Chris Amirault

Bryan, you of all people ought to be curing your own bacon, man. Pick up a Niman Ranch pork belly (which can look like Kobe beef if you find the right one), cure it, roast it in your oven, and you'll be a happy clam. You'd probably have the gumption to figger how to smoke the damned thing in your dorm room to boot!

I found a bit of arborio sitting at the back of our pantry's rather extensive rice collection tonight. After a brief ponder, I decided that a lemon basil risotto would use up some wine and chicken stock in the fridge and make an interesting side to go with a simple frisee, fried egg, and lardon salad we were having as a light dinner. (Ok, that's my version of a light dinner. Ahem.) So I minced an onion and a tiny bit of garlic, sauteed them in some olive oil, and then tossed in the rice. As my 18 month old daughter says: "Pee-Yewwwww!" That rice gave off a stale, almost rancid odor, and though it eventually died down, it lingered in my nose for the rest of the night. I doused the risotto with too much lemon and hoped that no one else noticed it. This got me thinking about old rice. The Japanese apparently have a word for old rice, komai, and I'd bet that other languages do too. In addition, if this topic is any indication, komai produces some of the same problems there as it does in my kitchen. I buy enough of certain kinds of rice, especially jasmine, to keep most of my supply fresh, but this got me wondering: just what does age do to rice? What can one do to deal with old rice, if anything?

After spending far too much time cursing a drippy Oxo Good Grips nylon ladle, I set out to find a good, cheap ladle to complement my go-to Chinese wok ladle. After months of searching, I found this 1/2 cup baby at an area thift store (Savers, for those who care): It's a remarkable thing, simple but very well designed. The balance is perfect, and the indentations on the solid metal handle -- -- make for easy gripping and prevent the ladle from sliding into the pan. And who's the genius behind this marvel? This got me to thinking about ladles in general, a tool that is one of the workhorses in my kitchen, especially as fall and winter approach. What do you look for? What are your favorites? Let's see them ladles, folks!

That's right, Abra, ice and fat both. (I'm definitely incapable of making sausage without fat!)

Two thoughts on the theme of "When Sausages Attack!" FYI, I tried using some crushed ice in the water for my Italian sausage primary bind yesterday, and had bits of ice flying around the kitchen. Probably obvious, but 1-2 minutes of paddling doesn't melt ice in cold meat. Not that it was entirely cold, mind you. I wasn't careful enough with the temperature of the meat, and the emulsion never took. So, since I've lovingly depicted successes, here's the disaster's gory detail: It may look oddly juicy, but take my word for it: it's dry, crumbly, and truly unpleasant to bite. I crushed a bit into some tomato sauce on the plate, and that seemed to redeem it slightly, so sauce it will be.

Made a bacon-friendly meal last night with a BLT bread salad (cubed toasted bread, cubed tomatoes, and my own bacon, with a bit of drizzled salt, pepper and smoked paprika olive oil, in a boston lettuce cup) and mac n cheese (baked with gruyere, cheddar, and parm reg cheeses, shiitake mushrooms a mornay sauce, and a bacon and bread crumb topping). We didn't have room for the frisee avec lardons salad, so that's dinner tonight.

There used to be a place on Thayer Street in Providence that served a steamed burger (and also another concotion called a Jimme Gimme that was steamed). I'm clearly getting too old as I can't remember the name of the place.

A remarkable, uncategorizable piece. I, too, seek "the distraction of challenges" that the kitchen provides. Bravo.

Folks, since this topic has nothing to do with NJ in particular and is rehashing arguments made extensively elswhere, we're closing it down. Thanks.

Boy, no kidding welcome! I've got NE family going back three generations on two sides (including a Gloucesterman), and this is the first I've heard of that tip! Thanks!!

You said it -- I didn't! Breakfast the other day was better, though, than in the past; their potatoes weren't as greezy. However, their pancakes are still food-service bad. Had a swell dinner at La Laiterie last night. We especially liked the chevre fig tart, though the fig, radicchio and endive salad was great, too. (Sense a theme here?)

I did shake it, stupidly. Consider it a metaphor: given the source of the drink and ingredients, my unconscious thought it appropriate to mark the one-year anniversary of Katrina.

Product acquisition update: for reasons that I cannot quite fathom, I found today a single bottle of Sazerac rye at a local liquor store. I've chosen to take this as a sign, and so, on this most sad first anniversary, I raise a toast:

Boy, given that I'd recommend it for nothing, I'd love to know what you like about the place. My daughter is insisting we go there tomorrow for our blended family first-day-of-school breakfast; five'll give you ten that it's still lousy.

Every now and then since December 2004, a good number of us have been getting together at the eGullet Recipe Cook-Off. Click here for the Cook-Off index. For our silver anniversary Cook-Off, we're making tamales. It's true that All Saint's Day and Christmas are months away, but the weather has turned cold suddenly here in New England, and my thoughts have turned to the green corn tamales that I enjoyed a year ago on a trip to Tucson and Bisbee, Arizona. Early fall may also be the right time to start not only because high corn season approaches in the north (for those using fresh corn in their dough), but also because this may end up being a long process for some of us. You see, I've resisted this cook-off because of my futile attempts to get fresh masa (chronicled here). In the meanwhile, I've been gathering good pork fat for freshly rendered lard using Fifi's RecipeGullet method, have several good filling recipes ready to test, and even have stockpiled a few packages of excellent corn husks for the cause. What to do about this masa problem, however, is an open question. Should I give Maseca masa harina, the only brand I've seen recommended, a try? Or perhaps I should see what Rick Bayless's combination of quick-cooking grits and masa harina produces. I've even grabbed a bag of lime in case I'm forced to soak and grind my own masa from field corn. (Of course, if someone out there can find a source for mail-order fresh masa, I'm going to give that a try!) There are quite a few lively topics around here on the subject of tamales, including a general one on making tamales, one on tamales with duck fat, another on tamales without lard, even one on the proper corn husks for tamales. This ain't the composed salad cook-off; most of us can't make a quick trip to the store, grab a few things, and prep, cook, and serve the dish within an hour. So let's start talking about prep, materials, fillings -- and what to do about that masa problem!

Charmaine Solomon has a Szechuan chicken with red chili dish that is a relative of General Tso's chicken and that I make a lot here. She deep fries the chicken with a light corn flour, five spice, S&P dredge. It's not a batter at all; the chicken just picks up a nice crunch.

Thanks -- the Gourmet gang makes the exact same recommendation. There's a "European" market here (Eastern European and Russian) that I'm going to check out for them, too. Absolutely!

Had a nice fried clam platter at Horton's in East Providence, but the clams were really running small. Our waitress was kind enough to go through the clams to find ones with the largest bellies, but they weren't particularly big. I also noticed that the clams on Jason's plate look pretty wee. This begs the question: are the clams running small this year? Or is this a seasonal thing? johnnyd, care to weigh in?

I pulled down the Gourmet Cookbook to find a basic potato gratin to serve tonight with a sage roasted chicken and roasted green beans, and I found something very different: Jansson's temptation (Janssons frestelse), a Swedish dish that layers potatoes atop onions mixed with chopped anchovies. Here's what it looked like coming out of the oven: I chose the dish because the combination of potatoes and anchovies has always been something I enjoy. In fact, it's probably true that I like to have salade nicoise primarily because I like to eat a well-boiled potato with a slab of anchovy, some pepper, and a bit of garlicky vinaigrette. However, I'm not aware of other dishes that combine potatoes with anchovies, and my fantasies about potatoes roasted in olive oil and rosemary and drizzled with an anchovy dressing need to be addressed. What other dishes fuse potatoes and anchovies? Or am I and Jansson alone here?

Thanks for the comments, folks. I do this regularly, as the house cook with a more-than-full-time job. Last night was a bit much, though: after three nights with little sleep, I spent six hours making a slew of Thai salads for guests arriving from the west coast! I'm not entirely sure why, either, but I have a few thoughts that I'll share next time. And cooking in a new kitchen (foreshadowing alert) particularly when you're cooking live for an audience of twenty is certainly interesting! Excellent comment, Milagai. I couldn't agree more.

I think Tina's need for disclosure is making her a bit restrained! Drew Shotts of Garrison Confections is a world-class chocolatier, and we're grateful to have him here! Seven Stars for bread and Garrison for chocolate: don't need much else!

One wonders whether that pork chop was the last one of the night twice.

You could see if you can find a Bradley smoker to rent somewhere. Then you could set it and forget it each day.

I'm no SSB, but my days as an engineering student suggest that an increase in mass requires an increase in energy to cook that mass, meaning longer cooking times. Yes? No?

Great post, Andrew. You've really captured the feeling for me. Can you say a bit about what food you were there to talk about?