. Anyone share this irrational bias?

I'm partial to this left-handed LamsonSharp fish spatula/turner, which has a sharp edge perfect for scraping up those tasty bits. As for the hash itself, will be weighing in a bit down the road when I have leftover pastrami.

I do it all the time. Yes, it does get a bit limp, but that's mainly structural. In your mouth, it retains its crunch, especially after you rinse it and wring out the liquid in a towel. And doing so completely eliminates the water at the bottom of the bowl. Try it! I think you'll be a convert.

Thanks to a pagination juxtaposition in the Kitchen Manual and the availability of all ingredients, I decided to prepare a version of the Russian smoked salmon cured with the pastrami rub as the spice base. My family is inhaling it.

I've been going nuts with MC pastrami lately -- I have a brisket curing in the wet brine now -- and will gladly contribute some of it to hash.

Remarkable work, particularly for those of us who value midcentury design. Thanks, Eva.

I think the anchovies in the OP are slightly different than this linked version. Yep -- but outfits like La Tienda may be able to get these sorts of items if there's interest. I, for one, am interested!

I wonder what the folks at La Tienda might say if you asked 'em.

Try again! It's very forgiving, I find, if you're careful not to overcook the liver or the eggs, and the variations are endless.

Date is set: March 3. A few comments/questions: Yes, I probably can. Do you have a recipe to suggest? You don't know the mom-to-be! She is the one who asked for tapas, and eats and drinks everything. Someone else is providing dessert, so I'm off the hook there. Jamon is going to be off the list, sadly: can't blow half the budget on a few ounces ham.

Great ideas -- keep 'em coming! When I get home, I'll start digging through my notes and books and contribute a bit more.

I just committed to making "tapas" and "pintxos" for a baby shower that 20 people will attend. I wrote "tapas" and "pintxos" in quotations (and started this in the general Cooking forum, not the Spanish cooking forum) because I'm quite sure the request is based on a broad definition of the terms, one that doesn't necessarily need to conform to any claims of authenticity in regards to the particulars of what Madrid or Barcelona bars serve. Here are the basic menu criteria: It'll be in mid-March, so I have time to prepare sausages, cure fish, etc. The menu must be celiac-friendly -- that is to say, I want to make sure that one of the guests has the ability to eat a selection of good food without gluten. (Other items can certainly have gluten; I'd like to have at least some pintxos on bread.) It will be at my house, giving me access to a stove, oven, fryer, grill, etc., so I can either prepare a la minute or hold. I need to balance interesting, challenging food with food that a less food-focused guest will want to try. That is, it can't be all baby squid. Sadly. I'll try to document the whole thing here as I'm able. First off: let's hear ideas.

We're a Fever Tree household, and always have a few bottles handy. However, I started fiddling around with this Imbibe magazine tonic syrup recipe by Kevin Ludwig at Beaker & Flask in Portland. Here is a halved recipe with several items converted to weight: 300 g sugar 450 g water 13 g quinine (cinchona powder -- tx Hennes!) 35 g citric acid I used two, not 1 1/2, limes, and 12 kaffir lime leaves instead of the lemon grass. Citrusy aromatics will be fun to play around with moving forward, it's clear. Next time, I'm definitely cutting the citric acid back by half or so, as it's too much for my tastes. Still, as others have said here, the ability to control these variables is going to make for some real fun. ETA: some white cardamom tincture is another tasty addition.

To me, the classic is John McPhee's "Brigand de Cuisine," the 1979 New Yorker profile of "Otto," chef and owner of a small restaurant in upstate NY. (You can find it in his collection Giving Good Weight, though it has dozens of typos.) What's your favorite written food profile? Links are particularly appreciated.

RI WF also at $8/lb.

Thanks, KennethT. Pho Bo Ly Quoc Su is now on my google map!

Has anyone done a tour with these Hanoi Street Food guys?

Updates/questions. We're in Sa Pa now, and we booked in Ninh Binh as well, so any/all suggestions would be great. Taking a cruise (Dragon's Pearl) in the bay, so no need for recs there. In Hanoi we're at the Hanoi Elegance Diamond Hotel, in the Old Quarter near the northern shore of the lake. Again, any/all recs are appreciated.

Due to some family complications, we didn't have the full house we expected for Xmas dinner and were dealing with a lot of other matters in the lead-up. So I cut way back on the meal, and ended up serving the mole, calabaza tierna guisada, beans, rice, tortillas, and horchata. The two dishes from DK's book were excellent. I used a pumpkin, cubed and cooked sous vide 85C for about an hour, for the calabaza dish, and that was a surprise hit with everyone. But the stand out, of course, was the mole. It required a remarkable effort, and took the better part of a day to get the paste prepared. But now I have a few pounds of the paste, and it's just stunning. I'll happily report more if people have questions, but I assure you that it's worth the effort. Sorry -- no photos.

Thanks everyone. Keep 'em coming. Raoul Duke, "Northwest" signifies Sa Pa, Bac Ha, and Lao Cai. Increasingly I think we're going to use Bac Ha as our base after the overnight sleeper from Hanoi, in time for the Sunday market.

We're heading to Vietnam in May and will be spending our entire visit in the north. We'll use Hanoi as a base and head to Ninh Binh, Halong Bay, and the northwest (probably based in Bac Ha, not Sa Pa). I'm dying for any/all recommendations you've got. Thanks in advance!

IIRC, there were several similar questions in re temps in the Momofuku cookbook, somewhere around here.... 60C seems way too high for beef in just about every application I can think of.

I dunno as I haven't left it out, but I'd think it'd lend a creamy, um... eggy quality that's tasty.

There are going to be a wide array of humans at this meal, including a few who "don't like" Mexican food, and thus the menu is skewed to include things that I know certain individuals would like (hence the estofado). The escabeche and shrimp sauce will be served simply with tortilla and perhaps chips. Dessert is the responsibility of my better half.

Dunno: it seems a decent possibility given that you're not trying to create a dough but rather extract components from the corn into liquid....