Jason Perlow

The version at Wu Liang Ye contains minced pork. Of course, they bill theirs as "Dan Dan Noodles with Roasted Chili Viniagrette", something that WLY does quite often. Spicy, redolent of Sichuan peppercorns, and oh so good. Just had some today and noticed they use quite a bit of garlic too. Soba ← I'm pretty sure the one at Grand Sichuan International Midtown is also with minced pork. I've had both the Wu Liang Ye and GSI versions, both are very good.

I found this on Mexigrocers.com: http://www.mexigrocers.com/dairy.htm So it might not be good for a paella.

Well, as I said, I bought it at a mexican grocery and it was alongside fresh mexican-style chorizo, and it is a fresh sausage. So I'm not sure if "Longaniza" as the Mexicans define it is the same as the way Iberians define it.

Recently, at a mexican grocery, I bought some freshly made "Longaniza". This was sold alongside the regular fresh chorizo. Is this sausage more similar to a Spanish-style or Portuguese chorizo? I'm thinking of throwing it into a paella with chicken.

I'd go with Sam's recommendation -- or I'd do someting latino/spanish style like Arroz con Pollo -- Rice, Chicken, Peas, carrots, onion, thats basically all you need for a good one. That can feed a ton of people. Saffron is kinda expensive unless you have some, so you might want to pick up a packet of the Goya spice mix for the chicken/rice. If you want to get totally crazy to go along with the main dish, use some of those potatoes and make some shoestring french fries/papa frita and buy some some kale/greens and garlic and sautee them up with some salt and pepper to balance out the starch. Start the whole thing off with a nice green salad, I mean basically here your main expense is gonna be the chicken, some rice (dont tell me you dont have any!) and the produce. Dessert... Flan? Cheap ingredients -- eggs, sugar, dairy, thats it. The labor intensive part is making the custard and the caramel sauce from the sugar. If latino is not your thing you should check out the Moroccan Tagines thread in Cooking, that would go good with some of your couscous and spare veggies, and your apples and oranges. As it is noted, you don't actually need to own a tagine to make a tagine, its basically just a middle eastern/north african variation on stew. Moroccan Tagine Cooking

I sometimes get the Chifles brand at work, I like them a lot. 99 cents and you get a decent sized bag of them too. http://www.chifles-chips.com/ They are made from Costa Rican plantains in Tampa, Florida. The bag design is very retro and it looks like they havent changed the look of it for like 30 years! Chifles slices the plantains lengthwise and then fries them, so they are more of a fried "strip" than a chip. Although, come to think of it, they appear to have "chips" listed as opposed to the "strips" I can get in our coffee shop/lunchroom. While they are primarily bought by the NY and Miami latino population, they happen to be labeled Kosher Pareve... for those of you kosher chip fiends. I'd like to figure out how exactly they can certify the chips as Pareve though, considering they also have a fried pork rind product!

Did they have anything new and interesting on display yet? I love the Englewood store... great stuff. Major pain to park there during normal business hours, though. They carry the full Abeles and Heymann product line, too.

How can we be talking about Passover if its not even Purim yet? We should be reviving the hamentashen thread! Hamentashen (click)

I'm going to say any $7 prosecco is probably going to be better than Cooks.

Yeah, I'm in agreement with that as well. I'm glad to hear the Malnati's expansion locations have good quality control -- FWIW, I've only been to the original location and the Elk Grove one.

The ORIGINAL Lou Malnati's in Lincolnwood (or #2 n Elk Grove) and the ORIGINAL Uno location on 29 E. Ohio St (does it still exist in its original form now that the company has re-named itself?) . Everything else is just an imitation.

Tracey: If there is to be one, it has to be coordinated with one of the NJ forum hosts. If you'd like to plan an eG event, please review the How to eG events and Calendar guide policy. Rosie, Rachel, Marlene or I would be happy to assist you with this. As this first event has run its course, and it did so prior to the institution of the new policy, I'm closing this one down so that planning for a second event can be done in a new thread when (and if) that event has been approved. Thank you for your understanding.

fauxtarga: I wouldn't use the term "league". Keller is definitely in the same "league" as the others you mention, in terms of success as a chef/restauranteur, the only difference is that if he WANTED to be on TV constantly and to over-commercialize his image he certainly could, without any difficulty whatsoever. Keller has had a few products over time that have been marketed with his name on it, but they haven't really been hugely successful. I think its simply a case of the mass marketing that needs to be done in order to have a successful product line as a celebrity chef, and he hasn't been able to or refuses make himself do that. Achatz is not in the same "league" as Keller, Lagasse and Puck because he doesn't own several restaurants. Alinea is to be his first, with considerable financial backing from 2 partners. I have no doubt however he'll be at Keller's level in 10=15 years, though. He's still very young.

Mole Poblano.

Rhum Clement is a great rum -- I've had a single bottle that I have been nursing for several years, I'm glad to hear that one has now made its way to the US.

Doesn't Dan Dan Mian usually contain ground pork? Peanut butter... now thats an interesting addition. I guess yours is more like the standard peanut noodles you get at chinese takeout places?

Welcome to the site, jheinecke! I'll have to try your cookie recipes shortly.

Migdalia's in Bergenfield: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=59014

If the food is just "passable" that means that there's been a visible decline in quality since the place first opened. Since I haven't been back since my last post, and they've gone thru at least one change of chef, its certainly plausible. I have also heard thru one source that Kratiem may have switched owners recently as well, but I don't have that confirmed.

SOME of the dishes have French overtones in them. The Thai dishes themselves are the same. Thai Chef features their signature dessert, the chocolate souffle, whereas Kratiem does not. I think once you've had the chocolate souffle though, you don't really need to order it again, unless you are absolutely in love with that dessert. I can't argue with you about the ambiance, but that's not a huge determining factor for me.

Actually, if you're going to use that argument, I'd rather end up at Kratiem. The prices are cheaper and the food is almost exactly the same.

In terms of easy to find chips that are particularly good -- I'm quite fond of the Cape Cod brand "Robust Russets". All they are is just Russet potatoes that have been cooked in vegetable oil with some salt added. The chips come out a darker brown color, almost burnt looking, with a deep caramelized potatoey flavor. Russet potatoes, unlike white potatoes, contain higher amounts of sugar, so thats why they get that caramelized flavor. Apparently they have a "Whole Earth" version of the chip which is cooked in Canola Oil (no trans fats) with reduced sodium. I'll have to try them and compare.

Baba Au Jamesons? With a Guinness chocolate sauce or creme anglaise? Topped with white chocolate four leaf clovers with green food coloring?

I don't agree with that at all. Its a horrid location because it is an extremely busy parking lot during the day and evening. The Englewood Shop Rite is one of the busiest supermarkets in the entire area for a number of reasons, because it has a huge Kosher selection and a lot of ethnic goods a lot of other stores don't carry -- and thus it's hard to get parking there for lunch or for dinner because you are competing with the people shopping at Shop Rite and all the other stores in that strip mall. Just trying to shop at Shop Rite during prime hours is a major source of aggravation for me, let alone getting a parking space for Thai Chef. We usually end up at Shop Rite at 10PM when you are guaranteed to get a parking space. Maybe. I've been told by the stockboys in the produce section that the ideal shopping hours are like 2am-4am there. Yes, the food is pretty good. But I wouldn't say their prices are moderate. Its more expensive than either Saigon Republic or Wondees and most of the other places in town, and I can get better Thai/asian food at either of those two restaurants -- so if you take that into consideration with the parking hassles stated above, its probably why we never end up there.

Pull the meat off the bones and put it into freezer bags, then throw the carcass into the freezer to use for soup stock later. The pulled roasted meat can then be used for Vietnamese summer rolls, tossed into a salad, thrown into soup, spring rolls, etc.