Franci

Heidi, last time we blanched 2 whole lobsters, 1 and half pound each, about 3 minutes. We split them in half, cleaned them and put them on a charcoal grill, meat side maybe for 5-8 minutes.

Could you please share your techniques? I tried a couple times and me and husband agreed we had betters.

Durum flour is what is called in Italy semola rimacinata (remilled semolina flour), it's a very fine semolina. I basically use it for bread making and fresh pasta southern style, or to cut white flour for egg pasta. Semolina, farina di semola, is used mainly for dry pasta. Only in Sardinia I believe they use it for fregula and other pastas or breads. It needs much longer kneading. The coarser semolina, semolino in Italian, is used for gnocchi alla romana, dumplings, for semolina cream. That I know, not for fresh pasta like I've seen here. All of it is of course durum wheat.

Now, I'm noticing this more and more, also De Cecco and Garofalo are fortified! Does it mean I need to resort to the artisanal brands for my every day pasta?

I'd like to bring this up. I also read this http://forums.egullet.org/topic/145126-vacuum-sealer-bags/?hl=%2Bvacuum Thanks to Syzygies for explaining so much about bags. I'd like to know if anybody buys from these sites and what do you think of these bags http://www.thevakshack.com/Home.html http://www.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/About_Us.html Do you buy multiple sizes and rolls, what are your preferences. Thanks

My preferred 100% chocolate: Francois Pralus, I love it!

I usually bring oil from home, in the South of Italy, buying from friends who produce oil. This time I couldn't and I'm buying from an Italian deli here, in NY, on tap. Oil from my hometown, a friend of the deli's owner. Trusting this time. It's not as spicy as I would like but good enough for my cooking.

I have Oretta Zanini in Italian but you can find in English AMAZON LINK Everything else I have is unfortunately not translated.

Oh, mm I can eat the whole pan! basquecook, nice steak! I need to go to that butcher. I tried fleischer's the other day. Anybody has seen secreto pork cut in any od these butchers mentioned? They are all very closed to me. Morkai, also your steak looks great! Furzzy, thanks on the tip on D'artagnan duck fat. Was always in my fridge in France and need to stock on fats.

Thanks for the welcome, dcarch! I just checked, all blue fire, also from broiler and oven! Yes, the stove has a pilot light, you can see in the first picture there is a small ring in between burners and well. Funny, how on this time of technology, I'm really liking this stove.

Thank you, Annabelle. I'll definitely get that next time at Lowe's. HungryC, I guess you are 100% right. I still have not received my stuff and didn't even take a thermometer with me. I'll start checking temperatures as soon as my kitchen tools arrive.

Smithy, believe it or not, I only got to try the oven a couple days ago...it took me a long time to roast some potatoes and eventually resorted to the broiler for some browning. But I've been so busy with buying, assembling furniture, and other issues related to moving that I've not had the time to go to that the Chambers forum for tips.

It's me again. I always cook my risotto in the PC, so I have a lot of practice with it. My risotto in the PC always comes much better than when I do in the traditional fashion. What brand of PC do you have? I have a small Lagostina and a Kuhn Rikon. With the Lagostina my risotto doesn't come as good as the Kuhn Rikon. Did you add your wine straight to the stock? Because this means increasing the liquid ratio. I generally pour the warm wine over the toasted rice and let it completely evaporate (when I use wine...not always I do). Generally I do weight my food, but for risotto in the PC I go by volume and double the liquid. Also, the more rice I cook the less liquid I need. But 150 g of rice is not even a cup and you have 300 g of liquid, it's about right... When I open the lid I want a bit of stock there, and I like the fact that the Kuhn Rikon is tall, so, I can beat up the rice vigorously without splashing it. If happens for any reason that I used too much liquid, I increase the heat to reduce the stock and start beating it and then I start adding very cold butter in cubes, only when it's not soupy anymore. When I see that it's emulsifying, I take out of the stove and add some parmigiano. Cover with a towel an let it rest some minutes. So, since it's resting , I still want it too be a little loose, so after the resting it just feels creamy and still slightly al dente. It seems a lot of time 10 minutes to reduce the liquid. Did you beat the rice vigorously while incorporating the butter? This is really key to me. Also, did you bring the stock to the boil in the PC before closing the lid?

Today I managed to take a picture of dinner. Very nice sardines on the grill with some vegetables, a couple grilled sausages and shrimps that ended in the bin...

Would using a finer grind of cornmeal also help? Sure, coarser polenta feels grittier. In my experience cooking polenta (not necessarily in the PC) I go the other way around: boil the water (always in the same pot with same quantity of water), salt the water, taste to see if it's to my liking and add the polenta from a bowl, in a stream, whisking at the same time. When it forms a vortex in the middle is a sign for me. It's not very scientific but once you do a couple of times find what works for you. If it's very tough to stir and it's too gritty for you taste chances are that the grains are not enough hydrated. My mom likes polenta pretty coarse and thick, her cannot really be poured that easily. What she does is to dip the pot in cold water, wet the wooden spatula she used to stir the polenta in cold water and kind of clean the sides of the pot, then with a quick move she flips the pot to a wooden cutting board, if done correctly the polenta come out in one piece.

I cook rabbit very often. I have my usual recipe that, every time I try something different, people in the house rebel: coniglio alla bergamasca, to eat with polenta. Brown the rabbit in pieces in some oil and butter, with rosemary, cloves (about 10), when has a nice color, deglaze with some wine (I prefer white), salt of course, and add some warm water to keep it moist. Cook with a lid ajar for about one hour. I add liver toward the end. Another way is to cook "alla monferrina" basically you boil the rabbit with flavorings (carrot, celery, onion, sage, etc, cloves, some white wine), let it cool in the water and then remove the meat from the bones in chunks. Make layers in a terrine of meat, salt, garlic, pepper and sage, cover with oil, repeat. Let it rest some days before consuming. This is the traditional recipe and it's fairly good but I don't like it because of botulism concerns. If I could find a way to prepare safely it's a nice dish to keep in hot weather. You add a salad and it's a very good meal. I also like to use heads and liver for a traditional sauce for pasta from Tuscany. Garlic, onion, celery, a small carrot, parsley, peeled tomatoes, lemon rind, some rosemary, bay leaves, mixed spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, juniper) a small piece of dark chocolate, a tablespoon of pine nuts, some soaked sultanas, a glass of red wine, some oil, salt and pepper. Cut the vegetables with the herbs (except the bay leaf that you add whole, afterwards) and soften in oil. Add the cleaned head, brown and deglaze with wine, add tomatoes, sultanas, the spices, chocolate and lemon peel, bay leaf, add some salt, some water and cook about an hour and half. Toward the end you add the liver in pieces. When it's cooked you remove the meat from the bones, and add back to the sauce, remove the lemon peel and the bay leaf. Cook some penne al dente and add to the sauce. I also like it breaded and fried.

Only adjust the water prior to cooking, add more until you get the result you like.

Those at the mkt, to me don't look like cime di rapa. The most representative dish of my area are orecchiette with cime di rapa, the color is so dark, then maybe they are not even strictly friarielli. What is sold in other parts of Italy often doesn't get the approval from pugliesi: to many leaves is usually the complaint. People are very strict to buy just in season, when the cime are at their best, like all cabbages, when it's cold. But I went to read in Italian cooking forums, I think in Naples they in fact the same thing, cime di rapa and friarielli, is considered friariello only the young plant picked and sold on the same day, so tender and fresh that is very sweet and tender. The older plant with more leaves is called cime di rapa. In Naples they would never use friarielli for pasta but cooked "arraggiati" or arrabbiati, meaning with garlic oil and hot pepper. Nice article on Luciano Pignataro blog . For me, being Pugliese these at the market have too many leaves, maybe not as tender, I like this guy posting picture of cime di rapa from Puglia, broccoli and senape (mustard), he shows also how to clean the cime di rapa. Here. The spigarielli at the USGM, I would cook as for in our version of cime di rape "arraggiate", also known as "infuocate", slowly braised with garlic and hot pepper, bay leaves! sometimes white wine. It's a very robust dish because accentuate even more the bitterness of cime di rapa.

They are known also as friarielli, very common in Naples; pizza with sausage and friarielli, maritata soup, are the most known dishes. They are usually braised with some garlic and hot pepper. They are on the bitter side.

Steve, thank you! It's all very useful. You saved me a lot of effort sharing this good information. I think good stuff it' s always to be found when you know where to look but, when you move, it can take a while to reestablish a connection with suppliers. We still have not come up with a shopping system that works for us. I'll keep note of all the good advises here and report back.

Shelby, you are so nice and thanks for the welcome.

Thanks Weino, I'm in Brooklyn but from where I am it's pretty quick to Union Square. I'll report back. I was disappointed with Fish Tales.

Thanks, Kerry!

We love mussels, we eat them often. I come from a town in Italy that is renowned for mussels farming and in the last four years, living in the South of France, I could appreciate the small French mussels, like in my hometown, tiny but with a full, tender mollusk with a nice taste of sea. We just moved back to te US at the beginning of September, we bought mussels three times. First time, I was a little skeptical to buy from supermarket, but we still bought from Fairway: the most insipid mussels ever, no taste. I do not add salt to mussels but wanted to add this time. Then we bought from Fish Tales in Brooklyn. Same, plus some sand. We bought from Fresh Direct. No good, little taste, some sand and beards but still slightly better. I believe they must clean them to death...in France they need a little bit of scrubbing but the are not as clean and you must pull the beard yourself. The mussels here, beside being tasteless, are also pretty lightweight. Is it possible to buy decent mussels, that taste like sea and are not rubbery? What to look for? I had not had a chance to try clams but if I recall from past the situation is not much better. Any advise is highly appreciated.

I sent my husband to the closest Salvation Army...nothing like that to be found. Maybe better to look on Craigslist. Now, I never had a vacuum sealer so I appreciate if anybody can explain to me if this feature of dry/ moist food that food saver has is any useful for sealing for sous vide cooking with liquids. Otherwise, for my understanding, the only things I need to watch out are a seal only function and an external hose to regulate the vacuum. But almost all food savers have these features, right?