Chris Amirault

Jason, do you have a few preferred recipes?

I'm down with johnnyd's plan and will bring the camera along to Flo's when next we go. I have to disagree here. Clams should not be de-necked. It's like taking the head off a whole fish before cooking. You are creating a gash from which many juices can escape! The Thirsty Whale in Bar Harbor does not deneck its clams, and I have been to many places where they served a whole bellied but denecked clam, and they are just not as tender and juicey. ← This reminded me of one of my favorite food moments growing up. When I was a wee boy, My Mainer grandfather would bite off the bellies and give me the necks, claiming that his dentures prevented him from chewing the tougher bits. Even at a tender young age, I was the confident Bostonian visiting the local Maine yokels, thinking that I was getting the prime cut. It wasn't until later that I realized that, like most other confident Bostonians visiting the local Maine yokels, I was being screwed.

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 seventh Cook-Off, due to an overwhelming campaign by a lurking group of Greek cuisine fans, we're going to be making mousssaka. And listen up: y'all have some work to do! When it comes to moussaka, it's all Greek to me! I cannot find a single solid lead on an eGullet thread concerning moussaka. In addition, I cannot find a recipe for moussaka in RecipeGullet. Finally, I've never had nor cooked this dish, and the only cookbook I have that includes it (our own Paula Wolfert's great book on The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean) is explicitly non-traditional. So, as in any decent democracy in the wake of a power-shift, the reigns must now be handed over to you, my moussaka-loving friends, to guide us through the pleasures of this fine dish. Tell us, what exactly is it? What produced your eager advocacy? How does it address the cook-off criteria? What are its classic forms? What links might guide us? What recipes do you use? What techniques can we learn? Info! Photos! Opinions! Sing, Goddesses!!

Just wanted to add that the Al Forno caponata recipe, which includes grilled eggplants (and makes enough for an army), is outstanding. I've tweaked it over the years; if anyone's interested, let me know and I'll post my revision.

Thanks for sharing that and bringing us back to your blog, Brooks. Of course, anyone who would post to this thread crossed that line a while back!

Susan, that's what I was thinking of when I proposed this thread....

Photos! And what in the world is "green tomato mincemeat"? I gotta know......

I'm dying to see this.....

Great line... (worth perfecting). Though I'm half afraid that the analogy to foie gras will bring in swooping anti-foie partisans to see if eating clam bellies should be banned for the masses... ← I've tried gavage with clams. Not worth the effort, believe me. For starters, I can't find their damned mouth.....

I am VERY eager to hear what folks have to say about this. Every coconut rice I've tried has been a gloopy mess. Tx, kangarool!

Blue and white! Are they enameled? I'd love to see them.... Leave it to you, Melissa, to post instantly an absolutely perfect example of what I was trying, marble-mouthed, to say! The idea that they are not only treasured but also integrated into a particular family holiday and ritual -- that's just wonderful.

Over in the fried chicken cook-off, several people have referenced their beloved, handed-down cast iron skillet. Coming from a household where my folks weren't very interested in cooking, I felt a sense of envy for such a thing. Last night, my partner Andrea's folks and grandmother came to Providence to visit their new granddaughter, Bebe Esme Castañeda. They brought with them a magical item: Andrea's great-grandmother's molcajete from Mexico via Bisbee, AZ. It's got to be at least eighty or ninety years old, and has the look of an item that was used hard and well for decades. It's hard to explain the power of a thing, but as I held it in my hands, I felt honored that we were being given it. We're known as cooking nuts (what a surprise -- ), so this was not meant as a trinket to keep in a dusty hutch. Everyone knew it was ours to use. I'll bet that many other eGulleteers have similar items, a utensil worn smooth from a grandparent's hands for which they now reach daily, say, or a pot dented but still perfect for a family favorite meal. I'd love to hear about and see them. edited to add photo -- ca

I haven't been to all the places that people have mentioned, but I've been to many of them. My votes: Best in MA: the Clam Box in Ipswich (though Jasper White's Summer Shack serves a damned fine fried clam). Best in RI: Flo's on the Newport/Portsmouth line. We're going Sunday, first trip of the season, bay-bee!! Clam strips are lousy calimari for people who once had a bad clam. Blech. Clam bellies are the foie gras of the Atlantic. I pity the fool who won't eat them. edited to perfect the Mr. T reference -- ca

Oh, man, now I'm really envious!!

Bill Russell (not NulloModo -- sorry!) is currently going for five courses on this thread, in fact. edited twice for a typo and an error -- ca

More or less the same here in Rhode Island. My thyme is getting going, but my two rosemary bushes seem to be kaput....

Now that's pretty pessimistic, my friend! Surely you have some old linens, clothing, or children that you could move for more storage space! Why you'd still buy that brand is beyond me. Yogurt taste? Texture? Quality? Some silly reason like that? You probably would even buy the topless Yoplait, with those insane inverted cone cups, if it tasted good, wouldn't you? Fanatic.

So, let me get this straight: you're saying that the structural integrity of your home shouldn't be compromised because of a fetish for small bowls? Huh. Interesting perspective. Can't quite see it, though....

Assuming that that is not a rhetorical question -- and of course it should not be! -- the answer is that one can never have enough 1 c containers with lids that snap shut. Think of the uses! Which is to say, ought you not collect both yogurt cups and cute little ramekins? Yogurt cups for daily use, and ramekins for company!

Huh? You mean great sex shouldn't involve hand-written instructions with step-by-step diagrams? Come again...?

Oh man, you're opening a can of worms, Melissa! As the family cook, I definitely have my moments of tossing stuff together when it's gotta be on the table in twenty minutes. Having said that.... I am a mise en place fanatic most of the time. I don't just mean that I'm organized. Here, look at this photo: Now, you might think that this is my little attempt at impressing eGulleteers, at pretending I'm down with Bourdain and his meez philosophy in Les Halles. Sure, I'd like you to believe that, but it's simply not so. Yes, this is what my kitchen island looks like most of the times I'm cooking. But don't be too complimentary: this may be a sickness, a sort of mise en place obsession. Some evidence : Note the absurd number of little bowls -- including the stack at the ready on the right. That's the tip of the iceberg: I have literally five or six times that number in my kitchen in aluminum alone. Andrea has to slap my hand at yard sales. "But, honey, that two cup bowl we have at home doesn't have a wide enough base," I whine. <WHACK> Also, you can count three cutting boards just in this image. There are many more lurking in cabinets, depending on the different cutting tasks required. And we're not talking about keeping kosher, folks; this is nowhere near as rational a system as that. Finally, perhaps you look at this and think, "Pretty organized!" Feh! I spit in your general direction. This, slacker, is a titanic mess. I mean, the bowls aren't arranged by their use in the recipe! And why is that daikon sitting off to the right? Two pairs of chopsticks? How wasteful is that?!? Why hasn't that gochuchang been spooned into its own little dish? Huh?!? This is bad -- but I'm worse, way, way worse, at other people's houses. I once wrenched a chef's knife out of someone's hands because he was doing such a terrible job "mincing" a clove of garlic; who wants to witness that crime against food? I cannot hide the horror on my face as the onions quickly darken to black and my so-called friend is yakking away while she pries open a can of tomatoes. I truly believe that the embrace of mise en place is a morally superior gesture, and that rejection of mise en place is morally suspect. I know. I should seek help. But are there others out there with my curse?

Oh, this is so great.... I'm dying to watch this unfold. Hope your karma shifts, Bill. Given what happened to your microwave, you might want to get another chinois to keep on hand.....

Now that is why eGullet is fantastic. Wonderful post, Lan4Dawg.

I think auntdot's pairing of pate and cornichon is key here. A good pickle transforms other kinds of food (often rich, fatty, intense foods) in a way that few other things can. As an example, I offer you a simple onion pickle to make your Mexican food happier: slice red onion into slim rings, squeeze a couple of juicy limes on them, toss some kosher salt with them, and let 'em sit for an hour or so. I made hamburgers with chipotle rub, pepper jack cheese, tomato, cilantro, and avocado for dinner tonight. It was fine -- until you added those wonderful pickles, and each bite was drippy heaven. Stick those puppies on your nachos; crunch them with some rice and beans; bury them in your burritos. Then you tell me if pickles are still second-rate foods, my silly, pickle-avoiding friend.

Um... no. Not a one of which I'm aware. Zip. However, You can do Penzey's mail order, but you can't do the North End mail order, andStephen already did your homework for you on the NE neighborhoods thread.