Carrot Top

Michelin Tires? In West Virginia? Fine food, indeed. Someone....recently gave me the name of a poem written (a quite serious poem, actually) about 'roadkill'. Will hunt it up and post it.

Ribbed green? I dunno, Nullo Modo....that might make me think of okra, and that would make me laugh, and then I would not be able to shout out my incantation correctly. But as you say, there is hope.

Mmm. I'll take a look at it. Was afraid to before, Cusina...but you obviously have survived it, so I will sally forth and test the waters. My mind kept wandering....Mr.Latte....Mr. Goodbar....Mr. Latte...I simply could not focus on who it was she was cooking for. Scared me. But Boeuf en Daube? Comfort food. Surely it is Mr.Latte who enjoys this sort of thing....not Mr. Goodbar. Uptown New York, you know. Scatters the mind.

Growing up in a house with a mother that did not cook, a Franco-American spagetti sandwich on white bread was a good thing that a seven-year old could make themselves...yes, that was a strange delicious treat for me, too! FFR....ice at the end of a drink? Ooooh....a huge icicle pulled off the side of the gutters at the end of a snowstorm is so much better....and has a, uh, 'bouquet' of dried leaves and rusty minerals to boot!

I'll tell you what bothers me about those rubber thingies though. The color. I've never seen them except in pig-tongue pink. And they are textured, aren't they? I have a sort of shocked memory of opening a kitchen drawer somewhere and seeing one stuck in the back...old and battered and somewhat gooey. Frightened me half to death! Maybe if someone came along and made them in 'cool' colors.....

You've put together a well-written and thorough piece about that book, Cusina. I honestly can not think of a question that I would ask...except perhaps what percentage of the recipes were actually interesting and do-able, to you. And...were they in any way 'different' than other recipes of the same sort you've seen elsewhere....or were they basically derivative or simple variations... Interesting how the 'style' of that book, to my mind, stands out over what substance it might enclose. Did the 'style' make the book appealing to people in general that have bought it and really enjoyed it, do you think? Or finally, was it the substance?

Thanks for the report, Marlena. I could see it, feel it, taste it and hear it, and yes, from here on forward in time will think of you as a little wild animal goddess. And also thanks for the link to your website. I had not seen it before, and it is quite a nice site.

Okra is just plain funny. It is little. It is an ugly green color. It is a pod, and not a pretty pod either...it has strange alien-looking ridges along it. Cut it open and slithery gook and seeds smile out at you. Its best value is as a conversation and/or ardent argument starter. Sometimes, it's even good to eat.

I realized that I hadn't seen Al's butt either (don't know why I didn't try harder) so logged back on and then realized that I had confused snowangel's butt with Susan's, who isn't on this thread, and whose butt I have never seen.... Must have been the tears of laughter making me type wrong. Or thoughts of butt are making me even more confused than usual. Sorry, snowangel. It is your butt that is beautiful. I can't compare Al's to it for obviously he has spread himself all over the countryside. But apparently it was fine.

Your butt is truly beautiful, Susan. And the title of this thread is pretty good, too.

It must be that whatever chemical is in anise is also in fennel and also in licorice root....for all these are used as teas in various cultures 'as a digestive aid' or to soothe the tummy. Yummy...they are all good. The licorice tea in particular is so sweet fresh from brewing that you can't believe you didn't forget, and put sugar or honey in it.

Very nice responses! We came up with a total of ten ways to open a jar...and that number does not count either of the options of sending Toliver flying around the country to open jars OR the option of my becoming a lady body-builder! ('Becoming a lady body-builder' has actually been on my list of Things To Do for some time, but somehow it keeps slipping to the bottom of the list... ) My own method is to take the Chinese cleaver and whack the jar with the back of it. If that doesn't work, you must shriek out a number of obscenities in a certain order at the top of your lungs at it. Sort of like the obscenities that one must also holler out when entering the West Side Highway on a Saturday evening from the Henry Hudson Parkway...in order to be taken seriously and let into the brawl that is called traffic. Usually this incantation will work. It scares the jar into opening. But you can't use this method with kids around....so I am glad of the other suggestions! Thanks! P.S. Cusina, I loved the way that thing seemed to be flying right off the page. You have a talent for photography!

OK, I've got one. Also from childhood. Bread Balls. Take a loaf of Wonder Bread. You might need the whole thing. Sit somewhere like the couch and do something mindless like watch TV. Take a slice of bread out and tear off the crusts (discard them or feed the birds). Then ball up each slice of bread into either one large ball or several small ones. Eat. Yum.

The book is 'The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews' by Edda Servi Machlin. It was set in Pitigliano, not Rome.... And thanks to both Pan and Gifted Gourmet for helping me remember (in another thread) the name of that wonderful book....! Amazon has it in stock...

I have searched on-line and can't find it. Will look when I toddle over to the bookstore or library later, but that won't do any good with a recipe for 'today'! This particular recipe came from a book on Jewish cuisine in the Roman ghetto. I daresay you don't have time to stop and read a recipe the way you're rolling along there, anyway! Salmon...is good however it is cooked!

I read this last night and tried to respond...but ran right up against a mountain. It was a mountain of thought that I ran up against, and it was not surpassable. What did I atone for?...I reached for humorous or interesting ideas but this particular one kept slamming into my mind. This morning, I've been able to go around the mountain and think of smaller lighter things, and will tell you what they are... and will also show you the mountain. The mountain was the thought that as I mow through the aisles of the grocery stores, loading my cart with this and that, assessing thousands of possibilities and having the means to do so and the plastic card to whirr through the POS machine at the cashier station that magically allows me to pay and walk out with overloaded bags....there are so many, too many others that can not do this. The mountain was the thought that as I tucked my children into bed, laughingly talking them out of one last cookie or carrot stick or drink or whatever....that there were others in the world with empty cupboards that were trying to soothe their own children to sleep, children that were raw and tired and worn and hopeless from hunger. So, I atone for the sin of not remembering this each day, and trying to do something, no matter how small, about it each day. The morning has brought these additional atonements: For the sin of calling any sort of food 'drek' For the sin of allowing my daughter to become addicted to individually wrapped Kraft American Cheese Slices For the sin of letting myself be talked into buying the jumbo size box of 'Oatmeal Cream Cakes' at the grocery store last week, and then lunging into the thing at every opportunity to eat another 600 calorie cookie with the resultant feeling of overstuffed sugary sickness For the sin of setting the cat's food outside where the possum thought it was his and thought the cat was his to eat, too And for the major sin of not keeping 'on topic' all the time on eGullet threads For these and many other sins, I do ask atonement.

That Tesco looks clean and well organized. I have to admit to something...whenever I have to travel through London, if there is enough time between planes, I hop onto the Underground to the closest stop, run out and find a place to find canned dog food to buy and take home. Much better flavors than we have here, I think. But anyway, on to People food. You've got me flummoxed as far as a recipe for the sweet and sour salmon. I know there isn't one in any of the books I now own (have given away many books over the years due to moving house too frequently). I do remember that it was poached in white wine, with onions, carrots, and raisins. Very gently sweet and sour. Hopefully Gifted Gourmet or bloviatrix will check into the blog and have a recipe for this? They have excellent collections and resources....

Oh, dear, Nullo Modo...I didn't mean to imply 'low-brow'. But when I see young children unwilling to taste a carrot without ranch dip, or an apple slice without caramel dip...it worries me...both in terms of whether they will ever want to approach the taste of something that comes from the earth 'au naturelle' without something else from a jar poured over it....and also, the idea of children becoming accustomed to the sort of quick-satisfaction mouth and tummy-feelings that come from the additions of fatty or sugary toppings to everything they eat, concerns me. Ranch is wonderful but addictive and can layer on the pounds just too darn quickly without anyone even really noticing they are doing it.

Here is one that makes me sort of blink several times and feel several emotions that I will not describe: There seems to be a burgeoning adoration of 'Ranch Dressing' by elementary school age children. The latest twist on this that's been reported to me by my daughter (in our fun ongoing discussions of eating habits at school lunchtimes) is: No, I can't say it. Okay... Pizza.....Pepperoni Pizza......dipped in Ranch Dressing while eating it.

You would have to purposely screw something up and take a photo of it, with an aghast look on your face and your arms flung in the air...to receive any suggestions on improving the cooking, methinks. I have occasionally wondered if some of the people on eGullet are actually creations of FatGuy's or jhlurie's imaginations....carefully crafted personalities with either marvelous or terrible cooking 'attitudes'....designed to incite interest or jealousy or admiration.....you would be in this category of characters...for really, I don't personally know anyone who bakes like that and can then take such photos of it, too... But I'll try in a minor way to discuss the cooking, as you asked. I've never had a bread that included chocolate that rose well, either. One wonders whether it is the sugar that is inhibiting the process or perhaps the cocoa butter? I just bought 'What Einstein Told His Cook' (lent out my copy of Harold McGee awhile ago and never got it back...). Will wander through the book to see if it says anything. Thank you for the excuse to lie around reading today.... How will you cook the salmon? Are you still aiming for a theme of what seems to be updated versions of traditional Jewish food? I love the sweet and sour salmon recipe....particularly the Italian version of it from the original historic Roman ghettos. We'll all hope for a sunny day for the party!

Um, hmm. Wise words. You certainly have the capabilities to turn the tables on them and invite them to a lunch that you have prepared....tit for tat....wonder what they would/could do for you then. A good bottle of wine is always helpful, and have a contract ready for them to sign. A pleasant fantasy, anyway.... Soba, a banetton is a basket which bread dough is placed into during its final rise....traditionally made of rush...basket material...but now found also in ceramic and other materials. It helps create the final shape and 'look' of the loaf...

Anyone who has mistakenly hit or even bumped a deer with their vehicle, knows that makes for nothing but an expensive repair to the car. Gosh, this isn't really about Road Kill, it's about a subject (the preparation and cooking of unusual sorts of wild game, which is quite traditional in rural areas of West Virginia among other states) being approached in a humorous, creative manner. It's about making a silk purse from a sow's ear. I would love to go to the festival, might try to do it this year. Some of the recipes sound really good if one does not approach them with a prejudiced attitude....I am sure the crowd attending will be both knowledgeable and fun to be around. Of course, if nothing suits to taste, there is always the Greenbrier Resort up the road a piece (also in West Virginia) to visit for dinner...one might find rabbit or venison on the menu there too but you'd have to dress up right to walk in to sit down for dinner....

Ouch, guys. As a former Executive Chef for a major investment bank, I can assure you that there are many places that don't serve that sort of drek...if the person ordering the meal does not request that sort of drek on the table. But on with the blog...I just had to spout that out.

I feel a thirst coming on. Nice writes. And it is coming to mind to wonder, too, since so many things Southern obviously are fueled by Coke, whether the musical drawl of the lingo is caused by consuming the beverage, also. We'll never know, though, will we. Who would stop drinking it long enough to bother conducting such a silly study....

Hmmm. Was that a professorial tactic to say you had no recipe and to send me off to hunt one up? It worked. Here's a recipe for Tourte aux Blettes....very very loosely phrased from a book on my shelves, Williams-Sonoma 'Savoring Provence'. It is not exactly the one I used to make...that one had olive oil in the pastry dough and salt pork in the body of the pie. Not kosher. Tourte aux Blettes: for one (11" round) tart Preheat oven to 400 F. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One (double) recipe rich shortcrust pastry made with butter, egg yolk, and sugar in the dough. 1/2 C brown sugar 2 eggs 2 T golden raisins, soaked in...3 T dark rum 1/4 C pine nuts Black pepper to taste 2 T marc, brandy, or kirsch 1 T olive oil 8 leaves swiss chard, stems removed, leaves coarsely shredded 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled cored and sliced 1/4" thick 1 egg beaten with 1 T milk 1. Blend brown sugar and eggs together well in large bowl. 2. Drain raisins, reserve rum. 3. Add raisins, pine nuts, black pepper, marc and olive oil to egg/sugar mix in bowl and blend together well. 4. Add chard, stir well. 5. Line tart pan with removable bottom with half the pastry dough. 6. Fill with half the chard mixture then top with half the apples. 7. Repeat step 6. 8. Drizzle with reserved rum. 9. Top with remaining pastry, tuck up nicely, decorate with snippets if you like. 10. Brush with egg/milk mixture. Prick with fork to allow steam to escape. 11. Bake 45 to 50 minutes till golden brown. 12. Cool on rack, remove from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature, sliced into wedges. There you have it!