Carrot Top

Good boy. Want some canned spaghetti with that?

My own reaction to the article was that it was alternately funny, true, and sad. And that it definitely posed some questions that might defy easy answers. I nodded to myself when reading that entrance into this article. And thought of the ways that this has affected me, as a mother and as a woman. Heavy stuff there. Now I *am* an at-home-Mom by choice, and feel that is my way to be, the best way for myself now and for my children. *But* - who am I, and who is the Archbishop of Canterbury (besides the fact that he has that marvellous title with lots of interesting, not to say odd-at-times history behind it) to say that this is the right way for all women?! Maybe it is best for many mothers to go to work in ways that please their minds and hearts, and if their kids actually eat fish fingers and spaghetti, will that make the world a worse place? Or better. Then I got cranky at this, for here, as the subject is mothers, the concept being covered is mothers. But it does take two to make a child. I understand (in ways) and then again don't (in ways) how it is that mothers are still the ones that must be made to feel this way about the feeding of the children. Paradoxically, this sort of responsibility is also a privilege in ways. In a philosophic sense, anyway. In a real-life sense, it can be quite a worrisome burden. I'm not sure if I can laugh at this or not. I'm not sure if it's meant to be laughed at. On the flip side, this has a ring of truth to it to. I have often been faced by women who are shocked, shocked, that I allow my children fast-food *as well as* some even perhaps "haute-cuisine" home-cooked meals. It depends on the night and on the hungers. Having been a chef makes it worse. Supposedly if one knows how to cook, then it is something that one *must* do, and with fresh things always! Even if you'd rather be doing something else! (For it improves the world somehow, or so it seems. But cookery done "just because" is not fine or loving cookery.) Sanctimony. That is what mostly I'd like to see removed from the table, here. Children are many more things besides eaters, and mothers are many more things besides cooks. Will you shake my hand if I serve canned spaghetti one night? Or is one a lesser being for doing so? And on the other hand, as Milagai noted, why do we need to mock mung beans? I hate to see people imposed into a straight-edged box where lying somehow becomes the best way out. This article seems to point to the fact that this is happening, and in larger numbers rather than smaller. So many other things are accepted in today's world that are *not* exactly about Motherhood and Apple Pie As It Used To Be. Let's be able to sit across the table and accept another good mother, no matter whether she is feeding her kids corn dogs or tofu-burgers. As long as the child is healthy and the love is there.

Greetings from Southwest Virginia's first known Candied Ginger Junkie. It sounds like Tim might be hooked on this stuff, too, with that ginger sugar idea of his. I am embarrased to admit that I've eaten the whole box. No, I did not cook anything with it. All these great ideas listed above, and then I even had some more ideas - red grapefruit topped with brown sugar and candied ginger and broiled. . .chili, veggie chili with candied ginger. . . corned beef glazed in the oven with a spicy-sweet glaze redolent with chunks of candied ginger. . .I even bought strawberries and mascarpone. . .but every. single. time. I went to make something I just kept eating the stuff instead. I did not want to share it by adding it to food. This is dangerous stuff. I think it might also be somewhat of an appetite suppresant, also - it *is* supposed to be calming to the tummy, but I just have not been hungry. Except for more candied ginger, of course. Here is the brand of the stuff I got: Rose Hill Enterprises. It is from China and is in the sweetest little six-sided red box. I got it at (gasp!) TJ Maxx of all places. Yeah, I know. Someday I intend to try many of these recipes. In the meantime, though, I am attempting withdrawl. Whew, that stuff is good. .............................................................. P.S. Andiesenji, yet another great recipe. Interesting, but it frightens me in the state I'm in. .............................................................. P.P.S. Ha! Just read the link more closely and noted that it claims ginger restores the *yang*. Oooh boy.

They ran a TV ad for this the other morning and I had flashbacks of Captain Kangaroo and Bozo the Clown combined: Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity. Then I got kind of confused when they added on "Super Deal! Star Power!" Didn't know whether I was supposed to be thinking of children's TV show hosts from the 1960's, Wal-Mart or Paris Hilton. I guess the idea must be: Whatever your nonsensical dream is, you can find it in an IHOP pancake platter.

Interesting article from Times Online UK And furthermore. . .

(You can take the quiz to find the results at Beliefnet - it's on the right-hand lower side of the page linked. . . ← (voted) [X] Bread (viewed results) [X] BREAD 9%! SB (what's wrong with these people! ) ← I almost voted for chicken soup, but then got all high-minded and long-winded and instead voted for fruit, as there are so many varieties and it is *so close to nature* (sic). I can not imagine having a spiritual experience eating tofu, but who knows. Maybe if it were made into a sauce, worthy of licking. If anyone has such a recipe, it would be interesting to try. . .

Why, I'll give you échalotes, cornichons au vinaigre, and, especially, de bouillon de boeuf! SB (ne peut pas lire la langue française ) ← What can I say? I was still on a buzz from the sauce, and felt as if I could speak any language, any language at all. Besides, that recipe was *not* exactly the way I make my sauce - I scanned several that were on-line and could not find one that was perfect, so instead chose one that was French. Yeah, boullion de bouef. Roll that around on your tongue a few times. Yum. Who needs to even eat afterwards?

It is the unalienable right of every Goddess, whether Domestic or not, to indulge in a perfectly cooked egg yolk or two at bedtime, or whenever/wherever the urge may strike. I hope you did indulge. I think I'll have some too, in ardent devotion of all good things, for lunch. Easier to make than sauce. ................................................. P.S. (Just a bit later. . .) Two eggs, poached. Toast made, buttered. Took about three minutes to make, and even less than that to eat. Fie! I say to Rachel Ray holding notions of thirty-minute meals. Fie! More time to do other silly things now.

An excess of joy exists in a family of plate-lickers. Or so I think, anyway. And the perfection of an egg yolk is an astonishing thing, isn't it? Personally I was stunned to see this test composed without "sauce" on the list: (You can take the quiz to find the results at Beliefnet - it's on the right-hand lower side of the page linked. . . Yes. . .I now am having a sense that plate-licking is indeed devotional rather than animistic.

These are all such excellent ideas. I hope that I have some left when I actually do decide to start making something with it. . .I am astonished at the quality of this brand or batch - it's the best I've ever tasted. The pieces are larger rather than smaller, and the texture is with the hint of a bite from the sugar on the outside, then the inside is actually buttery. Mmm. The idea came to mind that some easy nibbles might be made from strawberries (the organic ones actually seem to have some flavor even off-season at the moment here) - the large ones, quartered down to the stem, filled with mascarpone (almond-flavored? or vanilla? sweetened or not? will wait and see) with a small star tip, with several slivers of the ginger stuck into the mascarpone. Maybe with a tiny mint sprig. Might try that tomorrow. *If* there's any ginger left. But do keep adding ideas - I'm going to go back and stock up on this brand/batch from where I got it the other day.

In front of me sits a red six-sided box, filled with soft, sweet, biting crystallized ginger. It will not be full for long, for this stuff is really good. The first time I ever saw crystallized ginger was in a tin in the storeroom at a restaurant where I was pastry chef, about a hundred or maybe even two hundred years ago. Lovely stuff. I made some chocolate sponge rolls and filled them with creme chantilly and *lots* of chopped crystallized ginger then rolled them up, decorated with more cream and ginger and chocolate. What do you make with crystallized ginger?

Actually, thinking about it more (though really I would rather go lick some good sauce off a plate in this moment ) it could be that there are strong personal preferences at work unseen (someone dub in the Twilight Zone music now, please. . .) in these things. For as I read other's choices, I can completely empathize and feel the urge to lick the plate with the sauces they chose. Shellfish sauces. . .YES! Cheese and heat. . .ahhhhh. Rich chicken-y savors. . .mmmhmmm. And all the other tastes. But every time I think of a sauce that I really need to hide in the kitchen, bringing the plate right up to my face to lick each drop off, it is based on beef. I dunno. Is everyone else like this? Or do you cross sauce borders. . .?

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