Chris Amirault

Blog on, Bill! And while we're asking questions: what's "dried fried"?

I just took the plunge with friends coming over for dinner tonight for a Chinese meal: sticky rice (naw mai fon), Chinese broccoli, and a tomato beef dish by Grace Young. That menu opens up a lot of cocktail possibilities. So, I called them and just said, "So I'm deep into my cocktail enthusiasm and would love to make you something. I thought I'd ask what you like." And she said, "I've loved every cocktail I've ever had. The one martini I've had was fantastic." Well that opens the door! I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but this seems like an auspicious beginning.

Making it again tonight for guests with gai lan and Grace Young's tomato beef recipe (fan ke gnul yok -- we've got lots of tomatoes from our garden to use), and I realized that I haven't steamed the lop yuk once since I've been using my own homemade version. It's much, much less stiff. I really urge everyone to make their own for this dish; Grace Young has a version in her Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen, and you can find the one I use here in Recipe Gullet.

Fare thee well, salty dogs and gingered gentlemen.

Jen, what did you decide?

I think you've got an internal contradiction here. If you look at the hundreds of "Where Should I Eat in X?" topics, the vast, vast majority of those posts are positive recommendations. Sure, there are a few disputes (don't go there; go here), but the example you've chosen disproves your point. I also think that there are far fewer negative reviews here than your last sentence suggests. Even though the French Laundry, EL Bulli, Del Posto, Alinea topics are battlegrounds about positive and negative reviews, the majority of posts are, I think, positive. Now, if we start talking about the British restaurant critics, on the other hand....

Anyone got ideas for those tiny Thai bird peppers? We have several dozen ripe on our bush.

Great point, Charles. I was wondering about some of these issues when I wrote this post concerning a new restaurant here in Providence. Even though it had been open only two weeks and I rarely write negatively about restaurants, I felt like the very poor quality of several aspects of the experience, coupled with the restaurant's strong review from the local paper's food editor, merited an honest response.

A quick scan of the net suggests it's what we in the US call tomato paste. You can get a clear version of it now, too (click), for, you know, when you don't want to have that tomato-tasting dish be red.

Folks leaning toward a mole might want to check out this previous mole poblano cook-off.

Well there you go!

Triumphant. An inspiration. Thanks, Abra!

Looks great, ludja. Makes me wonder how I'm going to assemble the tamales: fold, flip, and fold? Tie 'em? What do other folks do?

I think that the name is All Star Sandwich, according to this article in the Globe. (I've changed this topic's name to reflect that.) Not finding a website, though.

I'd suggest that you ask them these questions and report back!

You betcha: "freshly rendered" means you rendered the lard yourself. Home-rendered, perhaps, is more accurate.

I've had 'em with freshly rendered lard, which I'll be doing soon, and with fresh masa, which I won't. Either makes a big difference. Anyone got plans for tamales coming? I'm trying to figure out fillings.

Two Middle Eastern updates. Sadly, Mr. Baroudi has died, and his shop on Smith Hill has closed permanently. However, Sonia's has just opened on Saturday on Park Ave in Cranston, just east of Rolfe Square. I talked to Gregory, who is the manager (I think), and while the store is just opening up, it looks great. Sonia is Gregory's mom, who is the cook and baker for the shop. I had a very tasty mikado (meek'-a-doh, not like the Gilbert and Sullivan opera), which was a layered chocolate and pastry item, and a swell Turkish coffee. They'll be selling dry goods, cheeses and meats, salads, and even some produce, and they'll also be serving lunch. Rolfe Square continues to be a food lovers' paradise.

I dunno, this is sort of feeding into my dissatisfaction with the dinner thread. It used to be just what folks are having for dinner. Now it seems to be a little..."show-offy" with an x-treme closeup picture for everyone's admiration. ← I'd respond to this with something devastating, except I can't get the klieg lights properly trained on my grilled cheese for tonight's photo shoot. Sorry.

Others have taken up the assumption of too much "fringe" around these parts. I'll focus on another aspect of this topic: I'll bite. Why is that frustrating exactly? Food discussion around here is, wonderfully, not a zero-sum game. So why are you perturbed if members are excited to tweak temps and times for sous vide moose or adjust the texture of their cardoon and cocoa noodles off in a corner of eG Forums?

I'm liking the drink list idea, and wondering if something along the lines of this might work: "If you like to drink an X, you might like this Y," with a brief description.

You travel in better circles than I, doc. If I did that, I'm afraid I'd get requests for screwdrivers, man. Let me give you an example. I was visiting some family a while back, and as I toiled over a few dozen limes to make margaritas, a cousin asked, "Why are you going to all the trouble? Just use the mix!" I admit to being utterly stymied.

If you've read the Daily Gullet piece titled "Hooch" (click), you know that I've come upon my cocktail fetish fairly recently, but, like a true believer, I now see the light and must, by duty, bring others to see it as well. This topic is devoted to such evangelical strategies. There have been occasions at which I've mustered a workable plan involving specific bottled drinks -- Salty Dogs and Gingered Gentlemen, in particular, for a chips 'n' salsa shindig for my wife's coworkers -- but I've yet to find a workable line for guests who are utterly unaware of the wonders of the cocktail. "Do you want a drink?" has proven ineffective, since people seem hesitant to ask for something specific, assuming that my liquor cabinet isn't as well stocked as it is. Of course, I live in fear that they'll ask for a vodka and tonic; having your host's face crumple with contempt seems an uninviting way to start off an evening, don't you think? I can also attest to the fact that launching into a diatribe about how lousy most cocktails are these days also doesn't go over very well. So what do y'all say to the heathen when they're over the house and don't know about your cocktail jones? How do you delicately and invitingly slide that monkey onto their back?

We need an update, Snowy is dead. I will admit to expressing particular interest in the current status of Corpse Reviver #2s.

I really like that angle, Kerry. Looks about 150 degrees or so; that Betty Crocker one above is about 120 degrees, which is a tad too acute at times. ETA: Mel, that last one seems good and solid -- but does the heavy handle make the ladle flip out of smaller pots?