LindaK

Boston sighting: my neighborhood Whole Food had some today. $7.99 lb headless. I picked up a pound. Ceviche for dinner sounds like a good idea!

I'm too lazy to make pancakes from scratch. Long ago I decided that a decent boxed pancake mix is at least as good--and a whole lot faster. These days I keep Trader Joe's Multi-Grain Pancake & Baking Mix on hand for pancakes, esp. good made with buttermilk.

Diana, I’m so glad you liked it. Next time I make it I will remember your sauvignon blanc suggestion, that sounds like a fantastic pairing. I’m curious, what kind of rice did you use? I’ve made this a few times now, and have been happiest with a medium grain Spanish rice. The one time I substituted Arborio rice, it seemed awfully starchy to me. This has become one of my favorite cold weather comfort food recipes, not only because it’s delicious but, like you, I’m really bad at planning ahead. Though if I have learned anything over the course of this past year, it’s that soaked salt cod freezes well. If you soak some, soak extra. Pat it dry and freeze. Move it from freezer to refrigerator in the morning, it will be ready to cook by dinnertime. Note: the post for this recipe with a picture is here. Belatedly, I found a recipe for Arròs amb Capetes de Totero on RecipeGullet here-—which somehow forgets to include salt cod in the list of ingredients! The Coleman Andrews recipe that I used calls for 6 oz unsoaked salt cod (I probably use a little more, because I’m greedy). Otherwise, the recipe is similar.

triscuit cracker, slice of tart apple, slice of sharp cheddar, pickled jalapeno pepper. blue cheese and fruit, esp. apples, pears, or grapes. when desperate, I'll even use blue cheese salad dressing as dip (this was my favorite snack as a kid, before I discovered that blue cheese was a solid food). I've never tried to melt good blue cheese as a dip for fruit, but after reading your post I think I must try it soon. parmesan cheese, coarsely grated onto a silpat into small mounds. broil briefly to melt into lightly browned, chewy, lacey, cheesey wafers.

Much as I appreciate good coffee, I'm more than grateful for decent pre-ground stuff first thing in the morning when trying to morph from zombie to human being.

In case you missed them, there are some beautiful salt cod fritters and salads happening over in the Dinner! topic, here and here. Santa gave me a variety of nut oils as a gift, and I remembered the brandade with walnut oil that Dave Hatfield suggested uptopic here. So along with a salad, that was last night’s dinner. Unlike most brandade, there’s no cream in this one. Instead, it’s enriched with eggs and walnut oil. The nutty flavor is very subtle but quite distinctive. Delicious.

There have already been successful efforts to produce meat in vitro from stem cells. Not the whole animal, just the parts of the animal sold as food. It received extensive news coverage a few months ago, for example: BBC, Grow Your Own Meat National Public Radio, Burgers from a Lab The New Yorker, Test Tube Burgers Maybe labs will be the large-scale farms of the future.

I'm a store it upright person too, even with glassware that's on an open shelf and might collect some dust. It must be habit, I don't think I ever considered doing otherwise.

This morning's Boston Globe reported more grim news: because of overfishing concerns, the catch limit for Maine shrimp this year is only one-third of last year, 4.4 million pounds in 2012 vs 13 million pounds in 2011. There will be limits on the fishing days/catch limits for individual fisherman, too. Looks like a short season, expensive for consumers and hard on the local fishing industry. Article: Gulf of Maine shrimp season to be a short one (registration may be required)

Here's the FDA's page on Retail & Food Service HACCP. There are several documents available for download, hopefully they'll be helpful.

House-smoked eel sounds fantastic. I don't know that I'm ready to chase an eel around my kitchen, though. Clearly I am not worthy.

Big kitchen gift: a Lello gelato/ice cream maker. I guess it's time for me to learn something about making ice cream. Most interesting among the small items: a silicone ladle. Sort of a cross between a spatula and a ladle. This could turn out to be a genius gadget--and I've never heard of such a thing before!

I’d make an almond cake flavored with some orange zest, and top each slice with a dollop of whipped cream or sweetened crème fraiche. If you have any good homemade fruit compote or preserve, I’d use it here, either to fill the cake or serve alongside the whipped cream. An assortment of cookies would be welcome, especially biscotti or others that lend themselves to being dipped in the wine. You could serve your chocolate too, for those who want it.

I love champagne. My preference is for small grower/estate (RM) champagnes, I stocked up recently and here’s what I bought: L. Aubry Fils Paul Goerg “Tradition” Camille Savès Louis de Grenelle “Corail” The first three are all blends (no blanc de blancs) and on the pricey side (around $35) but I like them better than many of their more expensive neighbors. The last is a sparkling rosé from the Loire, very nice and a bargain at $13. Both Roederer and Schramsberg from California make very good domestic sparklers for around $20. For less expensive alternatives I like Westport (from Massachusetts) and Gruet (from New Mexico). And you can’t go wrong with a good cava or proscecco.

I gave up on most canned tuna years ago--it's so awful. How sad. When did that happen? We shouldn't be surprised, given the sustainability concerns with tuna, that quality canned tuna is no longer an inexpensive staple. My guess is that brands like Chicken of the Sea and Bumblebee are trying to stick to an expected price point, and that lesser quality fish and additives like soy make that possible. Ortiz is the only brand that I can reliably find that's of good quality and reasonably priced. I can buy imports from Italy that are excellent, but they're pricey. Worth a splurge, definitely. But not an everyday item.

I decided to go ahead with the “cookbook package” gift idea for a couple of people. I think they’ll like them. Here’s what they’re getting: Rick Bayless, Mexico—One Plate at a Time box of assorted chilis and herbs (Mexican oregano, etc) from Penzeys 8” chef knife and paring knife (Forschner, not too expensive) (note: he already has my old tortilla press) Dorie Greenspan, Baking from my home to yours box of assorted spices (cinnamon, etc) and vanilla extract from Penzeys a “bouquet” of whisks, silicone spatulas, a microplane for zesting

Add me to the long list of fans of Jaymes's caramel corn recipe. I made my first batch yesterday afternoon so I would have something sweet to bring to evening holiday parties. It's a very easy and forgiving recipe. I split the recipe in half--one plain, to the second I added a tsp of chili powder and some pecan halves. Delicious and addictive, both of them. For the 2 T molasses specified, I used 1 T molasses, 1 T maple syrup. Along with others who posted on this question earlier, I was worried that the molasses flavor might dominate. But now that I've tasted the results, I think the molasses helps balance the sweetness and I'll try it with all molasses next time. This is a keeper!

No, it's not normal. Or rather I should say, it's not good. I've only experienced the ammonia smell with fresh fish, which is a sure sign that it's not fresh at all and should be discarded. I've never noticed it with salt cod but if I did, I wouldn't eat it. Still, I'm curious about how you prepared it with ackee. I've never tasted it, much less cooked with it.

I used about 2 inches of oil, that was deep enough. I did need to flip them to cook both sides. Perhaps in a perfect world I should have used more oil, but I (correctly) assumed that the curry powder would permeate the oil and make it impossible to reuse. So I skimped a bit.

One can’t have too many recipes for salt cod fritters. Here’s a new one: Acras—-Senegalese salt cod fritters. Rich, flavorful, and very delicious. Unlike most fritter recipes, there are no potatoes here. The base is a thick béchamel enriched with egg yolks and flavored with curry powder and a bit of cayenne. Use it to bind cooked and flaked salt cod into a thick batter. I added a bit of parsley for pretty. Fry as usual. Here’s a batch, note the golden color from the curry powder: The combination of eggy base with sweet, warm spices and rich fish is addictive. This explains the blurry photo below. Guests loved them and had no patience for photos. Btw, the recipe comes from Michael Roberts, Parisian Home Cooking. He describes these fritters as being common at Paris outdoor markets, which often have stalls offering food from former French colonies. Another reason to get back to Paris so I can fact check this statement. I did a bit of research and also found acras recipes from Martinique. They shared the same béchamel/egg base but they were flavored with scotch bonnet chili and green onion, not curry powder.

:-) Bacalhau is my favorite fish and is so versatile in the kitchen. Plus, because it is salted can travel well and is guaranteed all year long. Hallelujah, another Bacalhau (salt cod) fan! That sandwich does look fantastic. I hope you'll share your salt cod wisdom and future creations with us over in this topic: Salt Cod Diary. I agree, it's so versatile, sadly not widely known and appreciated in the States.

True, buying a cookbook for me is a risky proposition. I already have many and I'm fussy about what I want. The people I'm thinking of buying for, though, probably have only a few cookbooks at most and no knowledge of what's out there in cookbook land. It's still risky, I admit. The idea of giving a knife with a cookbook is a great one, thanks Jane.

I really like the idea of including some spices or ingredients with a cookbook gift. I was thinking about a Rick Bayless cookbook for someone who says he enjoys Mexican food and is trying to cook it at home, so maybe some chilis with that. Both of the Dorie Greenspan books are contenders for other people, but I'd forgotten about the Bittman book. I wonder what ingredients I'd include with those...

Do you buy cookbooks as gifts? How do you decide what to buy, especially for novice cooks? 'Tis the holiday season, and I'm usually the one on the receiving end of cookbooks. This year, some family members and friends have taken a new interest in cooking and I'm considering giving them cookbooks as gifts. None of them have much cooking experience, some are more adventurous than others. It's been a long time since I bought a cookbook for anyone but myself. What do you look for when choosing a gift cookbook? Or are cookbooks too personal, is this just a bad idea?

A good question to ask in the topic commonly mispronounced food and wine words