Eden

would a goat yoghurt work do you think? I'm thinking of inviting over some friends to be guinea pigs but one of them is allergic to the wonder that is cow-milk so I would make her a few special pieces...

REALLY? I've tried Baron Herzog wines a couple times & actively disliked them. They were definitely cheaper bottles though - $10-$14ish? Is there a big jump in quality for their more expensive wines? I wasn't willing to try them given my bad first impression...

you can also check the listings at smokefreeworld.com I don't know how their listings for switzerland stack up, but they've been incredibly helpful to me when visiting France and Italy.

I was just up in Vancouver again this weekend to see Cosi fan tutte (Fab production!) and following your previous reccommendations we had dinner at Villa Del Lupo saturday night. We had a very nice meal. the food was lovely (and amusing), and overall the service was good. We started with the house focaccia, which was quite good, much herbyness baked in, perfectly crisp exterior, and some lovely fresh tomatoes baked on top. Unfortunately how we GOT the focaccia was the one real off note of the evening. Just after we'd been seated an older Italian gentleman came & poured olive oil in a little dish & asked us if we'd like some focaccia. It came across as if he was offering the usual free bread so we said yes of course. We discovered after he'd gone away & we'd actually had a chance to open the menu that we'd just ordered an appetizer without knowing it now I really liked the focaccia, and it's not about the $, it was very cheap compared to some of the other options, but if we were going to order an appetizer we would have preferred to have had a chance to discuss & choose which one we wanted for ourselves instead of feeling like we'd been suckered into it... Fortunately he was not our main waiter, who was quite good and had this perfect radio-announcer voice: "and broadcasting live tonight from radio VDL..." Miss Lara had the pasta special of the evening, house-made angel hair pasta with seared scallops and crab leg, and a bit of tarragon which she pronounced quite tasty. I had the carnivore special which was rolls of veal stuffed with slivers of veggies in a marsala reduction, and served with "roasted root vegetables" which turned out to be a very small collection of pea-sized little balls of carrots and potato and zucchini - very tasty, but just a bit silly. there were actually lots of other veggies on the plate & it was overall quite lovely, several charming touches like the little square of paper thin slices of sweet-potato layered up with some kind of mushroom? stuffing that looked like a little square of candy. I especially liked the piece of roasted potato stuffed with sweet-potato puree that looked just like a little puff-pastry nest stuffed with sweet potato. I didn't know until I cut into it. I had lots of fun figuring out what everything was. I would have liked more than 3 mini-roasted-carrot balls though - they were really good! oh somewhere in here the actual house bread arrived too... For dessert we shared an amazing coconut/drambuie semifreddo, which was SOOO good. The toasted coconut covered the outside & the inside was all orangy creamy goodness, a perfect flavor balance. Also beautiful plating on the dessert. And Miss Lara got the cutest little mini-Ciambella with her espresso! Thanks again for the suggestion - we had a great evening, and as always came home singing Vancouver's praises

Yay fried chicken! one answer, and a couple quesions: It's just a way to distribute the flour mix over the chicken quickly & evenly rather than rolling the chix pieces around itn a pie plate or the like. In addition to the ziplocks mentioned above you can use a large tupperware type container, and shake about in that instead. And if it's clear you get the advantage of seeing how well you've coated your chix as you go. basically you just need something you can shake about, without throwing flour all over your kitchen, that will fit pieces of chicken in it nicely. I've only made fried chicken once and the recipe was for the shallow fried version, but a friend who was helping & has made fried chicken many many times over-rode the recipce and had me deep fry instead. Tasted great! I don't specifically remember ever having the pan fried version to notice the difference, so that's what I want to try for this round (EG cook-offs are all about expanding your horizons, right?) My first question is how long will buttermilk keep? since I happen to have some in the fridge leftover from making mom's Buttermilk Pie and I don't expect to get to this immediately... And second question - does it really have to be a cast iron skillet? If so why? I have lovely big deep le creuset dutch ovens that I would probably use to help control the heat/contain the grease etc, or my LeC fry pan, though it's not super deep. [i was traumatized by Cast Iron as a child so I don't own a cast iron skillet, but I could probably borrow one if I really needed to...]

So what was the verdict? I was booked the night of the ISO, but I'd love to hear people's impressions.

yeah, as I was typing this up I did start to really doubt, but it's one of those "common knowledge" things that you just don't ever stop to question...

OK I have a question after reading the above discussion: I had heard that (here in the US) when the waitstaff asks you "how is everything?" that it is not in fact a social thing but a legal one. I was told that it is intended as a way for a restaurant to have checked with the customer so that if later the customer says there was a problem, sues them over something etc. the restaurant will have some recourse. The restaurant can then at least say they had checked & the customer hadn't mentioned any problems up to that point. Hence the prevalence of the waitress asking you two seconds after your meal arrives (and always mid bite) "how is everything so far?" Is this not the case?

Now you're definitely in subjective territory. For me, the premium european (and european style) butters are my favorites. (Though I usually only use them for spreading on bread, not for baking, to keep the budget sane) but I have friends who can't tell the difference and I even have a few friends who don't like the difference (freaks!) Consider just trying one or two see what you think, but you might want to think first about whether you want to know you really prefer the expensive stuff. I was much more content with life before I know that I liked good champagne

I have made these several hours in advance (4ish) just shaking off the alcohol as they come out of the jar, and sans the cocoa powder, without any problems. take mklynch's warning though and make several per person to avoid rioting in the dining room ;-> I did them impromptu the first time to work around someone's food allergies to my main dessert, and they are now part of my regular repertoire. We call our cherries soaked in alcohol & sugar "Happy Cherries", and the chocolate dipped ones are even "Happier" I've been meaning to try the same thing with my "happy raspberries" but I'm afraid they won't be strong enough to hold together though the dipping process. any Tips that might help?

Thanks for the input (I so love your cakes!) I looked at Rosa's website and while they do look nice & deep she has only one pattern that I would find usable, whereas Cuqui's has a bunch that would work for me, what do you think of the depth of Cuqui's patterns?

After some truly tragic wastes of time & ingredients, my toffee recipe now has written in big letters at the top "Good butter only!!!" I had multiple rounds where it just would not combine, I'd have way to much liquid/oil somehow that the sugar would not combine with and end up with a nasty crystalized gunk I had to throw out. Took me a couple of times, including pathetic calls home to mom, who wasn't sure what was going on either, to figure out that the common denominator was the butter... I am also fussy now about what brand I use in shortbread where it's all about the butter, but haven't had problems with any other baking applications (that I've realized were due to butter at least )

These are so awesome! I have a question. (The photos on the website linked above aren't clear enough for me to tell) Are these usable for other applications besides fondant, such as on baked goods? I would love to be able to use these on shortbread, or with my mom's springerle recipe, or with marzipan... Would these be up for any of those applications or are they too delicate?

Well I put the pot back on the stove & simmered it for an extra hour or twoo last night, and it did help tame the onion taste to a bearable level. It still overwhelmed the other flavors, but not to an unpleasant level as it had originally. I still think there was too much onion as well as it being undercooked. Another factor, I realized belatedly, may be that instead of being a standard yellow onion this was a "sweet onion" that someone had left here after a cooking party, and the "sweet" onions in my experience do not caramelize as well as normal onions. They may be more sweet in the raw state, but do not sweeten in cooking the way they should. So I will definately revisit this recipe with less onion, yellow onion & WAY more cooking time for the puree: the original called for 3 minutes & I wouldn't do less than 30 after this even with less onion involved. Thanks for the input all.

washing rice! For persian rice you first sort through the dry rice grains for any stones/blemished grains, then you wash the rice rinsing & swirling it around carefully 7 full times before you can cook it. There's something so relaxing about the process, and really satisfying knowing that all that work will yeild perfect separate delicate slightly sweet/nutty grains of goodness (and oh yeah, probably go under an AMAZING stew) I'm also keen on slicing things in bulk on my mandoline, after a bit you get a great rythm going, but with that you have to be careful not to go TOO far into the zone

Yes, it looks perfect. everything went well process-wise it's only when you taste it that you go "Wow, onion!!! " I actually used 2 "medium" US onions where it called for two large onions finely sliced, and just 1 jumbo onion for the two rough chopped onions that went into the paste, in order to adjust what I had in the house to what was called for. I really think the recipe must have had a typo/error and meant to call for less. I've never had an indian dish that tasted this one dimensional. I bought more spices today (since round 1 ran me out of some) and will try to revisit this tomorrow if I have time - Otherwise this weekend...

so we're not just foodies we're SUPER-foodies! Where's my cape?

I made my Tamatar Gosht yesterday, and the result is so oniony in taste that I can't eat it. I don't remember the last time I had an honest to gosh failure in the kitchen like this. And it's my own fault. I over-rode my instincts in order to follow a recipe, and I shouldn't have... Below is the recipe I used. Ingredient amounts are taken almost verbatim from Westrip's recipe, and I really questioned the large quantity of onions in the puree, but decided that since this puree step was the one technique in here I haven't done before that I shouldn't mess with it... here's a photo, you can see how the percentage of onion puree is really high to the other ingredients in the pan (obviously the lamb & tomatoes are yet to be added, but still... and it was such a pretty looking pile of onions & spices... Now I'm trying to decide if I can remake the sauce & transfer the lamb, or if there's any other way to salvage this. I guess it was time for a reminder lesson that if you really KNOW there's something wrong with a recipe, you should trust your own judgement. I do SO prefer to learn from others mistakes reather than my own though Tamatar Gosht (Lamb in a spicy tomato curry) Modified from Joyce Westrip's "Moghul Cooking" & from The Tribune, India 11/21/04 2 roughly chopped onions 2 tsp roughly chopped garlic 2 tsp roughly chopped fresh ginger 2 tbsp water Blend the onion garlic & ginger with the water to a smooth paste in a blender and set aside. 4 tbsp ghee 2 finely sliced large onions 4 cloves 4 cardamom pods, bruised 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp black cumin seeds 1/2 tsp dark mustard seeds 2 fresh red chilies, seeds discarded, cut into strips 1 tsp turmeric ground 2.5 lbs chopped lamb Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan. Add the finely sliced onions and saute until the onions are past golden, but not yet dark. Add the cloves, cardamom, light and black cumin seeds, mustard seeds, chili strips and turmeric and stir-fry for 1 minute. Place the lamb in the pan and sear on all sides. Remove lamb from the pan and set aside. Add the blended paste to the pan and fry for a further 3 minutes or until the raw smell disappears. [i went about 4 minutes & there was a clear & obvious change in the smell, so i'ts not that I skipped this part -E] 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 1 kg/2 lb pureed tomatoes 1/2 cup lightly whisked yoghurt 1 tsp Kashmiri garam masala Stir in the salt, pepper, pureed tomatoes, and yoghurt. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Place the seared lamb in the sauce and simmer gently for 40 minutes or until the lamb is tender. A couple of minutes before completion, mix in the garam masala.

I have had perfectly fine even gracoius service at Brasa during 25/$25 multiple times now. I have also had barely adequate service there at other times of year, it seems to be completely random. And I really enjoy the food though it's a bit more expensive the rest of the year than I would like, with the exception of the frozen lemon mousse, which I adore and don't care what they charge for it

My recollection (I studied this topic a few years back now so it's no longer fresh in my memory) is that the pre-moghul cuisine was simpler, more legume/grain oriented, though not all vegetarian, and as Peppertrail points out, varied across the different regions of india. Additionaly, there were already many foods in common before the Moghul incursions as there had been a fair amount of cultural interaction prior to Babur's arrival. Note also that the Moghul dynasty did not actually conquer the whole of India (though most of it), so there are regions where thier influence was not felt as directly. I also seem to recall that the Moghuls introduced many fruits such as apricots, sweet melons etc. And though they brought strong influences from their Persian/Afghan background, the Moghul court's cuisine was also highly influenced by the foods they found in india. Two books to read if you want to know more about this: "Indian Food; a Historical Companion" by the late great K.T. Achaya and "Moghul Cooking; India's Courtly Cuisine" by Joyce Westrip

Percy the apricot variation of your Gosht sounds SOOO good! I was actually thinking your mangoes were apricots when I first saw the pictures. So wanting to do a curry I haven't tried before, I've decided to make Tamatar Gosht (Lamb in a spicy tomato sauce) and I have two different recipes, neither of which is quite what I want so I'm combining them, and I could use some help. Primarily I'm working with the recipe from "Moghul Cooking; India's Courtly Cuisine" by Joyce Westrip, as it has the flavors I want as well as the various processes discussed above (popping spices, pureeing the garlic/ginger etc) but she calls for simmering lamb chops in the sauce rather than chunks of lamb, which I prefer, so I'm also working with a recipe from an Indian newspaper which is a simplified version, but seems to use stew meat. Unfortunately it also uses a pressure cooker, which is a technique I am not familiar with, so I'm having trouble figuring out how to convert to an appropriate simmering time. The original instructions are, after browning the meat & combing all the various ingredients to "Add half a cup of water and put on pressure for three minutes. Let the pressure be reduced on its own." What would be an appropriate amount of time to simmer my dish to equate with this amount of pressure cooking? I could of course just test little bites until the lamb is as tender as I want it but that would make it harder to time my rice to be ready at the same time...

Not that this answers your question exactly, but here's an excerpt from the wonderful Alan Davidson's "Oxford Companion to food" that helps explain the confusion & gives the origin of the term: "Curry, a term adopted into the English Language from India, has changed it's meaning in migrating and had become ubiquitous as a menu word. It now denotes various kinds of dish in numerous different parts of the world; but all are savoury, and all spiced. The Tamil word kari is the starting point. It means a spiced sauce, one of the sorts of dressing taken in S. India with rice, and soupy in consistency. Different words in Tamil refer to stew-like dressings (meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, in small quantities) and to 'dry' dressings. Europeans however, fastened on the word kari and took it to mean any of these dressings. Hobson-Jobson (1903, Yule and Burnell, 1979) who gives the fullest (and most entertaining, but in some respects confused) account of the term's history up to the beginning of the 20th century, observes that the Portuguese took over the word in this manner, and cites evidence that a recipe for karil appeared in a 17th century Portuguese cookery book, probably reflecting a practice which had begun in the 16th century."

And they were making sausages called Mortadelle back in 14th c. Tuscany, made with finely chopped liver, and eggs and fresh herbs. I love the continuity of certain dishes over long periods of time, it gives you a sense of assurance that good things (like that beautiful Panforte ) will endure...

I'm all for "shop local" normally, but what about mail/online ordering a bottle of wine for her? I have friends who've started doing this in the last few years when they want something they can't find locally, and they've been quite happy with the results. if you're interested PM me & I will find out details...

As a start to the various discussions of techniques ingredients etc, may I recommend that making your own ghee can make a big difference? A year or so back I was playing with some moghul recipes using commercial ghee and I was just not happy with the results. At a friend's suggestion, we finally made our own ghee instead and there's a noticable difference in flavor as well as resulting "oilyness" of the dish. The dishes with the homemade ghee just did not feel as greasy for some reason, and the homemade ghee had a nutty flavor which I like.