janeer

Fascinating photo essay, thank you. You are an accomplished butcher as well as hunter!

I do think we must be twins separated at birth. With you on this 100%, identical conclusions on all points. A subject I feel very strongly about. The idea of pre-cooking the apples strikes me as...ridiculous. Like the whole brining thing (just cook it properly...). As for the apples themselves, the perfumey character of Golden Delicious is all wrong for an American apple pie. Gravensteins, Cortlands, Macouns, Greenings, many others are preferable.

and mine. made ryes from it all last summer

and mine. Made rye breads all last summer.

This sounds like a must-have for an avid Mexican cook like me.

ditto on the puff, I just don't think anything comes close. (you've got me curious about the Acme method...) Stollen. Mincemeat. Plum pudding. Tortellini and ravioli. And veal stock.

I just bought tried McCann's "5 minute" steel-cut oats--literally 5 minutes in the microwave--and they are not bad. A slightly softer version of the original. I may try cooking them 4 minutes.

Alas, I think this is a dry year. Maybe The New Portuguese Table.

I got sick of Wellington and bearnaise in the '80s, so not sure I agree this is the way to go, but tenderloin is certainly versatile and as long as what you do is perfectly cooked, I'd say to branch out. Don't know your location: does it suggest anything regional? Tenderloin is great with Southwest treatments a la Flay. Last Christmas, when I couldn't get veal for schnitzel but had already made the fresh breadcrumbs, I bought tenderloin and made a kind of "chicken-fried steaks," or maybe more like steak persillade (a little seasoned mustard, coated with parslied crumbs--honestly, it was the best meal I ever had, served with homemade pasta (already planned for the schnitzel) and veggie. Weird but good. No sauce, but you could make a little beurre blanc.

Exactly. Blanching makes it easy to peel all kinds of small onions. My favorites are white and red cippolini that I can find at the Union Square Greenmarket sometimes here in New York. Usually I cut off the root end first and cut a "+" with the tip of the knife in the cut end, then maybe 30 seconds in boiling water and the skins should slip off. I pretty much do the same. I don't think the frozen ones cut it--never used them again after one try. I like to pick out a certain size from loose "boiling onions," as we'be always called them. I glaze with butter, a bit of sugar, maple syrup, salt and a good amount of white pepper.

Mine too--and I am anticipating the gift of a venison shoulder, my fave for making mincemeat, after Thanksgiving.

There is never, and I mean never, any potato filling left at my house. We usually start with about 10 pounds worth. It is all we have ever had/grown up on, and we are crazy for it. Apple, pumpkin, and other pies that vary year to year disappear pretty fast; an extra apple or two is made special for next day's breakfast.

While it's great to cozy up with chili, mac and cheese, or beef bourginon in the winter, when the forecast is for snow there is only one thing that I want to make: spaghetti and meatballs. It is the absolutely perfect snowed-in meal.

This is the hot turkey sandwich portion of the evening at our place -- and it's for lightweights who didn't take full advantage during round one. This is embarassing but we eat all day. Arrive around Noon or 1. Eat appetizers, often including a nice soup in little pick-up cups--so much better than having it as a first course, which can make you too full. A little time goes by. Hungry again: sit down at 4 to the turkey. Pie at maybe 6 or 6:30. And yes, turkey sandwiches late, while watching an old movie. It's only once a year.

I really love both of Dunlop's cookbooks, especially Land of Plenty. I also recommend Nina Simonds's books Classic Chinese Cuisine and China Express. If you can find it, Craig Claiborne and Virginia Lee's little-known but excellent The Chinese Cookbook. For something a little more contemporary but still quite clearly Asian, Barbara Tropp's China Moon. I use all of these regularly.

Don't have a rice cooker or a crock pot. Cook a batch on Sunday, eat some fresh, put rest in fridge, reheat portions over next several days in microwave with added milk and maple syrup. Don't think they are quite the same reheated (although yes, Chris, still very bitey), so will try Yajna Patni's method. McCann's now prints a similar method right on the tin--essentially a par-boiling method for finishing next day in less time--and did you know they now sell a 5-minute version? Haven't tried them.

I was just listening to an NPR story on cranberries and the narrator (Rene Montaigne, I think) called them "bitter as limes." Argh. Aren't they both sour??

I have been trying to make good, soft, squishy Portuguese sweet bread--the kind you can buy everywhere in Rhode Island--for years, without success. do you make this kind and, if so, what is the secret to the texture? Every recipe I try (including one from a former Portuguese co-worker and PR's) is all wrong. Thanks.

Oh yes! good idea, i shall research on it! thanks for your advice! haha.ooo...I am just afraid that too many people will be using the ice cream machine. Oh, that's what you mean by risky...thought you meant you were worried about texture, or melting, or something. When I did it, making ice cream was not very common...long ago, obviously.

how about some sort of blancmange made with coconut milk and garnished with fruit and maybe some sort of scented nutty cookie or even a brittle. I once made ice cream for a school project. I didn't think of it as risky.

You don't need a lot of additional booze to keep them moist. If you can get cheesecloth, pour a little brandy or bourbon into a small bowl, dip in the cheesecloth, wring it out, and wrap the cakes, then wrap them in foil and, if a tin is not available, a ziplock bag. You can put them in the cupboard like this. Check every 3 wks or so and douse with a bit more brandy if needed; I dip the palm of my hand in a saucer of brandy and just pat the cakes. You really are just moistening, not adding a bunch of booze. They sound like a very successful effort.

What about its taste?

There is more than Prince's, although Prince's is the most well known. There was a hot chicken festival here in Nashville last year. See here.. In addition to the places listed, there is also a place called Chicken Real.

I'm curious as to on what basis you describe Progresso lentil soup as "crappy."

Haven't made chicken pot pie in a while but I do love a good one. I make the chicken fresh, with poached breast. Following the lead of the great Four Seasons Restaurant in NYC (famous chicken pie, see their cookbook for their methods),I cook the vegetables all separately--I like to add glazed small white onions and glazed carrots to mine--and make a veloute with homemade stock and a little cognac and nutmeg. Best lard crust. It's actually a ton of work for such a "homey" dish. But it is very good.