Jason Perlow

Yeah yeah. Have you gentiles from New Hampshire considered untying the wire thats holding your jaws together?

Today I headed over to the local Target to buy a Senseo unit, because as Rachel doesn't drink coffee, I'm frequently seeking a quick one cup of coffee fix in the morning without having to boil a whole pot of water and commit to priming my Bodum vacuum press, and end up having to drink iced coffee later in the afternoon -- and then remembering to drink it before it goes bad. I was immediately blindsided by the fact that the Melitta One:One Coffee Pod machine, which normally retails for $50-$70, is on a blowout sale currently at my Target (Hackensack NJ) for $25. I simply couldn't pass this up. A gentleman in the aisle who already owned a Melitta unit was buying another Melitta for his daughter going to college told me that the Senseo-type pods work fine in the Melitta, but require slight scrunching as they are wider but not as deep -- so I bought some of those as well and tested them this evening. My general impression is that the Melitta brand pods themselves are a bit weak tasting, but the Senseo pods used in the Melitta work quite well and taste pretty good, for the type of regular American-style coffee it makes (despite the fact that the manual says evil things will happen to you if you don't use Melitta pods -- note that unlike the new Senseo units, the Melitta does not produce a froth or a crema, its just a good, regular American coffee). From what I have read on the Web, the only caveat apparently of using Senseo pods in a Melitta is that you have to make sure that there is no Pod material overlapping the rim of the pod holder, otherwise you might get spillage. If you can get one of these things at your Target for $25 its a good deal. The Senseo-type coffee pods are pretty much ubiquitous, and you can order 3rd-party ones with more interesting premium coffee (as well as tea pods) elsewhere.

Eagle Rare 10 Year Old -- by far one of the best small batch bourbons out there. Bulleit Bourbon Frontier Whiskey -- really smooth stuff, and has cool packaging as well, and an interesting history. George Dickel Special Barrel Reserve (10 year) -- This is technically Tennessee Whiskey, not Bourbon, because its filtered through sugar maple charcoal, but its a great spirit just the same. If you can find a bottle of this stuff -- only a small amount from this small producer becomes their Special Reserve. Dickel is the only other distiller besides Jack Daniels that has the distinction of being Tennessee Whiskey -- and in my opinion its a much, much better whiskey than Jack Daniels.

Turkey stuffing is great for making "Thanksgiving Sandwiches" -- Two slices of bread, some reheated turkey meat, some reheated stuffing, some cranberry sauce, and gravy.

You've been traumatized Marlene. I feel sorry for you, I really do.

Kill them, hopefully prior to them reproducing. It becomes more problematic when these types of people are your relatives, and if they are constantly going thru different types of diet phases and they force this type of stuff on you because they feel their bizarre diet has to be experienced by everyone. Just refuse to eat it and protest until they finally begin to understand that you will refuse to tolerate it. And if that doesn't work, beat them over the head with a large bludgeoning instrument until they die, cut them up into little peices with a hacksaw and bury them in your backyard. You'll do at least 30 years in prison (provided you don't live in Texas or Florida, and then you'll probably get the death penalty) but as I understand it, they make an excellent pumpkin pie during Thankgsiving at the SuperMax.

Here's a photo of the "dreaded" White Castle Hamburger stuffing It was a HUGE hit with our hosts.

Here are the Roasted Brussels with Bacon, Bacon Grease and Apple

Le Turkey Le Turkey Carved, with Gravy Sweet Potato Fries Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Apple Cornbread Dressing The Infamous White Castle Hamburger Stuffing

I would imagine the stills and what not are salvageable and can be cleaned, but they are going to essentially need to start from scratch with their barrels. I am sure they can produce a new white rum fairly quickly, but Cane was a 3 to 5 year blend aged spirit. We're probably not going to see another aged spirit of Cane's quality from them until at least 2009 or 2010 -- this is providing after they collect insurance money, they decide not to fold the business entirely. I have several bottles of Cane and New Orleans Amber left from when I last went down and bought a case back in 2003. I'm not so keen to drink them now. Some of the liquor stores on the 'net probably still have some current stock -- if you want this rum I would order some now before the stock is gone.

Spinach Dip. Its cooked spinach blended with sour cream and a knorr mix.

For Thanksgiving, NPR has a nice audio segment online related to this book, with some of its contributors: Don't Try This at Home (NPR)

Tragic news from Celebration Distillation:

Tragic news from New Orleans Rum:

Fascinating. But what about Sichuan Peppercorn? The "real" version doesn't have it either?

If any of you -really- want to see what kind of destruction the levee break did, check out the before and after shots of what happened to Sid-Mars: Sid-Mars: Before and After (Google Maps) After looking at the map, hit the red "Katrina" button on the upper right of the page.

Botrytiscised and Dessert wines should be part of 201. Sauternes/Sweet Semillons, Icewines, Late Harvests (TbA, etc), Muscats, Ports and other dessert reds (Banyuls, Madiera, etc). Understanding Champagnes and Sparkling Wine (NM/CM/MA vs RM, Prosecco/Spumante, Cava, domestic M.C. etc) (EDIT: I see you have this planned for 101)

Use lots of stock. More than what a recipe calls for if it's supposed to be stuffed in the cavity. The whole deal with stuffing flavor is replacing the moisture that is lost from having the bread dried out (you have to start with dried out bread or you don't get the correct texture -- this is why I think your basic bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix is a good place to start, as it really is just dried bread cubes with some dried spices added) with either bird juices or stock. I would use a turkey stock or a strong chicken stock, and if you are using fresh herbs, use 2 or 3 times the amount as dried herbs. If the stock is not salted, liberally add salt and pepper. A combination of sauteed Fresh and reconstituted dried mushrooms (which you can put in the chicken stock to bring them back to life) as well as finely chopped sweated onions and sauteed celery is also going to add a lot of flavor to a stuffing/dressing.

Our turkey is just under 15lbs and we are feeding 7 people (Six adults, one voraciously hungry toddler). I was concerned we weren't going to have enough food, so this is being supplanted by a 20lb baked ham, however. Even with the side dishes and food other people are bringing, I'm extremely worried that people are going to go hungry. If we don't have enough for leftovers for at least a week I'll be devastated

I mentioned on another thread that I like to roast them on a baking sheet, whole if small, half if large, tossed with bacon drippings, chopped up bacon and cubed apples.

Bill Daley's piece based on this thread ran on the front page of the Chicago Tribune food section on Sunday: Shifting Courses

It is. Even people who claim to hate brussel sprouts love it.

No, its not necessary. Wash your brussel sprouts. If they are large, slice them in half, and toss then into a mixing bowl. If you are using the little flash frozen ones just toss them into a bowl from the package -- they taste just as good as the large ones in this dish. Now, cook the bacon. Render the grease out and pour some into the mixing bowl with the sprouts. Cube some apples (firm apple type, Granny Smith is good) toss in with the Sprouts and bacon grease. When the bacon is done cooking, chop up into bits, toss with the sprouts. Grind in some black pepper (if you use as much bacon as I do you won't need to add salt), toss again, and then throw the whole mess onto a baking sheet and cook in the oven until they start to caramelize, for about say, 30 minutes at 350. Put into casserole dish and reheat for 10 minutes just before meal. Edit: Jay, please forgive me, but I wanted this in here with your instructions... Roast the sprouts for about 40 minutes at 350-400 (depending on what temp you need your oven for other things), stirring/turning about halfway through. If your bacon is already very crisp, it can wait till the end, if not, add the diced apple & bacon at this point and roast for another 10 minutes. I think if you roast the apple the whole time the pieces will disappear into apple sauce and they may burn. You just want the apples soft. A sprinkle of apple cider vinegar is nice too.

I'm using the frozen ones, as they don't have ketchup on them or pickle to begin with. After a few email exchanges, the guys over at White Castle seem to think for the stuffing it probably doesn't make much of a difference. There will still be plenty of moisture in the stuffing since it will be stuffed in the bird. When we made some as a test run the other day, we used more chicken stock than called for when we baked it in a dish. We also add sauteed mushrooms and more sage than they call for, plus salt, since we don't salt the chicken stock when we make it.

Lets see... its going to be a joint effort this year, and we are going to be spending it at a friends house, the Kims. Rachel and I will supply the following: Empire Kosher Turkey, breasts topped with bacon, stuffed with White Castle Stuffing, with Gravy Freshly Smoked Whole Ham (made at Stickey's BBQ and picked up Thursday morning) Pepperidge Farm Stuffing/Dressing Medley (hey they were on sale... gotta try them all) Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Apple Some sort of dessert from Patisserie Sainte Michel, probably one of the seasonal Creme Brulee tarts, maybe pumpkin flavor, although I am leaning towards either Mango or a cranberry/walnut something. My friends are Chinese/Korean, so they will be supplying various Asian side dishes and appetizers. And mashed potatoes/sweet potatoes.