Franci

While D. Lebovitz is highly overrated for me, I just LOVE Ottolenghi instead (my husband cannot always appreciate Ottolenghi's boldness and often just by looking asks if we are eating something Ottolenghish). I don't own Jerusalem (just the cookbook) but made many many recipes from the Guardian column. Looking forward to this.

Thanks Liuzhou, my husband is a good benchmark, although his taste is no more Chinese, many things stayed with him. He dislikes creamy dressings and not particularly found of cheese either. I got many good ideas here. Today and tomorrow I'll see what ingredients I can buy without too much running around from place to place. Plantes Verdes, unfortunately, differently than Europe I don't see smoked eel that often here. Not that you cannot find it, I'm sure, but I need to get out of my way to source it.

Many ideas, thanks. I think I'll write a list and start crossing what doesn't match, too difficult to source or too elaborate and come up with a plan. Scuba, would you like to share your recipe

Next week we have a Chinese guest for dinner. Our guest is used to traveling but still I don't know him, so I don't know his food preferences. I'd like to serve mainly fish, I'd like to start with a multitude of small appetizers, just because being Chinese I'm sure he is used and appreciate variety on the table, then I'll probably serve spaghetti with clams, some lobster tails on the grill, some sides and possibly another fish dish. So, going back to appetizers, I want to serve different smoked fishes but with Mediterranean ingredients and keep it harmonious. I'm also thinking of a small plate or two of fried fish, like baccala' fritters, and an octopus potato salad. Any ideas?

Love Egullet, there is always oeople refraining you from stupid purchases. Not that I was going to spend the money on that oven tomorrow, I would have checked here first. Thanks Scott123, I don't eat pizza regularly, I'm more interested into a small oven to cook other food.

It looks like the Ferrari oven very popular in Italy. It's not in the same price range but if I could I'd get this one

Ok Rotuts, you are right, I prefer to pack children's scooters than flour. I'll get the dark MS (the one you find there it's crap and expensive). I still have 3 weeks to buy more, if something comes to mind, please, let me know. I appreciate. Thanks

Are you referring to the belly cleaning? With the spoon the waiter is lifting and pushing up all the membrane covering the fish belly and any fish bone. If it's done pretty quickly, when the fish is still quite warm, peels off very easily, as soon as it start cooling down sticks to the meat and gets more difficult to lift. It's a good thing to check also for green spots that are bitter.

FrogPrincess, I never make pancakes from mixes, I use a recipe I'm very happy with. But my friend, back in Monaco, tried it and said that her pancakes didn't come as good as mine. If I take maple syrup back I thought it would be good to take back a mix as well. Maybe I can put together a small collection of recipes for her too.

In my area the head would not get wasted. From the video the people at the table commenting are Northerner Italians (not the waiter) and probably not educated in fish eating. In my house my children fight for the cheeks, luckily there is one for each. BTW, that is the general technique for cleaning the fish at the table that I think it's taught in hospitality school in Italy and that's the way I've always seen done in my area (a sea town in the South of Italy).

Thanks Rotuts, I'll get it next time I'm at TJ and try it.

How do you like TJ's pancake mix? In July, we are leaving for the summer, back to Europe, and I'm going to buy some food presents. Some maple syrup and pancake mix is on the list. I wanted to buy King Arthurs' pancake mix but at 9$ I find it quite expensive. Any other suggestion from TJ's products to bring back as presents that will not make the luggage too heavy? I was also thinking some freeze dried fruit that is not very easy to find in Europe and light. What else? Thanks

Slashes on the sides of the fish are usually meant for uniform cooking. That said, I almost never do it. Also, in the US when you buy fish they almost alway trim the dorsal fins, it's something that I don't like and alway ask to refrain from doing it, because it makes cleaning much harder, all the small lateral fins cannot be pull out with the dorsal fins and lifting the fillet neatly is more difficult. If it's a poached or roasted fish I can do with a fork and a spoon. Watch this video maybe it's helpful

Porthos questions are very relevant. My children love French fries but the main of their diet it's pretty healthy for my standards. Family eating habits, number of meals consumed in the house are also important for me to answer.

Honestly, now that you ask I don't like it very much, I wouldn't pick if it is my own kitchen but not complaining to much. Unpopular poet, I already think you kitchen is great but I'm looking forward to your remodeling. You guys are serious coffee people. Put a shame on me.

I was reading a quote from a reviewer, sunshine it costs more than 400$. If we were serious rice eaters...

Yes, I mean sticky rice, which I soak for at least 2 hours. I put some water in the pressure cooker, a trivet and my rice in a squared bowl. Cook on high for 12 minutes (in a normal steamer, I usually cook for 20-25 minutes and that is always the timing I read everywhere on glutinous rice. You have products like Instantpot that works as a rice cooker, pressure cooker, slow cooker, yogurt maker, etc. Thanks Anna. I'm pretty happy about my rice. My Chinese husband doesn't care much for rice, so we eat it maybe a couple times a week, I cannot justify buying a rice cooker. The donabe to cook 2 cups rice costs 140$. Wondering if it's just an esthetic question or it really makes a big difference... And still, even if I'm not going to buy a rice cooker tomorrow- I'd prefer a slicer and a dehydrator to take some of my counter space- I was interested to know if there is anybody who tried the two cooking methods and what he/she thinks about them.

Ann_T, I had to google French dip sandwich to know more about it, I still don't know much about American food, it's interesting. Also Shelby chef salad I had to google. Instead I don't need to look for Mozartkugeln, like the idea very much Nina.

Sure, baking rice is something I used to do in cooking school for rice pilaf. But I prefer the pressured cook rice, easier and more versatile. I can make sticky rice, sushi rice, risotto, pilaf. I was curious to know if someone can compare pressure cooked rice vs rice cooker vs donabe

I was reading about Donabe for cooking rice (a video for you if you are interested ) and was wondering about the difference in result vs pressured cooked rice, rice cooker rice or stovetop rice. I generally cook my rice with a pressure cooker and usually I have a better and more consistent result than simply cooking on the stovetop. I never used a rice cooker and cannot compare.

Rotuts that's a Berkey's water filter, I believe it was discussed here on Egullet and Andiesenji has severals.

I only posted a picture of my stove in this new place, last kitchen I posted we were still living in Monaco. Here we are renting so not much for me to do

It's warm today so we ate it lukewarm. Sausage and potatoes cooked with a very concentrated pig/chicken stock made in the past for the xiaolongbao filling

I grew up with durum bread, it's a stable in my area. Your bread looks beautiful, I love it! Great job. Have you ever heard of "friselle"? They are great for the summer and make wonderful panzanella (although they are not traditionally used for that). You could use the same recipe you used for your bread. Also if you mix half and half durum and bread flour it's wonderful for focaccia ripiena (with red onions/capers/black olives is to die for)

I made tang yuan using this flour...I should have followed A. Nguyen advice and use a thai brand but it was what I had in the house. The tang yuan have this impossible texture, a little grainy and they dissolve in water. Is this brand supposed to be used only for Japanese style mochi, where you usually cook the mixture first by steaming or microwaving? I didn't make a large batch but I'm guessing there is no way to fix this up a little bit. Are also Japanese brands the same texture of the koda farm flour?