Jason Perlow

Scott, but the thing is, we don't have a world without saffron or a world without salt. We live in the world we live in. Salt is cheap and I speak of it loftily. So is bacon and pork fat. By the way, there was a time when salt was NOT cheap. Entire empires, such as the ancient Lebanese sea traders and the entire port nation of Sicily was built on it. Same with black pepper. Tell that to the Spanish!!!

I really like the new Cheddar-Jack flavor of Cheeze-ITs. http://www.kelloggs.com/cheez_it Frankly I'm a huge fan of processed cheese anything, including Easy Cheese, PortWineCheeseFood, and Cheese-filled Combos. Particulary the Pizza flavor.

We keep ours in the tin in the baggie in our cupboard. Hasn't affected potency in the 3 years we've had it. I would imagine though you want to keep the saffron dry, not moist.

That does sound like a good deal. Iranian Saffron has a higher coloration strength than Spanish saffron -- it tastes a little different, not necessarily better, just different. I've had it in ice cream flavored with Saffron and rosewater, it adds a nice flavor to it.

In case anyone wants to buy some from that vendor, its Ole Ole Warehouse in Newark, NJ. They do a pretty big mail order business. http://www.oleolefoods.com We bought that container in 2002, so the price may have gone up. EDIT: They are actually listing their saffron as "Mancha" grade, which is better than regular Superior grade because it is grown in La Mancha, which is the best region in Spain for Saffron. They sell it in the same tin now for $42.50, which I think is about the same price we paid. Saffron at OleOleFoods.com

I know.. it looks like I'm doing something very illegal, doesn't it.

Or is it because you're British and the French are a bunch of....

Or the pink volcanic stuff from Hawaii.

That might be only about 1 ounce in that container total. We did buy it at wholesale prices though. EDIT: I checked the original post by Rachel Here, where we bought it. Its only an ounce, not four ounces. An ounce of saffron, however, is an awful lot.

Now I know why I'm not a Cooks Illustrated subscriber!

Fatmat, perhaps if you understood how much labor actually goes into producing a reasonable quantity of saffron, you'd know why its so expensive and highly valued. The pistils from the Crocus flower have to be picked entirely by hand, each flower only produces three, and you need hundreds of thousands of saffron threads to produce a kilogram worth of spice. Saffron produces a flavor that cannot be replicated with any other ingredient. Its highly prized in Spanish and Italian and Middle Eastern cuisine. You may hate it, but there's millions of people that absolutely treasure it for its flavor.

Be it as it may -- I'm really interested in trying some of Daisy Martinez's dishes, from the show Daisy Cooks on PBS. Daisy is an avowed saffron hater, and she makes Latino-cised versions of some of the Spanish favorites. She uses Achiote Oil to fry rice, pasta, etc, and then adds chicken stock. Apparently Achiote has a very strong flavor, different from saffron, but it pairs well with many of the dishes that call originally for saffron and it is used in Mexican, Puerto Rican and other latino cuisine. I think it would be interesting to try as a variant but I can't imagine it as a complete substitute.

I guess that it's safe to leave salt out then... ← You can totally leave salt out of a paella because the things you inevitably put in it are pretty salty -- sausage, seafood, etc. Saffron? No way.

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. Me, I am -majorly- disappointed when I dine at a Spanish restaurant and I have a Paella or Arroz con Pollo and discover that they didn't use saffron and used something like tumeric. Its enough to turn me away from a place completely.

Well, salt is important, but it's dirt cheap. The thing about saffron is that you can't omit it in the dishes that really call for it. Ditto on the risotto milanese -- I mean can you really have a proper Osso Bucco without it?

Saffron, totally. Its a question of scarcity.

No, I disagree. You can't make good spanish arroz con pollo or paella valenciana without it. Achiote and Tumeric will only do so much, and its not authentic.

I think you need to go to a reputable vendor to get good Spanish saffron. We buy ours from a Spanish importer in Newark, NJ, and buy a whole tin at a time, for about $40. This is a picture of the tin that we use. Immediately after opening the tin you get hit with a very intense saffron aroma. EDIT: Its a one ounce tin.

Actually I think one year Fat Guy brought a 1-liter bottle of Soju with him and we did shots with Cecil, so feel free. I don't think the staff begrudges free booze! I'll probably bring a few sixers of Tsingtao with me...

Matthew, are you going to be bringing any wine or beer? I plan to bring some beer and a few bottles of Riesling.

I'm not sure what the saffron tastes like that comes from the crokus flowers that grow in Azerbaijan, but the really good stuff comes from Spain. Personally I like a lot of saffron, Rachel not so much. We use "Superior" grade saffron from Spain, its the second highest grade you can acquire -- the highest is Mancha. Saffron goes particularly well with rice, espcially when soaked in chicken stock and used as the cooking liquid. Paella and Arroz con Pollo are the two dishes for really benchmarking Saffron. In South American cultures Achiote is used as a substitute for Saffron in dishes that call for it, some people actually like it better.

Foursquare is nice, as is Cruzan.

Yes Spinner, thanks! Looking forward to seeing you there.

Spinner, we'll be issuing periodic status reports about seat avaliability. We currently have seats for approximately 50 people.

We had breakfast at like 9am, but we didn't have any lunch, in anticipation of the evening's gluttony. I beleive a proper pairing would be the soft drink of your choice, but its possible that Philly has a local soft drink.