LindaK

Lard? I've never seen a recipe for tortilla dough that called for any sort of fat--just masa and water. The baking powder idea is interesting.

Heavens. I don't know if a taste for blue cheese can be aquired but I hope so for your sake. Like Jaymes, I fell for it it when I was a kid. My parents always kept a decent, commercial blue cheese salad dressing around the house. I don't remember what made me get past the smell to finally try it, but fast forward...when my sisters were eating PBJ after school, I was dipping sliced apples into blue cheese dressing. I begged my parents to buy me the real thing, and the rest is history. I think roquefort is my favorite, but stilton is close behind. A memorable breakfast in Italy included the best gorganzola dolce I've ever had. Yes, for breakfast, divine. If there's advice to be had in all this, it's that blue cheese and fruit are great companions--apples, pears, figs, grapes. The combo is excellent in salads. An endive salad with apples, walnuts, and crumbled blue cheese is a classic. After dinner, with port or sauterne, served with thin slices of date nut bread, it's the best dessert ever.

It is a favorite of mine, too. If I have any feta around, I like to crumble a bit in. My bread preference is pita, since it holds the mixture safely. Line with lettuce or arugula (the grownup variation) so the bread doesn't get soggy. When I was a kid, pita made every sandwich more fun.

Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka

Enjoying a Magic Hat # 9 from Burlington, VT as I post this. Fruity and crisp, my "house" beer.

Thanks for bumping this up Annoula, and welcome to the forums! I've always wondered about the proper yogurt:grated cucumber ratio. I prefer it with lots of cucumber so that it's thick enough to serve on crackers or bread. During the summer, one of my favorite meals is a bowl of tsatziki alongside sliced, perfectly ripe garden tomatoes with some good bread.

A friend gifted me a huge bunch of dill from her garden. I made a quick batch of pickles with some local cucumbers, then sprinkled some over broiled salmon. And then...completely out of ideas. I'm embarrassed to say, dill is just not in my repertoire. It isn't that I don't like it, I just don't understand how to use it. Any favorite recipes or foods that include dill?

Peach relish made with roasted red peppers, kalamata olives, and red onion is great with grilled food. Semi-savory: goat cheese tart topped with sliced peaches, then baked. Fabulous.

Margaret, okay, with no other takers, I'll offer some ideas. Most of the time that I see eggs in a list of brandade ingredients, it's when the mixture is cooked again, as with fritters or in a gratin. Usually it's the olive oil and some dairy, such as cream or creme fraiche, adding the fat. With just eggs, I'd err on the side of a high ratio of salt cod so you don't end up with a bland end result. I'd also assume that they're added when the potato mixture is still hot enough to cook them, either tempering the eggs first or mixing madly so you don't end up with scrambled eggs. jayt90, I must find some ackee. It's a completely new food to me, so I'm very curious about its flavor, esp. in contrast with the salt cod.

Can I add a vote for fish? Even with the simplest fillets, fish + broiler = best (real) fast food I use my broiler for grilling bread when I want a bit of char and burn, as with bruschetta, and don't have the grill fired up. As others have mentioned, it's great for finishing roasted meat or vegetables. And open-faced sandwiches topped with cheese? Yes. One of the reasons I love my Blue Star range is the infrared broiler, which is a regular broiler on steroids. The mediocre broiler was the only thing I loved (and used regularly) about the old gas stove I had before.

Savory brioche, wow. I reduced the sugar somewhat, and added the savory additions after the second rise. I wondered whether the sweet-savory combo might be odd. It was not, it was perfect. A loaf and mini brioche w/ grated parmesan cheese: Minis with chives and cracked pepper: Both versions were hard to stop eating. If you make brioche and haven't played with savory versions, you must give it a try.

Good lord, here's a new one--salt cod in Chinese food? From Weinoo's review of Mission Chinese Food - 154 Orchard St. Who cares if it's traditional, it's on the list for my next visit to NYC.

You are so right. I've made the mistake of soaking an especially thick piece for 2 days without tasting, only to be disappointed with bland results. Now I taste after 24 hrs, always. Other folks here have wondered the same thing, but so far none of us have given it a shot. If you try, please let us know the results, it would be fascinating. I doubt if it would taste the same, but it might be worthwhile nonetheless.

jayt90--what's the benefit of cooking seafood in a pressure cooker (besides the lack of lobster sqeals)? Seafood cooks so quickly ordinarily. Heartsurgeon--Your directions are unusual. I don't recall ever seeing instructions to bring ingredients to a boil, THEN put on the lid and bring to pressure. What's that about? I love gigante beans, but hardly ever see them dried. Your recipe sounds delicious.

I've made it and didn't like it at all. Without flavor additions, it just tasted like whipped oil. Adding other ingredients--I tried both a curry and fresh herbs--made it more palatable but not like something I actually wanted to eat. I had high hopes because in general I like David Leite's recipes. But if I'm going to splurge on calories, this is not how I'd do it.

In my neighborhood, a group of chefs have launched a pop-up restaurant while they're searching for a permanent location. They're partnering with local bakeries, coffee shops, etc. that close early. It's getting them some good PR and hopefully good experience too. Whisk Boston Globe story

Kit, that sounds like it's worth a detour. If you can get your hands on a copy of Linda Dannenberg's Paris Boulangerie Patisserie--stories and recipes of some of Paris's best--there's a lovely piece on Ganachaud, the boulangerie of Bernard Ganachaud, father of the women who run La Flute Gana and where the recipe for the "flute" was created. It's a great book, guaranteed to provoke PPD, but their particular story stands out. BTW, I like to think of PPD as the incentive for the next trip!

The recipe for last night’s fritters came from Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean by local chef Ana Sortun. They differed only a bit from the basic recipe. The recipe for an accompanying red wine sauce looked very good, but too labor intensive for a Monday night, for me at least. Sortun adds sautéed chopped tomatoes, onion, and garlic to her fritters, along with Aleppo chili pepper. The tomato adds color and sweetness, but also moisture. If you’ve never used Aleppo pepper, it’s one of my favorite spices—slightly smoky and sweet, mild heat. Another technique that was new to me: Sortun reserved some of the milk in which the cod had simmered and used it to moisten the final potato-cod mixture. A good way to extend the flavor, a nice trick to remember. Following the recipe, I found the final batter to be a little too loose—between the tomatoes, milk, and egg, too much moisture—so added more potato to firm it up a bit. Dipped in flour then beaten egg, they fried up beautifully. I loved the flavor of the Aleppo pepper. Yet another addition to the list of great salt cod-chili pairings.

I had my first taste of Memphis bbq recently at Cozy Corner. A plate of ribs w/ beans and slaw, with a side of cornish hen: The ribs were very good, but the cornish hen was great, the flavor from the dry rub made us fight over the skin. The breast meat was on the dry side, but the dark meat was sublimely moist and smoky. Sadly, cornish hens don't really have much meat. Get two. Finished with sweet potato pie. Delicious.

Last year, the cheese magazine Culture ran a story from an 11 year-old kid (supposedly) who shared her secrets of making mozzarella. And while it won't be in time for your science fair, Murray's in NYC offers classes in making mozzarella: info here.

Franci, what are your impressions about the restaurant scene in Monaco? Neighborhood places vs fine dining? I'm curious where you (or your neighbors) go when you want a casual meal out, especially with a family? Thanks for blogging, it's great to get an insider's view into a place like Monoaco.

Maybe a regular over in the Cooking with the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook topic?

During my current experimentation with brioche, I'm astonished at the variety of "authoritative" recipes. Not only do proportions of ingredients differ dramatically but basic techniques vary considerably. Start with a yeast sponge. NO! Dry ingredients first, then add eggs and softened butter. NO! Melted butter, then. NO! You get the idea. Endless variations. And I think "perfect" is in the eye of the beholder. Some folks like brioche that's more like bread, others prefer the texture to be more like cake. Barely sweet or very sweet. That is the fun of brioche. Find your personal favorite. One thing on which we can hopefully all agree. Most brioche recipes for home cooks are scaled for two loaves. And the dough seems to freeze very well. So it's easy to make a batch of dough, bake a loaf or get creative with half of it, save the other half for the next weekend. Last minute brioche, perfect.

A belated welcome, hope you'll post often as you figure this out. I've no first hand experience to share, but having watched friends open/manage restaurants in the Boston area, it's almost impossible to provide a generic answer to your question. Health and safety codes are defined by the city in which the space is located, so the requirements and permits you'd need will vary from town to town. Best to contact each city government which interests you to learn details. If you know of any similar ventures, talk to the owner to find out how s/he pulled it off. It is not for the faint of heart, but you probably already know that.

Bump. I've been baking a lot of brioche lately, trying to find my favorite recipe. That means I've been eating a lot of brioche with butter or jam. Which was great, but pains aux raisins are better: This was my first time making them. Really simple, actually, once you make the brioche--just add pastry cream and raisins. Perfect with coffee and the Sunday paper.