Carrot Top

No, you are not wasting your time roasting a goat, Varmint. Besides the fact that roast goat is a most delicious thing (and one that experimental eGulleters at a pig-pickin' will surely be excited to taste if they have not before) it is also quite a cool dude thing to do. A macho thing, a Manly thing. You will enjoy it. I hope. Anyway, I remember at least one thread on eG discussing how to roast a goat, perhaps even two threads. And although I have the patience and the expertise to roast a goat myself, (for it is always amusing watching petite females doing Manly things, don't cha think?) I don't have the ability to post a link to these threads. Might entail a broken fingernail or something, and I just cain't risk it. But they are there, I promise you. Search. . .and truth shall be found.

Expert: (American Heritage Dictionary) (noun) 1. A person who has a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain subject. 2a. The highest degree that can be achieved in marksmanship. 2b. A person who has achieved this grade. (adj.) Having, involving, or demonstrating great skill, dexterity, or knowledge as the result of experience or training. What makes a person an expert in the subject of food, in your opinion? In a quantifiable sense. Would it be that they know how to cook well? That they have knowledge of how the things we eat grow and are then processed and distributed? That they read a lot of books about cooking? Or that they have formally studied the subject somewhere? Does eating in a lot of restaurants make one an expert? If so, what sort of restaurants. . .could one be an expert on food without having dined at a four or five star place? Could one be an expert without having dined at a streetcart? Or it is enough that someone eat every day? What is the criteria in your mind? What makes a person an "expert" in the subject of "food"?

Here. . .paraphrased but accurate. . from "The Splendid Grain" by Rebecca Wood. An excellent book if you like either the idea or the reality of eating grains. Fantastic book, in fact. Job's Tears, Steamed ........................................ 1 C Job's Tears 2 C water 1/4 tsp. sea salt 1 clove garlic, chopped or 1 small piece of ginger Put the JT in saucepan on high heat. Toast for 5 minutes, stirring. Put in colander and rinse well. Water and salt should be brought to a boil on high heat. . .add the JT. Toss in garlic or ginger. On low heat, simmer covered for one hour. Allow to stand for ten minutes covered. Serve.

It probably would have been best for me to have answered the question "Why are more chefs not running scared of websites" with the responding question "Why should they be running scared from websites?" and have taken it from there. My intent would have been clearer and more on-track.

I wonder if "coix lacryma-jobi" would work for a search. I would look but am short on time at the moment. . . They are supposed to be very very good for you. . and are used in Chinese medicine.

Depends how desperate and how hungry you are. The coffee could always be frozen into a granita and the sour cream blended with lots of brown sugar and lemon or orange zest to top it. . .

Of course there is nothing wrong with posting critical remarks. Again, in one of those posts I wrote that it was a good tool in general, the whole thing. It was two things, again, that struck me. . .and struck me strangely. 1. The title of the thread and 2. The question as to why more chefs were not responding to this thing that by implication was (and should have been) fearsome to them. So. I responded on two levels. One, as an ex-chef. I said things that I would have wanted to say if I were still a chef. . .but guess what? I would not have, if I was still immersed in that profession, for it would be the wrong thing to do. . .for mostly chefs are trying to be hospitable and kind to people through making food, and to reply would have undermined that steady goal. Then of course, being the thorough person that I am, I replied about three times in this way. The second level I responded on was my feeling that somehow this whole thing (the title of the thread and what I read as the conclusion in the first post) was bullshit. It seemed to be taking facts and shaping them into a thing that was made of poseur bullshit. I react strongly to what I perceive as bullshit. It thoroughly attracts me and I want to "take it on" till it can be torn apart and proved for what it is. If it is. Listen, I could be wrong, too. Nobody on earth is right about everything. But please, re-read those two original points I made to see if I have followed the points I wanted to make, along them, honestly and with good will. As far as the rest of it. . .the socio-cultural babble. . .well. Life sometimes takes on the semblance of science-fiction to me. Sometimes it really IS like science fiction. That discussion of mine was decoration and side-issues to the post. Rather depressing, too, so I don't really want to think about it. I hope that clears it up.

As usual (sorry to go on like this, but the subject has taken my interest ) there are some underlying things that affect my own ideas on this. Two important things in particular seem to me to be aspects of this entire situation where anyone can critique any business or person pretty much unhindered on the internet. These two things have an effect on how I personally "take" this. The first thing is the nature of the internet itself. The second thing is people in general and our culture at this moment in time in particular. The first. . .the nature of the internet. Anyone can portend to be an expert on the internet. We all know the jokes about dogs and about people in their underwear. And I think we all know that this could be true in cases. Who is that person on the other end of the screen? One thing that bothers me about the internet is that although I have "met" many intelligent and wonderful people on it. . .and although it is a marvel in terms of offering up all sorts of information at one's fingertips. . .I do notice that there seem to be a great number of people who take to using it as a sort of psychological dumping place. They say things and do things that they never would do or say in their day-to-day life. Unfortunately, most of this is not of a very creative nature, nor of a very nurturing or helpful nature. . .except perhaps to be helpful in the way of ridding their systems of some poison that resides there. What are the most popular sites on the internet? Pornographic. If pornography were as common in day to day life as it is on the net, we would have a very different world. Whether that is what the general public wants, who knows. Recently I looked on a different site that focuses on food. What I found were a great number of people fighting and insulting each other and the site. This happens just too much in this media for it to be an oddity. It is a fact that if people want to fight, to argue, it is an easier way to do it behind the curtain of the screen. This disturbs me. And this has an effect on how I ultimately understand the media as a whole. The second issue that recently has been coming to my mind is the level of satisfaction that people seem to have in their lives, today, in this culture, and how they attempt to find a way to assuage their need for satisfaction. We are among the first generation where the average person does not make their living by "creating" anything. Instead, we are in the information age, and many people make their livings by simply exchanging information. Yet I sense a much higher level of dissatisfaction in daily life among people in general than previously, when the culture was different and when perhaps a small satisfaction could be found in looking at what the day's work had produced, rather than having nothing "real" to look at. And I see a hunger for satisfaction that comes out in different ways. Some people eat. They eat too much. . .and this in my mind is a major cause of the "obesity epidemic". Some people spend every extra moment looking for entertainment and succor from others. . .from the others that do create things. Movies, magazines, books, clothes, things at the mall, and restaurants and chefs. There seems to be such a hunger, such a demand, such a need. . .that goes slightly beyond what feels right or balanced. For the satisfaction in oneself is then demanded to be found somehow in these creative things that others have created. How close can one get to being truly satisfied with life without being creative oneself in some way? There is always the nudge of discomfort, the urge of "I could have done that better", the desire to inform as to how it could have been done. And I just see too many unhappy dissatisfied people "out there", looking for satisfaction in external things that others have created. It is really just. . .sad, if not sometimes even a little spooky. Where might this lead to in a world without boundaries? It leads to the people who do not create, setting up a whip and chair in place for those that do create. . to "answer" to them somehow. To fill their emptiness. It won't work.

Finally, in response to this idea as taken to its furthest, this is what I want to say: "If you think you could do it any better, please feel free to give it a try." Now. Nobody else here has felt the same way about whatever it is that they do, have they? Please. Open a restaurant. We need good ones. But if that is not in the cards, at least be courteous and gracious and ethical when giving opinion on how you think it should be done. And maybe do not expect a direct and personal response unless you are at the table itself, and the chef right there in the kitchen. You want response, this is the best way to get it. One on one. Person to person time of happening open ended and real. Again, this is not directed at eG or anyone in particular.

We're mostly in philosophic agreement on this, Pan. I don't generally "follow" critics nor reviews too much. . .no matter what the source (and in this it is possible that I am unusual). Why not? For this was my profession and I guess I feel qualified to make my own judgements based on knowledge and experience. . .and also, like Bux, I do not enjoy being in supermarkets. I guess that if anything external comes into play (for often I'd rather just use my intuition upon looking right at the place) it would be that thing that used to be called "good will" or more easily perhaps just reputation. Word of mouth reputation is a rather free-floating thing. It doesn't land upon a place that is new. . .nor is it defined and qualified by any professional critic. . .nor is it determined by any group of people opining on the place. It is something indeterminate, an idea or concept of quality that verges on the "classic". If anything external would make my feet wander towards a place, this would. ......................................................................... Again, my comments were not directed at eGullet. They were directed at the idea of critical opinions by the public that were posted on the website mentioned in the first post being defined as something that should "make chefs run scared". This twists the whole idea of what every single chef I have ever known does. . .which is try very hard to make people happy. . .into some alternate and ugly shape. You can not make really great things happen when you are supposedly to be in a position of "running scared". The. . .creative desire. . . .is broken. Imagine yourself, you in the position of playing a piece of music. . .or someone else doing whatever it is that they do professionally. . .doing it to a crowd that was interested and curious to see, or alternately to a crowd that sat with hard eyes and demanding expectations. How would the thing come off? Sometimes anger or fear can move one to do "a better job" momentarily. But not on a long term basis. And how very strange to think that someone would want their food to taste like fear itself rather than like understanding and love.

Do you think you can snag a recipe for those? Or does anyone have one? These things are killer.... ← I have a recipe for them somewhere. . .from my own grandmother in Waterville. If nobody else comes up with one by the end of the blog, I'll start a hunt through the endless unorganized files I have. . . Expensive recipe, though. I remember buying lots of powdered mustard last time I made it, lots lots. Probably better to hit the spice stores rather than the grocery store for that. . .

Does that sound good? Does that sound good? Does a possum like to cross the road? Does pot likker go with day-old biscuits? Hell, yeah, that sounds good. It sounds fantastic!! ← Eh. You charmer, you. (Where's the smilie that has the smile where the face cracks open from smiling too hugely?) We'll just have to see if we can make it so you can git you a piece or two. (Edited because I forgot my Southernspeak for a moment. All those double "you" s and "y'alls" and "yerselfs". . .confusing lest it's spoken daily. )

They have too much of a sobering influence, I think. I did just come across a recipe in my old files for a Peanut Brittle Crunch Cake that might help the peanut lovers survive. Does that sound good to you?

An addiction like that requires some serious lashings of fresh veggies applied inbetween to avoid a tummy ache.

Sigh. You, Mottmott, yes. You, Susan, yes. And eGullet in general, yes. YOU want good restaurants to succeed. But the world is not always this same sort of pleasant and good-willed character that "you" are. I am sure that you and "you" know this. The original post asked about chefs running scared. Perhaps it was the wording that set me off. Perhaps it was meant to sound as I took it, perhaps not. . .but say "chefs running scared" to me. . .then detail the way in which it supposedly has happened, (the London website), and then add something like "Strangely the article goes on to say how few chefs are concerned. . .or are they feigning indifference?" and you (no, again not YOU but the other you's) are going to see one pissed-off ex-chef. Reviews and discussions on the internet can be a tool, no doubt, to any chef who cares to look and listen. The best tool for a chef, though, is what is left on the plates at the end of service and the looks on the faces of the people who actually just experienced that meal. That is a more direct method. And in that method (which of course has been used since the beginning of time not only by chefs but by mothers looking at their children at the table) there is less room for misunderstanding or game-playing for whatever reason, and nobody saying (or we would hope not!) "Be afraid. . .be very afraid. . .for I. . .am Power." If there is power in the ways of the internet that is in the hands of people who might not be using it in the nicest or clearest or most ethical ways that could be (and I believe this to be true just from watching human nature for many years) . .then surely it should not be glorified. . .as I felt was the case in this situation. All these things are informational. But start using imagery of it as a weapon that "I" or any chef should be "running from" and that starts a different ball game. Edited to add: I just looked over on the "Potato Salad; Eggs or no Eggs" thread. A simple thing, potato salad. Yet look at the way people approach how they think it should be made. . on one. . . single. . . parameter. Eggs or no eggs. Pleasant and entertaining conversation. But it shows the great variation in how people think things "should be made". Take this to an extreme. . .and then flip it into a different mode for the purpose of telling chefs they should "run scared"? Think about how you would react as a chef to these conversations. What would you take back to the kitchen with you? Would it be right to impose that you should be "running scared" from it? ( ). And,

To get a recommendation from one's brother, (or a warning that the place will not suit) is one thing. . .and that seems agreeable to me. One knows one's brother very well, probably, therefore the information can be taken, assessed, and understood. To get a bit of gossip or advice from the person in the supermarket line is okay too. It is one opinion from one member of the human race. And one opinion from one member from the human race on any given subject that they are familiar with in undefined various amounts is worth whatever value one wants to personally place on it. In these cases, one has to take a leap of faith in serendipity though, and that is okay too. But neither one's brother nor the guy in the supermarket is setting themselves up in any formal sense in the mass media that reaches untold numbers of people, as an expert. There is something different going on the moment one decides that their opinion is worth enough to the world to post it on an internet site. It involves a bit of assurance on the part of the person posting that they are "right" about what they think and it involves a bit of ego in thinking that they should have the right to approach the subject of discussing something that involves a subject that likely they may not be professionally intimate with. There are also no formal controls set in this venue as there would be in a reviewer's writing, which would involve the media being somewhat responsible for the veracity of what is written. Assuredly there is good food reviewing going on in the media of internet. There have been people who have set out to do this in a way that would reach a professional level that would assure their reliability to those who read them, and their veracity in terms of who it is that they are as a person (i.e. not just someone being careless with what really does end up to be public opinion on someone elses business. . .a restaurant. . .that has some sort of reputation and some amount of employees to support.) What bothered me yesterday in posting was two things. The title of the thread which seemed rather presumptous. Chefs need to do one thing. Run their restaurant well. Or that is how it should be. To think that they need take the time to respond to websites is rather disturbing to me. If a customer has an unhappy experience, it would seem right that that customer deal with it at the time. And it bothered me that there was some assumption that chefs SHOULD be "running scared" of their customers. No. They should not. They should (and usually do) take a great number of hours during the day to try to make those customers happy. Food, however, is a thing in which everyone is an expert in ways. At least they are to their own selves. But to assume that what they think is right for the world, is wrong. It is hubris. Is the act of formal criticism to be accepted in any given field based on the fact that someone thinks it so? Or should there be some sort of proof of the pudding asked for in the critic. . .just as the critic is demanding proof of the pudding in the thing he is discussing? Has the world become one big grocery store line where everyone has equal voice and demands equal respect for that voice, whether the voice comes from an idiot or from a savant? Perhaps. And that scenario, makes me want to leave the grocery store line and go home. For it seems rather loopy. To put it mildly. It is also somewhat disturbing how very popular the food thing is just as a cultural phenomena. People pick it up and bandy it about seemingly to give themselves an aura of "classiness". Everyone wants to talk about chefs and restaurants, everyone wants a piece of it. It seems sometimes as if they want to eat the chef, the restaurant, and vicariously the life of running a restaurant as much or more than they want to eat the food itself. It is all so fascinating. Yes, it is. But first of all, to the restauranteurs, it is a business that they must run every day. They are not there to entertain the crowds. Or they should not be for if they are the focus has changed to move away from the food. They are there to do the best job possible. And that job should not involve answering to every Tom Dick or Jerry that thinks he has the right and the power to affect their business from behind the curtain of the blank internet screen. Put yourself, in your own business, in the shoes of these chefs. How many hours a day could you effectively spend "answering to" whoever wanting to post an opinion on the internet? How many hours a day could you do so and survive. . .either business-wise or emotionally? Would you want to? There seems to be a turning-upside down of the Golden Rule here. And although I am not religious, it is distasteful to me. Particularly when the people doing the upturning seem to have nothing to lose on their sides. . plus an assured attitude that they are the experts. . ."just because".

Can I vote twice? Once for each side? The usual potato salad, yes. A bit of egg here and there for texture and color. But my favorite potato salad is made with red potatoes (skin on), fresh green beans in 1" pieces, and bacon, also in about 1" strips. No eggs on that one or there would not be room to eat anything else but the potato salad itself in any one sitting. Let's face it, Mayhaw Man is from the Deep, I say Deep. . . South. They do things a mite different down that a ways. Edited: Fifi just proved me wrong on that last line. Therefore it must not be the Deeeep South, it is just him.

Finally, it must be a choice between whether the family connection or the taste of the food is more important to you. Isn't there some sort of saying about how "relatives are people you would never have anything to do with unless they were your family" (?) While true that some meals can be absolutely dreadful. . .at the same time if you start to cut the family bonds in terms of foregoing holidays together. . .then time and distance can start the edge towards loss of that "family" thing. I know lots of people with lots of family who consistently drive them crazy. But ask yourself. . .would you rather have the craziness. . .or would you rather be like some people and have no family? Family. . .you can not buy. Nor can you create it often, even if you wish to. If you have it, you might want to consider it a blessing. Unless it definitely is not. That happens sometimes too. But that, should not be based on a meal choice, in my opinion. An aggrevating blessing that makes you go through the process of putting food in your mouth that you don't like sometimes. . .but nonetheless. . . And there is always the option of cooking exactly what you like to eat the day before or the week after. . .and inviting friends for a post-holiday holiday celebration. It really is not the DAY that matters. It's what you choose to do with your time and how creative you can get. . .to try to fit the many good things in life, into life.

Rachel. . .there is one thing that worries me about your setting up to do this in the hotel room. If they are "bringing in" a small fridge to your room, two thoughts come to mind. First is that it takes time for the fridge to get to its correct cooling temperature. . and if you are going to be working within a certain close time frame, the thing may just not get itself to temp quick enough. Second is just the idea of using this small (possibly rarely used) piece of equipment in the first place. Who knows if it will even work well. This can often be a problem in "catering" type situations which is sort of what you are doing. . .that the equipment sometimes just is not too great in terms of doing what it should do. I would think that Varmint's little extra kitchen would be easier and "safer" in terms of potential results. But if you do decide to do it in the hotel, be sure that they test the fridge and set it up ahead of time for you. . .

Mmm. But I can see what he said from his viewpoint, too. Agreed that the satisfaction of the customer is the final analysis of whether a restaurant will do well. . .as in every business. The buck stops there. But again, someone that has taken the time to learn the ways of many sorts of restaurants as a professional and who has their own reputation at stake when they write a "review" is going to have to consider the entire experience a lot more carefully than someone that just went out for a meal and who is writing of how they experienced that one particular meal. Both ways are useful in terms of analysis. But finally, the decision must be made by the potential customer whether they will make their determination of whether to spend their money and time somewhere based on the "man in the street" reports or on the professional reviewer's reports. To each his own. Egon. . .having survived since 1957 as a restaurant reviewer, seems to be doing something right in his own way. So the ego does not bother me.

This was an interesting comment from that article: . . . For some, though, nothing can replace the expertise of the professional restaurant critic. Egon Ronay has been reviewing restaurants since 1957. He is astounded to hear that ordinary restaurant-goers are posting reviews on the web. "It is of no greater use than someone venturing an opinion as you wait in the queue at the supermarket," he declares. "Or somebody saying that they had a very good dinner, while you are both sitting in the doctor's surgery.". . . Seems that paragraph alone could warrant a thread solely on its own merit.

http://www.1000-islands.com/tours/dressing.htm I started to look it up, because though I know the simple recipe, it seemed in my memory that there was a more complicated one. It included what was listed above plus Worcestershire sauce, finely diced onion, and some chopped fresh. . .(something. . .tarragon? Thyme? Can't remember. . .) along with several other ingredients. Anyway, didn't end up with the recipe (yet) but thought this was rather fun!

The usual tone I encounter is an accusatory one. Since I am young and working a night shift, that simply don't care about anything. People make that initial misconception and it carries over to the products on display. Then they proceed to tell me how when they were "kneehigh to a grasshopper," they grew watermelons, cantaloupe, head lettuce, etc. and it never looked that "crappy". Why do customers incorrectly assume that because they grew a watermelon in their back yard it automatically makes them a farmer. "Oh, I grew up on a farm..." That's the most popular phrase I hear in my line of work. Just because you grew cucumbers and tomatoes in your back yard doesn't mean you're the Green Grocer. God that annoys me. You would think that a customer would gladly appreciate advise you can give them, but instead they see it as an opportunity for an argument to commense. The experience is similar when I worked for a butcher. Once in a great while, when I do encounter a customer with the decency to listen to what I have to say, I thank them for the opportunity to educate them on whatever it was they asked about. Yes, I understand. It is unfortunate that the place where people take themselves to eat is often the place where people decide to let out whatever it is that is bothering them in the form of strange comments to the service staff. With older people, often this can just plain be loneliness which then expresses itself through being cranky and difficult rather than being open. (Edited to add: probably the same thing can happen with young people but then the attitude seems more snotty than cranky often. . .as in the apocryphal 25-year-old "Know-It-All".) Food. . .can carry so many other things along with it, each day. It is common to all of us, and therefore open to comment by all of us. Which is both an absolutely wonder of a thing and an absolute problem, sometimes.

I just wrote a long elegant tale of how the search at the Farmers Market today for the Holy Grail of moonshine jelly turned into a sordid story of loss and inequity. Then I hit the wrong button and erased the thing. Anyway. The moonshine jelly turned out to be a hoax. There was nary a moon or a shine to be found in it but for on the pretty label. It was clear apple jelly with a fancy name stamped upon it to gather those Northern tourist dollars, I guess. I guess we should be grateful for the poetry of it. .............................................................................. As I am still on your list for the "Viennese-style" desserts, I will then get to work on them. There is always one foreign sort of person with strangefoodstuffs at any Pig-Pickin' I've been to. (And strangely enough, sometimes it is not me!) Usually the Baptists make a point of shipping them in to make some sort of point. Big cooler coming in with them, too, for beer or whatever. I do hope you find a goat to cook. . .

According to Waverly Root, "the theory that the cabbage originated in Northern Europe is borne out by the direction in which it seems to have spread, apparently southward and eastward into the Mediterranean basin." and [. . .] "Besides being one of the oldest cultivated vegetables, cabbage is one of the most versatile."