Carrot Top

Yes, I would agree with you. But some sauces just say "eat me up, I'm really yummy" and others are rather a different animal. Animals of the sort that make one act animalistic in return. Oh P.S. Hey Bunny Man, welcome to eG by the way.

What fantastic on-line resources those are, Janet! I think I love old menus even better than old cookbooks. It might be the business-like aspect of them that attracts me. And then of course one can imagine the entire meal as it unfolded. . . I wonder if either one carries a heavier "weight" in terms of qualifying as "primary source" where that is demanded - old cookbooks or old menus. (Edited to *try* to write English in a way that could be clearly understood. . . )

There exists an expression, in several languages that goes something like this: "Hunger is the best cook." I've never gotten around to figuring out if this is true, but I heard that in French, there is an expression that goes something like this: "A sauce is the best cook." Does anyone know if this is true or not? ← I found this, Grub. ← In "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations" there is this: "There's no sauce in the world like hunger." From Cervante's "Don Quixote" of all things. Lots of good quotes from old Donny. Across the page, I see: "Put you in this pickle" and "A finger in every pie". Besides that classic "No better than she should be". The guy must have been very hungry for all the writing of food he did, and I imagine that he absolutely did lick his plate.

Yeeeesss. . .but I would add that it must also be unctuous. Mouthfeel, you know. Or so I think. And for heat one can sometimes subsititute the bite of a bit of sour.

It's aggravating, isn't it, when words are used as symbols by marketers to supposedly incite our base urges to own or to even "be" the thing that's held within the meaning of the words. "Flavor" brings to mind bright images of sparkling sauces, maybe even with "ethnic" overtones which bodes well for food. "Taste" hints at the idea that whomever purchases this product is rather "high-class", with an innate knowledge of what is fine and not available to the huddled masses but only available to those in the know. All for a frozen diet food, huh? Amazing what one can buy for just over a dollar.

Whew. I swear that sauce gave me some sort of "buzz" last night. And then I started reading of the other sauces you all posted, and it was like "YEAH!" "WHAM!" "WHEEEE!" "Sigh." Very strange. Sort of like a virtual hot date, but with sauce ideas. Yikes. ............................................ I thought of two more sauces that make me want to lick the plate - green peppercorn with a glace de viande base swirled with cream, studded with a hint of shallots. . .and cream gravy made with good ham. I can't put my finger on any dessert sauces, exactly, at the moment. Though I'd like to.

I can say with some authority (having moments ago experienced this divine epiphany) that the absolute best sauce in the world to sop up from the plate, leaving not a single drop, with some bread or even licking the plate with your tongue or dabbling it with your fingers, is Charcutiere Sauce. It must be made in the pan with the pan drippings. Extra should be made. Bread should be ready. You can forget the pork chops. Give them to someone else. Sauce Charcutiere I've known this for some time and forget it too often, leaving weeks go by without making this dish. Any other contenders to the title of Sauce that Makes you Lick the Plate?

I hope that Steve has more stories to tell about the evolution of dishes. Charming little tales they are! Reefpimp, I think that people all have different ways of evolving their own dishes. Some find inspiration while shopping, in the grocery aisles. The ingredients just sort of "speak" to them. With others, often the story is that neccesity is the mother of invention. The cupboards may be bare of what is called for in a recipe, and something else is tried in place of it and the thing sings better than before. Many chefs I've known think of food, ingredients, the way writers think of words, or designers color/patterns. It happens in the head, the putting-together of ideas, just like writing a story. The tastes, colors, textures, are flossed out together along with any conceptual plays just in one's mind. Each evolution/inspiration is different, and often unanalyzed but just enjoyed after it happens. I'm sure that *if* you haven't found the way that best works for you yet with this, that you will with time. And of course, there is nothing wrong with the classics *, just good-tasting things as they have been served over and over again. Sort of like a zen-thing, you know. Push it and it won't happen. Be ready for it and relax, and it will. Best of luck with the floating restaurant. Sounds like great fun. Just make sure the sump pump is as good quality as the kitchen range. *Edited to add: Just as long as the classics one serves, if they do serve classics, are not mundane classics.

Really. The least they should have done was offer you a position as screenwriter. That would have made a fine commercial. I can see it now, sandwiches flying here and there with the voice-over telling the story. . .

I hope you have your hand sitting in a bowl of cool not ice-cold water. This is a good excuse to order take-out. If you had been here today you could have taken your hand directly from the hot pan and grabbed the jar of mayonnaisse that I had been searching for everywhere only to find it where? In the freezer of course. Novel idea.

The kidneys can be seared quickly over a very high heat in clarified butter, tossed with lemon zest and a bit of chopped garlic, salt, freshly ground black pepper in the pan then deglaze with marsala. Serve with a generous amount of minced parsley on top. Yum. "Rognoni Trifolati".

I try to keep my cookbook collection under 300 books (not counting reference, food history, food literature et al). I give many away and only keep the ones that I know I will go back to for something or other. This past year, only three new ones have made the cut to join the shelves of fame ( ): Washoku Hot Sour Salty Sweet And one unexpected find that I am very impressed with, printed in 2002, Real Stew by Clifford Wright. Best collection of stews et al that I've ever seen. I'm blissed out by it. I want to eat the book itself, hoping to swallow all it contains.

Here's the last ones on my list of faves (so far ): From Cindy Renfrow's site: Thousand Eggs ................................................................. From Ivan Day's site (and I most particularly like clicking on the bouncing cakes and gleaming swans to enter site areas! ) Historic Food ........................................................................ And the Culinary Historians of New York:Culinary Historians of New York

These folks might have some ideas about exactly what the South is: Southern Food and Beverage Museum P.S. Didn't take the Yankee/Southerner test 'cause I knew I'd cheat. As a matter of fact, I just changed the word "people" in my first sentence above to "folks" upon a second's hesitation. (When in Rome. . . )

Mmm hmmm. Then *or* now. I love the internet too. I can not imagine otherwise learning so much about the history of the potato, through the auspices of The Potato Museum. Ahhh. Potatoes.

It's true that to say "And now, for your palate-cleanser, we will serve. . ." is *not* terribly romantic. But your dinner was lovely even without this mysterious word we seek, and proof of the worth of the romantic pudding was shown by the lady's acceptance of proposal at the end of it. Sooner or later, the word will pop into someone's mind, and I *do* hope they will post it here when that happens. Sigh.

Great minds think alike. I just logged back on to say that what I *meant* to say was Arts Culinaire. Now, I am going out for a walk and hopefully I will remember where I am and how to get home.

Heh. Yeah. It seems like one of those words that would have been used in like. . .the first four issues of Food Arts Magazine. ................................ I do have a tip for you, though. Whenever you forget a word, just substitute "thingie". It's quite a pleasant way to live.

Seriously, I think that there is such a word and that it was one of those words used in certain places during a specific period of time. An American slang version that meant "palate cleanser" but yet was in French (so to speak) but not really *from* the French language. So it might *not* be recognized as a "real" word by Francophones. That would explain why my focus went to thinking of Cajun cooking when trying to remember the word - my memory stems from restaurants of North America rather than of France. Sigh. Really, this is alternately funny and terrible.

The Daniel speaks in mysterious ways. We all know that there is *much* life and many words dehors l'Academie.

Well then, it might be a case of mass hallucination or something of the sort, for I *still* think there is a word such as you describe, as does Mark. But that may be just because of your persuasiveness. I dunno. I still expect that sometime, maybe several months from now, the word will just jump into my mind. It is definitely in hiding at the moment, for sure. Till then, I'm off to take some Ginko Biloba,

Your last statement goes without question. As far as the Medieval Period goes, my thought was that it was that King Arthur thing, the age of chivalry and all that that attracted people. That, plus one could throw the bones from the food nonchalantly over your shoulder directly onto the floor and have some servant or even your dog clean it up. What fun! The combination of chivalry and boorishness, combined with lots of ale. What's not to like?!

I think so, Janet. I've found one already. And she is that wonderful thing, a librarian. Sigh. I'll PM you her e-mail.

Here's a listing from the American Library Association (Association of College and Research Libraries) of cookery and culinary history websites. It looks as if it were published in 2003, so likely could use an update, but then again, this may not be something they focus upon. It *would* be a boon for any site to be on this list, though, I imagine - it implies a stamp of approval given by a group that actively measures publications worths based on reliability of information. Or so I have been told.

You mean bodegas? ← Yes, that's it. Thank you. I kept thinking "albondigas" (which of course means "meatballs") and could not get past that. Obviously I have eaten too much Halloween candy over the past several days.