Chris Amirault

Like PR, the discussion about the subject matter is pretty intelligent. Listening to the chefs intro the dishes is fascinating. I was surprised Ken got the boot. That plate of chopped veggies seemed appalling.....

Driving up and down I-95, I definitely see a lot of McD's, BK, etc. on those signs, but there's usually a local indy on there, too.

Holly, I've heard tell that the big corporations can buy blocks of these signs, basically insuring that their product appears on every one of them it can, whereas mom and pop often get squeezed out. Makes sense, but do you know if it's true at all?

You are correct, sir!

No clams in Australia? I'm thinking that tomorrow night we may need to make an ethnographic trip out to Iggy's Clam Shack for some visual aids.

The US Beef folks (click) define the deckle as the "fat and lean between the bone and the main muscle" of a brisket.

Not much better than Niman Ranch for the swine. And Paula's recipe for garlic sausages looks pretty damned great to me.

Nathan, can you say a bit about what's going on here? What's the charcoal for?

If I were in town, I'd hit Wolfert, Nathan, and Grace Young. I think Breath of the Wok is a remarkable book; I get the sense she's a remarkable person.

Just so's weah cleah: clam cakes in RI means clam fritters, deep-fried walnuts of clammy goodness. It's the classic side for chowdah heah.

Folks, another reminder. This is not a thread about diseases but about food allergies and dislikes. Period. Please stick to the subject at hand -- and, as you do, keep in mind that for many members matters of health and well-being can be tricky indeed. Thanks in advance.

With chowdah? Clam cakes, of course!

Damn, Brooks, you're in poor form. You didn't even mention pickled okra.

Rhode Island Clam Cakes Serves 6 as Side. Rhode Island clam cakes aren't cakes. They aren't like crab cakes, either. They're savory fritters, sort of like hushpuppies with chopped clams, intended to be served as the primary side for clam chowder in the Biggest Little State in the Union, Rhode Island. They're also seriously addictive no matter where you live. This recipe uses quahogs (KOH-hogs), the titanic east coast clam that is steamed, chopped, and served in chowder, stuffies, and clam cakes. You can substitute cherrystones, if you'd like, but the sweetness of littlenecks is wasted here. And don't use steamers, please. Really. Trust me. Once you've got your batter down, you can fiddle with it a bit (bacon, scallions, corn kernels). But don't get all nouvelle. These are meant to be salty, greasy, hearty explosions of slightly briny, slightly corny crunch, with nuggets of chewy clam in each bite. This recipe is adapted from two excellent cookbooks: Jane and Michael Stern's 1986 Real American Food and Jasper White's Cooking from New England (1989). 5 lb quahogs or cherrystones in the shell 2 tsp baking powder 2 c AP flour 1 c johnnycake or corn meal 3 eggs, beaten 1 c milk 4 T butter, lard, or bacon fat, melted salt pepper corn or peanut oil for deep frying 1. Steam the clams in a scant cup of water just until they open. Chop the clam meat roughly, salt and pepper it liberally, and set it aside. Strain the clam juice (the steaming water) through a wet paper towel or cheesecloth and set it aside, too. 2. Combine the dry ingredients well; combine the eggs, milk, 1/2 c of the clam juice (save the rest just in case), and melted fat well. Pour the wet into the dry and combine until smooth, then fold in the chopped clams. 3. Put the batter into the fridge for an hour or so; you want to soften up that corn meal. Meanwhile, heat a couple of inches of the oil to 375F in a deep fat fryer, cast iron skillet, or dutch oven. When you take out the batter, it should be thicker than pancake batter but not so thick that it won't fall easily from your spoon. If it's too thick, just add a bit of the clam juice. 4. Drop, ever so carefully, the batter into the oil, one heaping tablespoon at a time. Don't crowd them; you want that oil to surround the cakes comfortably. Fry for 2-3 minutes until the clam cakes are golden brown. Serve immediately while hot with chowder. Keywords: Side, Appetizer, Seafood, Intermediate, American, Deep Fryer ( RG1656 )

The next time someone sees these at a store, get the contact info (name, address, phone, web) and then we can try to find out what's what. And I must say, highchef, that shrimp loaf sounds vaguely fecal to me. Then again, I have an infant daughter, so my mind tends in that direction.

Head's up: Jen's two recipes from this post are now in RecipeGullet: BC Ferries Clam Chowder and Princess Mary Clam Chowder. Enjoy!!

Mix unless you want a crumbly texture. If you want some bind -- that wonderful toothy solidity a good sausage has, loose or stuffed -- then you want the mix, nice and cold, for sure.

Hi Folks! We've decided that the thread hasn't really focused on cooking, so we've moved it here to General Food Topics. Let's continue to stay right on the topic of food allergies and dislikes. Thanks much.

Do you have to make the cut before you cook the taters? Or can you do it when they're done?

I think Chad hit the nail on the head. I've got the EdgePro and it's fantastic. I had taken my knives to all manner of injurious cretins, and I realized that I was paying people to ruin the most important things in my kitchen. But I'm an injurious cretin myself, so the thought of learning how to freehand seemed even worse. The EdgePro is not at all an overly complicated gadget. It's actually really simple once you learn how to set up the edge guides. More importantly, I feel like I understand my knives much better than I ever did, in large part thanks to Chad's course linked above. Finally, as Chad mentions, the intimidation associated with the entire process is long gone. I also save bags of cash. Not to mention the knives themselves.

Makes me proud to see such a wide array of sparkling fats. In my fridge, I've got duck fat, schmaltz, bacon fat, fat back, lard, ghee, and of course butter. If you haven't done so already, check out fifi's recipe for rendering lard, which works nicely for other kinds of skin-on fat rendering, too. Just did some duck skin this way, in fact.

I went to Whole Foods today to ask the fishmonger if he had quahogs. He said, "Um, yeah, we've got those. ... Steamers, right?" Thanks to Sam and Susan, I had the "palm of my hand" simile ready to go. But for fuck's sake, is it asking too much of a Whole Foods fish salesman to know what a quahog is? In Providence? In New England? Yeesh.

Curing Lop Yuk (Chinese Bacon) Lop yuk or Chinese bacon is a fantastic ingredient in a number of Chinese dishes, most notably Naw Mai Fon or Chinese sticky rice (Click here for Russell Wong's great recipe). It's also great simply sautéed in scrambled eggs. To see a few photos, click here. To participate in a topic devoted to curing lop yuk, click here. To prepare lop yuk you'll be doing some dry curing, which requires a few special things. First, you'll need dry curing salts a.k.a. DC or DQ #2; I get mine from Butcher Packer in Detroit MI. You'll also need a dry (under 50% humidity) and cool (under 60F) place to hang the lop yuk to cure -- on a porch, covered by cheesecloth, if your weather is perfect! -- and a little fan for air circulation is a good idea. Finally, plan for about ten to twelve days of curing, start to finish. One final note. Multiple batches of lop yuk testify to the fact that using a quality shaoxing wine in this recipe makes a significant difference. Most decent Chinese markets should have non-salted shaoxing available for about $7-10. If you cannot find such shaoxing, then cooking (that is to say, salted) shaoxing can be used, but you should cut down on the added salt. Thanks to Ben Hong, jmolinari, Michael Ruhlman, and the folks at the Chinese American Market, on Park Ave in Cranston, RI, for their help in developing this recipe. 1-1/2 kg pork belly (about three pounds) 3 g DC #2 dry curing salt 10 g kosher salt 20 g sugar 60 g dark soy 60 g (light) soy 60 g shaoxing or sherry 1. Cut the pork belly into strips that are 2" wide and as long as the belly. You should not remove the skin. Strive for strips that are of consistent thickness, if possible. 2. Combine the dry and then the wet ingredients and mix well. (If you are using cooking -- that is to say, salted -- shaoxing, do not include the kosher salt.) 3. Place the pork belly strips in a large ziploc bag and add the marinade, mixing well. Marinate the pork for a day or two, moving the strips around occasionally to distribute the marinade. Remove the pork from the marinade and dry the strips with paper towels. Tie a 10-12" piece of kitchen twine at the top of each strip, and then tie the twine to your drying line. Hang the strips in your cool (60F or lower) and dry (50% humidity or less) area for seven to ten days. If the temperature or humidity rises a bit for a day or so, that should have no lasting effect. However, several days significantly over 50% humidity will slow things down quite a bit, and several days significantly over 60F temperature will be dangerous. When the strips are fully cured, they'll have lost that squishly feeling even at their fattest points and will feel firm but not utterly inflexible. You're going for the density of a good, firm salami: there should be a little give throughout the piece when you squeeze it, but anything even remotely mushy in the interior isn't ready yet. Once they are fully cured, you can store them in a cool, dry place (they'll drip lard if it gets too warm, by the way) or in the fridge or freezer for a good long while. Keywords: Intermediate, Pork, Chinese ( RG1652 )

Elie, that pancetta looks great. For my second batch (upstairs as I type) I stuck to the basic recipe, upping the sugar a tad but otherwise keeping all the ratios the same. I didn't brine because, well, when I went back to the shop the week after I delivered my lop yuk, I got praised to the skies. Turns out the brining wasn't necessary after all! I didn't want to screw around with salinity too much, particularly with a brine solution. As for "ribs on," the pork bellies I've been getting have been boned.

Your probably talking about the Sept. 12, 1994 "Annals of Advertising" article by Arthur Lubow. It discuses how Stolichnya tried to recapture the vodka market after Absolut began to dominate it. ← That's it exactly, Matt. Tx!