Carrot Top

I've enjoyed reading all these dinners. Usually I would not even post mine as any gourmet-ish plans are foiled and adapted by my children (ages nine and ten). Today however I am fleeing to the computer to avoid eating another portion of what I cooked for dinner (they are away at camp!) This was simple, and good for anyone who is eating solo: Chunky Caponata, freshly made from ingredients at the farm market, still warm, ladled onto heated pita bread. With a glass of chardonnay and a bit of quiet? Heaven!

It is possible to make home-made sausages with only the requirements of a good sharp knife and some caul fat (which is a membraneous thin layer of fat that will dissolve and baste the sausage when you cook it). Unless he has some good recipes already that he likes and is ready to make a lot of sausage, this is a good way to start. Low expense, and not a lot of production of sausages that may not be to his or your liking. Otherwise, I vote for the Kitchenaid addition. It used to be one could buy hand operated meat grinders, but now you will only find them once in a while at flea markets, as far as I know.

This topic is rather mesmerizing. Here are some more: If you put a piece of the wedding cake under your pillow, you will dream of who you will marry. A raw egg swallowed with a dash of worcestershire and tabasco will cure your hangover. And another...though it is not directly food-oriented, the original 'product' is a food of sorts... What is it about a rabbit's foot that makes it lucky? To me, it is just that some smart rabbit hunter thought of a great way to make some money on the leftovers...

And another one...an Irish one...which I can not remember but it involves bringing a certain food along while visiting all the neighbors on Christmas Eve, to keep the Devil from coming along into the house with you.... I would say the food was a turnip (though I know it is not...that is just the original Jack O' Lantern), yes I will say the food was a turnip...for surely that will bring the Irishmen (and women!) to the table with responses!

And of course, we all know it is imperative to hang wreaths of fresh garlic on our front doors to keep the vampires away.

There is a superstition that a woman from Spain once told me...a good luck ritual to be performed on the stroke of midnight, New Years Eve... Take twelve grapes, eat them one by one, and with each make a wish for the coming year. I'd never heard it before, but have since read of it in several books (though which ones, who knows...!) What a wonderful romantic, superstitious ritual this seems to me!

It does seem that with all the cookbooks that are out on every subject imaginable, German baking is just not often among them, surprisingly. The only book I remember reading German baking in (and I am an avid bookhound) is from the old Time-Life series that was published in the late 1960's. At one point in time, I had all these books, having found them at a bookfair, but they have all been given away over the years, what with moving from place to place, and only the one I consider the best remains in my collection...'The Cooking of Vienna's Empire'. Talk about baking recipes...whoooo! If I were you, I would trot right across the border to Austria for some great baking recipes. If you are set on Germany, however, I think many public libraries carry this collection of Time-Life books. 'The Cooking of Germany', it's probably simply called. Best of luck!

My feeling is that the major part of it has to do with price. Artisan pastries will cost more due to ingredient and labor costs, and many people simply are not interested in even thinking about paying for it. But then again, many have never tasted the difference between the stuff that a production bakery puts on top of its cakes as 'frosting' and a freshly made French buttercream. Some of it has to do with diets...but then again, having avoided the pastries, the packaged cookies are usually in the cupboard, aren't they?! I do think that if most consumers actually saw the huge plastic tubs that hold the usual everyday bakery's and/or the supermarket's bakery's 'makings' (for in general, the purveyors of the bases....toppings, fillings, 'praline' pastes or varieties of chocolate products...sell the same stuff to either of those marketplaces) for the cakes and baked goods they were buying and eating, they would be shocked. For really, there is not a lot of difference between this stuff and the cakemix and can of frosting or instant pudding you can buy on the grocery shelf. Except for variety and maybe 'holding' power. It makes me sad. For a great world of taste, flavor, texture and beauty is simply not commonly available, that could be. Perhaps it is just a niche market, fine or artisan pasty-making, and must be thought of as such.

Finely julienned and combined with carrots cut the same, sauteed lightly in butter or olive oil.... Raw spears, served with a variety of other fresh vegetables with a dip of some sort... Layered up in a vegetable lasagne... With mint and hot peppers if you like them in a 'risotto' made either with rice or orzo... Gratineed in the oven, layered either with tomatoes, onions, garlic, etc. or alternately with a light bechamel enriched with cheese or not...either one topped with browned crumbs or not...

They used to exist. They do exist in Europe and other places around the world. But they seem to have gone missing.....wherever I've looked, outside of a few privileged outposts in large urban areas. What has happened to the bakery that prepares cakes, pies, and hopefully a few other sweet tasty things, from scratch and not from scoops out of large white plastic tubs? Can anyone solve this mystery.....

1. Lenotre's Desserts and Pastries (might be out of print, could order perhaps through one of Amazon's vendors...?) 2. 'Desserts to Die For' by Marcel DeSaulniers 3. 'The Professional Pastry Chef' by Bo Friberg All different, all excellent. These are books that will remain with you for years!

I could be terribly wrong, but it seems in my memory that peach pits are supposed to be poisonous...or at the very least, capable of producing a toxic substance. Any horticulturalists or pharacologists out there with a reference book?

For information of cooking any part of the pig, one of the best books to refer to is Jane Grigson's classic (1967) book 'Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery'. It includes recipes for each and every part of the pig, including chapters on terrines, sausages, hams, 'Extremities', 'The Insides', and 'The Fat of the Pig'. There is a recipe for head-cheese in this book and many for trotters. If you still need a recipe, write back and I'll post it... My personal favorite recipe for pigs feet is (after cooking them for at least three hours and cleaning well) to chop them up and then braise in a strongly flavored, almost medieval flavored tomato sauce...lots of onions, garlic, cinnamon, bay leaves, etc. Absolutely marvelous served on a thick macaroni-type pasta, most particularly on a chilly fall or winter's eve....

Many of the replies to this question of 'Badly-made food you love' have been the foods of childhood. There is a saying by Lin-yu-Tang which I can not pull up at the moment, (but perhaps someone else can?) about how politics or love of country is defined as the tastes one had in their youth. It is strange to remember, in this time where everyone either loves to cook or at the least is knowledgeable in a gourmet-ish way, that in the past generation, cooking was mostly considered a daily task that HAD to be done, endlessly. You couldn't just send out for pizza or pop over to Burger King. Many mothers really did not enjoy cooking, but nonetheless, we have lots of memories of 'Badly-made foods we love'. A lot of the foods listed in these replies also have the advantage of strong flavors, salty!, caramelized or toasted toppings, creamy cheeses melted over everything. So that must be the answer. If you HAVE to cook badly from tiredness or lack of ingredients, at least be sure to make it salty, creamy and toasty. There you have it. An instant 'keeper', that your kids will love much more than the freshly made pasta primavera that you struggled over for hours!